Argentinian Beef Brunch at Bochinche (Martin Road)

Brunch is big in Singapore. At a wild guess there's probably hundreds of cafes all over the island serving up coffee, sausages, eggs, waffles and all the other 'usual suspects.' A lot of these cafes can tend to be a bit generic in the grub they serve up, though, which is why we're always excited to try something different - like the Argentinian-inspired fare served up at Bochinche!


The premises on Martin Road are huge (for Singaporean standards) with the larger indoor floor complemented by a small al fresco (cool, breezy) area. Bochinche also has a grilled Argentinian beef-focused Dinner menu. As we mentioned, we're here for the Brunch, though - starting with a Flat White and a Cappuccino ($6 each). The coffee is really similar to the java from the downstairs sister outlet Common Man Coffee Roasters - we wouldn't be surprised if it was the same beans, or even the same barista.


For mains we try the Chimichurri Burger v2.0 (Provologne cheese, bacon, tomoto, onions and egg, $29). Your mileage may vary, of course, but for me a burger needs to be eatable with two hands. The burger here is certainly not eatable with hands and so I end up using a fork and knife. Not cool.

Nevertheless, taste-wise the burger was uber delicious! Chopped up bone marrow is added into the mince, which gives the patty a wonderful depth of flavour that really is two thumbs up. Texturally it was disappointing, though. By the time I was halfway through the burger the juices had soaked the bottom patty into a papier-mâché-like paste, and the minced meat kept spilling out everywhere.


The 'mixed bag' theme continues to the Poached Eggs with braised ossobuco on toast ($25). We thought the eggs were gorgeous - perfectly poached with a lovely runny yolk, and the toast was sturdy and substantial enough to handle the juices. However the beef on it's own was rather lacking in the taste department, being very unevenly seasoned. Ossobuco is slow-cooked braised beef/veal shanks, by the way.


Since the mains come without any accompaniments, we order a side of Chips Provenzal (thick-cut chips with garlic and parsley, $10) - these had very nice flavour, with most of the chips having a good crisp on the crust. Would order again.


If you had been keeping track, you might have an inkling of what the final bill amount would be - $89.45 (after taxes and service charge) in total. For us this is very pricey, especially for a Brunch meal with really not that much food.

To conclude, the food and coffee here was pretty decent but very expensive, so we really don't see ourselves coming back - we'd much rather just save the elevator trip and eat at the cafe downstairs.

Bochinche is open from 11am-11pm on Tuesdays to Sundays (Brunch on weekends only). Reservations accepted but probably not required. Non-halal.

Argentinian Beef at SALTA Argentine Parilla (ICON Village)

I love steak. If it weren't for such trivial issues as cholesterol, keeping fit, eating healthy, etc, I'd eat it way more often than I do.

That, and the strength of my wallet. Because unlike most other foods, commercial restaurant steaks are either good and expensive (SGD100 plus cuts at Cut, Prive, Morton's, Ruth Chris) or cheap and not worth your dollars (Aston's? Please, you'd be better off buying a nice rib-eye and searing it yourself at home). There isn't normally a decent "middle ground," so we're delighted to find out about Salta Argentine Parilla and Grocer which will hopefully fit the bill.


Salta is located at ICON Village, a 3-5 minute walk South-West from Tanjong Pagar MRT station. It's hard to imagine a mall that's more dead; hopefully the lack of pedestrian traffic doesn't affect business too much. The restaurant's centrepiece attraction is a 15-foot long Charcoal BBQ Grill, on which the chefs grill up chicken, lamb, Argentinian beef, and other meats.


After our orders are taken, we're presented with a loaf of pretty nice bread. What we liked was that instead of a slab of butter, the bread comes with a small tub of some sort of olive oil'ed and balsamic vinegar'ed pâté.

Empanadas are an Argentinan specialty and are remarkably similar to large glazed curry puffs. Except that instead of a curry chicken filling, there's about ten different choices - we try the Cordero (lamb & tomato), Carne (beef & capsicum), Jamón y Queso (ham & cheese) and Espinaca (spinach). They're all pretty tasty, and at SGD10 for four empanadas, great value, too.


Our next starter, the Chorizos Tradicional, goes for SGD25 and is a quite-substantial three sausages in itself. We don't care much for the bratwurst-like white colored sausage because the meat is too 'smooth;' but the other two darker sausages are chunky, lumpy and juicy, and delicious.


We also order the Saltoast for SGD8, because it's marked as "must try" on the menu. It's an interesting take on garlic bread - slow toasted until crispy, with loads of cheese and anchovies; the taste of garlic is drowned out though, for you garlic lovers out there.


Food's been good so far, so we've got high expectations for the Ojo de Bife (Rib Eye steak, SGD35 for 300gm). Unfortunately the steak is let down by being unevenly cooked. Some bites were nicely seasoned; others could have used a shake or two of salt and pepper.

What's worse was that even though we ordered medium rare, the steak was medium-well-bordering-on-well-done on one side, and rare-bordering-on-blue on the other, thus we only had half the steak done to our preferred temperature in the middle. A cooking snafu that shouldn't happen in any restaurant, much less one that specializes in steak.


We're not sure if the photos bring it across properly, but we were served a LOT of food, and at the bill coming in at just $83 for two people, it's pretty good value. Shame that the steak was a disappointment, but perhaps it was an off day for the chef? The other dishes were good enough for us to definitely come back again to give them a second try.

Salta is open for lunch and dinner from Mondays-Saturdays (closed on Sundays). Non-halal.