La Ventana at Dempsey

Couldn't stop laughing when I saw that even La Ventana clambered onto the #SG50 bandwagon and offered a SG50 special dish of lobster paella at S$50++ for two, limited to 20 servings a day via Hungrygowhere's deals over three dates in the first week of August. Yay! Our intended date of visit matched. Lobster and paella at S$50++, that's a ridiculously decent price. You got me.

I've very fond memories of dining at Carles Gaig's one-Michelin-starred (from 1993) Restaurant Gaig in Barcelona. He was here for the opening of the Singapore restaurant set in the lush gardens of Dempsey Hill. La Ventana's kitchen is helmed by his son-in-law Eduard Castellarnau. His daughter Nuria Gibert manages the restaurant. Restaurant Gaig is slightly experimental but La Ventana currently offers more traditional familiar family recipes.

This is my second visit to La Ventana since it quietly opened its doors in June 2015. Again, I wasn't willing to wait till late September to try it. So hopped in first at lunch and weeks later at dinner. Haven't had the courage to try its tasting menu of tapas. Been a bit pressed for time and had to wrap up meals quickly. Within these few weeks, there're noticeable differences to what the kitchen trotted out. I think they've adjusted many things to a satisfactory consistency. I do like its food and hope that the standards keep. Again, forget ordering beer or whisky. Wines rule, along with sangria. I could do sangria easy.

La Ventana does a few things really well- their version of an Italian cannelloni- canelon since 1869, crispy suckling pig, and all their choices of meat (pigeon and carabinero) with paella, including fideuà. Their cardinal macaroni since 1860 of penne lisce layered with acorn-fed Ibérico pork and parmesan cream was good too.

Back to that lobster paella. It totally rocked. That beautiful rich seafood stock and al dente swollen carnaroli grains made me swoon. One fresh juicy lobster with tomalley and roe. Mmmm. I'm a total sucker for pastas and paella. CARBS AIIGHT. The kitchen didn't go overboard on the amount of grains. It definitely fed two very well, but if one is a carb monster, like me, it wasn't quite enough. Or rather, it was sufficient, but I was greedy and felt like more would have been nice. Hurhurhur.