Sabio By The Sea - Singapore

Lovely ambiance sitting at a patio table, with a view of the marina, passing pedestrians, cool evening breeze after sunset, and the skies still light. Wine or cocktail or sangria take your pick. We had paella and tapas, and all at once were experiencing one of the lovely summer evenings in Spain. The menu is long. We chose the lighter and savoury tapas this time, promising ourselves we need to come back for the charcoal grill.

Just don't order the black ink paella, not great but their bread, chorizo plate, sardines. Patatas and meatballs are pretty good.

On cooler days, it's quite a lovely setup near the waterfront. But they have no fans so it can get really stuffy on a warm or still day. I like the food generally. It's tasty, freshly cooked. The sangria packs a respectable kick and doesn't have that too oxidised taste like some places. The pork shoulder and sliced steak from the ala carte I really enjoyed although a bit greasy they are very juicy and tender. We also really enjoyed the grilled pulpo, gazpacho. I've tried the classic and the squid ink paella, both quite good and had a bit of al dente bite to it with enough ingredients. First time I ordered it at Sunday brunch it came surprisingly fast. Another time I ordered paella on a weekday night (it was quite busy) it came really really late after our 2 rounds of food order were all eaten. Surprisingly the tomato bread was quite tasteless and hard..this is a very classic simple Spanish dish so you would think they should get it right. They do quite a nice All Day Weekend Brunch at $35. This includes, coffee, fresh juice, a basket of mini breads and croissants, a pot of yoghurt and a main course. You can actually order that to share and add more tapas/main courses on the side to get more variety. They take reservations. But the service... Ok, I gave it 4 stars overall which is more for the food and view. It's not that the service is rude or terrible. It just seems so overwhelmed when the restaurant is 1/2 full to 3/4 full. There is an Indian assistant manager guy and he works so hard. You can see him rushing everywhere to clear plates, take orders, get water...he should have 8 arms. There were 2 other staff that looked quite blur although they did try to get water/cutlery but they just weren't very experienced. And they have a 15% discount for Islander Pass holders..bit disappointed they didn't mention it when we asked if there were any discounts for credit cards. Use it or lose it!

I came here courtesy of a food tasting session, accompanying my girlfriend who's a food writer. So, the caveat for this write-up is that my meal was unpaid for. Judging it purely on the quality of the food unlike my other reviews where I also look at value for money. The fact that they have a fancy schmancy oven for grilling does make a difference! I tried the pork shoulders which was super tender and melt-in-your-mouth. On the other hand, I would recommend that you also get the ribeye, but do it medium rare as medium is a bit too tough. Other things to try are the grilled octopus which is a hot favourite. They use some purple potatoes instead of your normal yellow ones.

Not the best Tapas I have had in Singapore. Food was below par. However I loved the beautiful view at Sentosa Cove, next to all the fancy yachts and sailing boats. Both the advantage and the disadvantage of this restaurant maybe Sentosa Cove. Advantage is that beautiful seaside setting. Disadvantage is the higher price because it is Sentosa Cove with that view!