Piedra Negra, Beach Road

 

For a long time, I had the distinct impression that this place (241 Beach Road, tel : +65 6291 1297) served Spanish food, but I've recently discovered that they do Mexican and a little bit of their menu are actually styled like tapas.

They had a nicely chilled and refreshing fruit guacamole that was whipped up with diced mango, grapes and sweet pomegranate seeds. I also detected a dash of heat which made the flavours a little more interesting.

The other nice chilled item which we had was a wild salmon ceviche that came laden with strawberries and green apple, sliced green chilli and mango. There was a very robust burst of refreshing lime from the ceviche itself counterbalanced by sweetness from both the mango and strawberry. And then a dash of heat from the green chillies. Texture came from a balance of fruit, vegetables and meat. What I liked of it all beside the fact that it made a good tropical weather eat was that the ingredients that they had used were really generous and fresh tasting.

We ordered a deep fried fish and shrimp taco which we thought was pretty tasty. What I liked was that every element of the fillings in the wrap (including a base of refried beans) could be tasted individually and as a whole, it was also brought together by a creamy and spicy cilantro based sauce. I know how I generally gripe about the weed that is the bane of my eating experiences but I think this one was pretty good.

There was a flap steak which I didn't know what to expect since the description on the menu only mentioned a certain black sauce and coarse salt. This stuff was actually pretty damn good in spite of appearances. The meat was tender and well naturally flavoured. I think there was some of that fat flavour distributed in the steak as well. What impressed me was also the presence of a well time char that added that dimension of broiled flavour onto the meat. I wished it was larger though.

Apple pie dessert was pretty much what it was. It didn't taste like it came from a factory, but it wasn't much to talk about neither.

I think this is definitely Mexican for me. As much as it looks like a street side watering hole, Piedra Negra was definitely run by someone in the kitchen that can cook. It has certainly washed off that less than satisfactory residual from Baja Fresh so all's good. Will come back.