Mia's Review: Kaixo

Middle of this month, I successfully planned a surprise birthday celebration for J at Kaixo by gathering all the girlies at a rather short notice. And yup, J and I settled for Kaixo because somehow we were having the same craving for Churros and Paella. Plus, Kaixo is just one street away from her workplace. So I guess, why not? :)

 Menu can be found here without pricing. 

In case you're unfamiliar, Kaixo is a Spanish restaurant that offers mainly cuisine influenced by the Basque region (Northern Spain) and their dishes are generally tapas. 

We didn't even wait for J to confirm our order (because if there were only J and me, we only need to order Paella and Churros) and we went ahead to get a black paella for 2 and risotto off the main menu to share. We also ordered a Kurobuta (black pork) Pork Collar with Pisto Bilbaina and Raxor Clams in sauce Vierge off their special menu. Not forgetting two servings of Churros with hot chocolate dip! 

Just showing the interior of the small restaurant and the cute candle table lamp! 

Ginger Ale - $4.50

The difference between Ginger Ale and Ginger Beer is that Ale is more dry as compared to Beer, that's all (as according to the server). And as per their explanation, this glass of ginger ale is a mixture of slight sweetness, tangy-ness of the lemon, a pleasant subtle spiciness of the ginger and the distinctive dryness of the ale. Coming from someone who enjoys a can of Asahi Super Dry from time to time, this $4.50 is a well spent. :)

Razor Clams - $16

I can see that the rest of the girls has the exact same "Huh!" look that was on my face when the dish was served. We've all overestimated the servings of tapas. It seems that there really is just ONE clam's serving in this dish. (Yikes!)

The clams were cooked to an extremely chewy texture, yet not 'rubbery' at all. You can guess from the generous amount of chopped tomatoes that they tasted sour, pleasantly sour, and makes a very good appetizer course. The only thing bad about this for me was, why so little? :(

Kurobuta Pork Collar - $18

Looks like beef, eh? But it's really pork collar! 

The pork is cooked to amazing tenderness, yet still has the chewy texture that gives the meat a very good bite. Every bite is flavourful and savoury with a hint of spices, brilliant. I'm not going to deny that I'm really not a fan of pork, but this is good! 

Risotto (Creamy Bomba Rice with Mushrooms & Peas) - $18

I shan't deny that I got pretty turned off when this was served. Look at the amount of peas! When I dug my spoon in, I was further turned off because it seemed extremely mushy and gooey. Alright, by now you should know I was never a fan of risotto.... But my views changed upon the first bite. Although it seems mushy and gooey, the rice were actually still pretty hard, which added on a very distinctively bite and gave a great contrast to the gooey cream sauce the rice was generously drenched in. Very creamy, with a subtle savoury flavour to it. I've carefully avoided all the peas so please don't ask me how they tasted, yeah? And erm, because a small serving for 1 was actually shared among the 6 of us, I didn't manage to fish out any piece of mushroom. However tasty, I can forsee myself being unable to finish even the small serving due to the creaminess of the dish. I'm not exactly a cream person, that's why.

Black Paella for 2 (My apologies for the blurred picture) - $20 per pax ($40)

First impression, serves 2? Really? The serving of this paella is almost like the risotto for 1! 

However, the rip-off serving aside, first bite of the paella was heavenly. The rice was cooked till the point whereby those rice crusts are forming (think of claypot rice, those last bits of rice at the bottom?), hence it's a brilliant blend of soft mushiness with crusty hardness, all in a mouthful of rice. The pleasant surprise of the texture is further sweetened up with a flavourful savoury taste that was slightly peppery. Just now I liked it! However, the seafood were less promising. They're generally overcooked, with the squid so terribly done I felt I was chewing some rubber tyres. In the end I totally gave up and swallowed it all, almost choking on the huge chunk of unchewable squid.

The strong flavour of the rice also got to me after a while, so much so that I felt they're too salty to stomach with my final bite. I guess this is why they're meant for two. The strong flavour makes it impossible to finish this plate of paella alone. 

Churros - $14

Yes, $14 for 5 sticks of fried dough covered in cinnamon sugar and a watery chocolate dip. MAJOR RIP OFF. 

If you're interested, you can check out my post on churros recipe, which I've done recently. This $14 Churros basically just looks prettier than mine, made thicker than mine, more generously coated with cinnamon sugar than mine, and comes with an additional dish of a very watery chocolate dip.

Major disappointment here. Need I say more?

All in all, the 6 of us spent $160 in total at Kaixo, and left the place still very hungry and heading directly to a dim sum place over at Chinatown for 2nd round. 

The food was tasty, no doubt, but the price was too high for comfort. I guess I'll go back to Medz for paella for now, and will make my own churros. :p

Kaixo is located at 96 Tanjong Pagar Road and is closed on Sundays and Mondays. 

Till then, 

Mia