Tapas 26 Dempsey – former Spanish restaurant La Ventana rebranded, re-located

The Spanish restaurant La Ventana at Dempsey Hill has rebranded itself and moved to another location within the Dempsey village. It is a stone’s throw from the old location. Tapas 26 Dempsey is the new entity. The place is new and it no longer has the collaboration with Michelin-starred chef Charles Gaig. Yet the layout and feel of the new restaurant felt roughly familiar. Chef Gaig, in the meantime, has opened his own restaurant known as Gaig Restaurant in downtown Singapore.

Reminding us of a previous visit to La Ventana, the Tapas 26 Dempsey restaurant is a short walk down a garden path from the road.  We walk past an alfresco area before entering the restaurant. The furniture appears to have been brought over. These round marble tables used to be inside. They now have to weather the elements.

The restaurant is done in a modern smart casual style. It is a very relaxed place, particularly on a weekday when we only shared the space with another couple.

Tapas 26 Dempsey Menu

Here are pictures of the Tapas 26 Dempsey. On weekdays they offer a three-course set lunch with coffee priced at $48++. We did not go for that as we focused on another deal that was available for the month of June 2018. One main course free if we booked through online reservation website Chope quoting the stipulated code.

Tapas 26 Dempsey Wines

There is a wide range of Spanish wines in the Tapas 26 wine list.  Faced with a mostly unfamiliar lot of wines we did our usual guess-work. Pick something that is probably safe –  the Rioja region, then look for something not so young and within budget. That was how we ended up with a bottle of 2012 Laderas de Cabama ($81). It was a nice food-friendly wine. Fruity and not tannic, but not very complex.  It was suitable for the main courses that we were about to order as the Chope offer meant that we were restricted to the “From the Land” meat section of the menu.

Some nice bread and olive oil before the real food arrives.

The first starter was “our Spanish omelet with cod loin” ($14). The Tapas 26 version of omelette was quite different from the Spanish omelette that we are used to. This was served in paste form out of a jar. It looks strange but the taste was extremely good.

Our other starter of padron peppers ($12) was prepared in a more orthodox way. We liked the good portion size but wished that the peppers were a bit more roasted.

The two main courses that we selected were the crispy suckling pig with chestnut puree ($42) and the Iberian pork ($44). The slice of suckling pork was juicy and delicious. The skin was the highlight – light and super crisp.

The Iberian pork was a good cut of pork covered with crispy pork and toasted coffee. The latter explains the black covering of the meat. It did not add to the taste but added to the appearance and texture of the surface.  It was another good meat dish at Tapas 26 Dempsey.

We had a good experience during our visit to La Ventana. The food and atmosphere at Tapas 26 were equally good. The people, while still friendly, was not as warm as those we recall from the previous place.

Ratings:
Food: 4
Service: 3
Value: 3
Atmosphere: 5
Overall Rating: 4 TOPs 

Tapas 26
26B Dempsey Road
Singapore 247693 Map

Opening Hours:
Tue-Sat: 12-2:30pm, 6-10pm
Sun: 12-2:30pm, 6-9:30pm
Closed Monday