Bochinche, Singapore – Argentinian style
Here in Singapore, helmed by Argentinian chef Diego Jacquet, Bochinche is a very glamorous-looking restaurant and bar. Situated in a strong residential area behind the hustle and bustle of Orchard Road, it’s dominated by two long rows of bar seats, with a smattering of tables. On a quietish Tuesday night, Greedy Girl and gluttonous husband were originally shown to a table but asked to be seated at the bar overlooking the kitchen (the stools on the other side of the room overlook the actual bar). We always love to watch chefs at work and this seemed like a golden opportunity. Ordering a Little Creatures pale ale and a glass of pinot grigio from San Juan, we settled in. Greedy Girl, however, was having a little trouble. Her eyes stung and became very watery.
The picture, above, reveals the reason why. We were seated quite early at the restaurant and the industrious chef was taking an opportunity to prep a very large container of onions. As he sliced, Greedy Girl started to weep – literally. Even trying to put a physical barrier between her and the fumes (her reading glasses) proved futile. We waved at the wait staff, prepared to ask to move to the other end of the bar, but that was not needed. Our friendly chef packed up and moved further away. A nice touch.
In the best traditions of Latin American food (the Spanish influence, no doubt), the plates here are designed to share – some more successfully than others, but more on that later. We were recommended around six dishes for two. Wanting to pace ourselves on this foodie adventure, we started off with four savoury courses and said we’d take it from there.
First up were empanadas. These piping hot morsels were sweetcorn (on the left of the picture) and beef. We tried the beef first; it was described on the menu as braised beef with potatoes, olives and spring onions. Having already started drinking, Greedy Girl needed to eat and the contents here were seriously hot (not from chilli, just from cooking). As such, she struggled to get the full range of flavours. The dominant one, however, seemed to be a bit sweet. It was unusual but a pleasant mouthful. The sweetcorn empanada was described as being combined with mozzarella, shallots and oregano. Greedy Girl couldn’t actually recognise any of these ingredients (apart from the corn). Again, it was slightly sweet and the texture wasn’t to her taste. Gluttonous husband ate the majority.
Empanadas
Next was a take on surf and turf – pork belly with prawns. The very salty, dehydrated skin on top broke in two with a satisfying click. It was very enjoyable. Greedy Girl then attacked the prawn tail, curious at its size and that, for a sharing dish, there was only one. Hah. The restaurant is quite dark and moody and, having taken off her glasses, she couldn’t see the toothpicks skewering two prawns together. Gluttonous husband to the rescue. The prawns were delicious – perfectly cooked, with a lovely grilled flavour. We then moved to the caramelised pork belly with sweet potato and chorizo. Despite having a lot of fat, it was soft and pulled apart easily. Greedy Girl quite enjoyed the sweet potato with the dish but gluttonous husband wasn’t so sure. We both agreed, however, we wanted to eat the prawn and pork separately rather than combine the tastes.
Pork belly with prawns
Next up was the dish of the evening – veal sweetbreads. A long skewer of grilled sweetbreads was served with a fennel salad, a hazelnut crumble, preserved lemon and a dollop of a dressing that again was an unusual flavour but had a bit of mustard heat. Dividing up the sweetbreads was the easy part. We also helped ourselves to the salad. Greedy Girl sampled the dressing from time to time and that proved to be a bit tricky – once the major elements were removed from the serving platter, the hovering wait staff wanted to whisk it away. We had to stop them twice from trying to take away the remainder of the sauce. Having said that, the sweetbreads were delectable and worked well with the freshness of the salad.
Veal sweetbreads
Our final savoury dish was a burger. This was a ‘chimichurri’ burger with provolone cheese, grilled tomato, caramelised onions and aioli. It’s also where the ability to share proved a little painful. Instead of being cut in two and a skewer each side keeping all the elements intact, it was served whole and the table knives weren’t really up to the challenge of cutting through it cleanly. Gluttonous husband persisted and handed over half to Greedy Girl. The beef was very nice, although she expected a bit more texture, given the other ingredients. A side dish of slightly pickled cucumber slices went down a treat – it gave a very welcome extra dimension. There also wasn’t much of a hit from the chimichurri sauce – a very Argentinian mix of herbs, garlic, oil and vinegar.
Chimichurri burger
Still, we were quite full by this stage, so any thoughts of ordering a steak dish quickly dissipated. We opted for dessert instead. This was a bitter chocolate tart, topped with a scoop of chocolate sorbet and some chilli flake-infused yoghurt. Chocolate and chilli is an excellent combination. Gluttonous husband, a fan of yoghurt, said it went very well with the chocolate but commented he could have used a bit more chilli. Greedy Girl stuck to the bitter chocolate tart and thought it was perfectly edible, if not a rave.
Bitter chocolate tart
Having downed the last of our drinks, we headed for the exit. Bochinche was an interesting experience with a myriad of unexpected flavours; for dinner it was a bit on the pricey side and that makes the lunch prix fixe specials look exceptional value.
Bochinche
115 Amoy Street, Singapore
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