I finally made time to go down to paaru for its donabe dinner menu. paaru is a unique little space that is hard to find in town. It has coffee and small bakes, and also hosts Japanese craft workshops in its sister space asaru studio. If only Pearl's Hill Terrace can exist for a few more years.
To have a dinner menu centred around rice? Sure. The weekend donabe dinners are simple and rather lovely. It's really food made from the heart. The five-course summer menu included a dessert of umeshu kakigori. Heh. I couldn't be bothered to scoop up ice after three spoonfuls. I let it melt down and drank it like umeshu on the rocks.
We began with a cute starter of mango and avocado salsa with raw scallops. I really enjoyed the minced pork kerabu salad in inari-age. I could probably eat three of these and call it a meal. Heh. There was sake, but J is a teetotaller. So I wasn't going to order a 750ml bottle of sake and quaff it, and roll down the slope after. I had three prudent glasses.
H and V and their crew got the timing and logistics perfect. Table arrival timings are staggered to ensure a smooth flow. Food didn't take long to arrive at all. The flavors were all happy summer citrusy flavors. The mains were filling. There was salmon nanbanzuke with bonito pickled peppers and onions. I rarely eat salmon in Singapore. This one was done pretty well. The donabe-gohan was filled with happy carbs of summer corn and seaweed butter rice.
paaru feels like our little neighborhood joint. Don't expect to stay on for the whole night to drink. It's not an izakaya or a full restaurant that way. Dining is limited to two hours; that works. We got in at 7pm, and got out at 9.15pm. Work has been a bit mad for both J and I. After a harried week, this menu nourished our souls.
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