Restaurant Review: BAM! Dishes Out Spanish-Japanese Omakase Sets at Tras Street, Singapore
PUBLISHED November 3rd, 2017 05:00 am | UPDATED February 6th, 2020 05:32 pm
There are plenty of restaurants in Singapore offering omakase meals. It’s just that none of them are quite like BAM!, the establishment in Tanjong Pagar that recently took a leap and converted into a full-fledged omakase-only joint. For one thing, the food here is more Spanish than it is Japanese, which makes sense considering its Executive Chef, Pepe Moncayo, hails from Spain. As the concept of omakase evolves and sheds its traditional skin, what you get is an unpredictable dining experience that differs from day to day, without any of the formal rigidness.
To be clear, you won’t find any sushi at the restaurant, but a series of tapas dishes with Japanese techniques and ingredients – if you think about it, the nature of both are grounded in small, easy-to-eat bites and the season’s freshest ingredients. Purists will want to come with an open mind, though Pepe’s cooking, honed from his previous gig as Chef de Cuisine at Marina Bay Sands’ now-defunct Santi, eventually proves that BAM! is more than a novelty.
Tell them the number of courses (four, six, or eight) you want to go for, and wait for the good stuff to arrive. You might get an appetising pineapple gazpacho with compressed watermelon and junsai – water lily buds – to stimulate the palate.
There is an ankimo tofu dish, which despite its name, is made with monkfish rather than soybeans. It turns out that its liver, when steamed, is an absolute delicacy much like foie gras – with more umami too. In the spirit of ‘modern shudo’, a trend of sake appreciation, you will want to pair this with one of some 100 bottles, from over 10 breweries, on offer. It’s worth noting that BAM! also boasts three certified sake sommeliers on its payroll.
If you’re lucky, Pepe will surprise you with his signature congee with espardenya – the Spanish name for the intestines of a sea cucumber, which tastes a lot better than it sounds. He grills this on the plancha until just slightly charred to retain its springy bite – somewhat like squid, really – and serves it with a warm dashi porridge with mounds of egg floss, spring onions, and bonito flakes. You might even get the fabulous shiso leaves tempura, fried to a pale crisp and filled with mustard and a mouthful of fragrant olive oil tomato tartare in between.
There is a great grilled octopus gazpachuelo, that Pepe plates with a colourful (and more importantly, tasty) blend of sago and tobiko. As expected of a Catalan chef, you won’t go wrong with any of his eight-legged creations. Some of his other dishes are good as well, including a decadent, creamy potpourri of green beans, sweet ama ebi, uni, creme fraiche, and addictively tangy ponzu jelly, and another pork jowl item that he does with sesame, small onions, and emperor sprouts – testaments to BAM!’s cooking philosophy.
And then, depending on which set you choose, dessert. It’s perhaps (and hopefully) the excellent lemon pie that features a ring of torched meringue around a zesty lemon curd centre, and some more – squares of blond, buttery chocolate and crunchy roasted almonds.
As far as Spanish-Japanese fusion goes Singapore, BAM! is ready to surprise with its one-of-a-kind omakase. Still, we’d be kidding ourselves if we said a meal here is affordable. Having said that, before more such concepts pop up (and they undoubtedly will) around the island, you only have this spot – and what an indulgence it is.
BAM! is located at 38-40 Tras St, Singapore 078977, p. +65 6226 0500. Open Mon 6pm – 10.30pm, Tue-Thu 12pm – 2pm, 6pm – 10.30pm, Fri-Sat 6pm – 11.30pm. Closed Sun.
