Zorba The Greek Taverna - Lovely Place with Lovely Food

Zorba is the first restaurant where I actually dine outdoors in the afternoon. It happened due to my schedule, my craving for Greek food and my curiosity on dining right by the river. Luckily, I wear light and there are at least 10 fans to keep things really cool. The place is really very scenic, with Singapore River and the rows of low rise heritage buildings at the opposite bank as backdrop. And from this place, I can see the unobstructed view of the whole stretch of blue sky. Best of all, it’s pet friendly!

And with the friendly and sincere service (a shout-out to the young lad staff who responds to all my requests immediately and always with a smile), delicious food, dining here is really a lovely experience. I'm starting to like this form of dining at the outdoors, provided there are beautiful view, good service and great food, of course.

Garides Saganaki, which is Pan Fried Prawns with Tomato Sauce, Feta Cheese, Baby Salad and Rice, is such a lovely dish that is bursting with nuanced flavours, peppered with the intensity of Feta Cheese. The super huge, fresh prawns are so briny sweet and succulent. The tomato sauce is rich, mildly sweet with an iota of tangy taste, and it's the perfect sauce to soak the rice in to yield pure comfort food of goodness. The rice is also very flavourful despite its appearance. I think it had been cooked in light broth. I love this dish.

Kalamari is served with just a slice of lemon for extra taste, so I do wonder if it will be plain without any sauce. Well, these deep-fried, super tender squid rings wrapped with crispy batter taste very good on their own, no sauce needed. Pretty addictive snack, I had easily finished these in minutes 😁

Yiaourti Me Meli is a simple dessert of Greek Yoghurt drizzled with honey and topped with walnuts, and it works. Greek yoghurt is renowned to be the best yoghurt due to the creamier taste and thicker consistency, and this tastes even better with honey for the sweetness and walnuts for the crunchiness and nutty flavour. I do wish there are more walnuts added. A good light dessert to end the meal with.

I'm actually surprised by how good the food is in this restaurant since I had this assumption that restaurants at Clarke Quay area is more about the ambience. Yup, assumptions are the road blocks to discovery of great new adventures. I'm glad my curiosity overrides my assumption this time for me to take the leap to check out Zorba. Of course, the well-rounded menu of Zorba also attracts me to here too.

With the good food here, I think I'm way more eager now to specially take time to come here in the evening to enjoy the amazing scenery here. I saw the photos of evening scene here, they are gorgeous.

Thoughts: Lovely Dining Experience!

3A River Valley Road

Nearest MRT: Clarke Quay

Bakalaki Greek Taverna - Rewarding Journey for the Adventurous

I had always been curious about Greek cuisine, but never got around to trying until now. And a meal at Bakalaki made me realise how much I had missed out on. Better late than never. Greek food is very different in taste from French and Italian food, but it is delicious, simulating, filling and hearty nonetheless. And dining here feels like being transported to a sunny town in Greece.

Navigating through a Greek menu is so exciting because I can't understand a word of it and it's my first time 😂 Luckily, there are English "subtitles" beneath each dish for me to make an informed choice. I decide to order Tzatziki at first look because one, I think I saw this word before, so it should be a pretty famous Greek dish, and two, I like its ingredients of Greek yoghurt–best yoghurt, cucumber, garlic and olive oil. The service team lead is very thoughtful to suggest two dip platter instead, so that I can try another kind of dip and I, as a solo diner, will not be overwhelmed by huge amount of one of kind of dip. I opt for Taramosalata, which is white cod roe with lemon juice and breadcrumbs.

Tzatziki is so creamy and refreshing in taste. The tangy flavour of the yoghurt complements the cool element of cucumber so well. The garlic adds a hint of distinctive aroma to further spice things up. Spread it on the delicious pita bread with pillowy interior, this is pure comfort food, with lots of zest.

Taramosalata is more intense in taste. Not bad, but I prefer Tzatziki, which totally whets the appetite.

Super fluffy bread with crusty exterior is a joy to much on. This is the first time I try bread sprinkled with rock salt and oregano, and I love it.

I get a shock when Htapodi, aka  the Octopus, is presented onto my table. My first thought is, "Is it possible for me to finish this?" And to add on to it,  I'm not even a fan of octopus.

But this dish manages to convert me into a fan, and I know now why this is a speciality of the restaurant. The octopus is unbelievable tender. In fact, this is the most tender octopus I ever have, baby octopus aside. Slightly chewy but still easy to bite, packed with light briny flavour accentuated by splashes of lemon juice, and laced with a thin layer of smoky taste and charred meat, this is oh-so-good. By the way, I easily finish every bit of this.

Galaktoboureko, which is flaky thin Filo Pastry stuffed with semolina custard and Greek honey syrup, looks simple and is simply yummy. Semolina is a kind of durum wheat used to make this custard that is slightly different from the usual custard. This custard has more structure and is more curd-like in texture, I like it. And it pairs excellently with the slightly stretchy thin pastry.

Nice complimentary House Shot presented during dessert time. By the way, the restaurant is very generous with the house pour of red wine I had ordered 👍 

Too crowded and since I don't like to post photos of patrons' full faces, except myself, thus a cute sticker added here.

The place is beautiful: full of little details, like the bird-like lamps, the bougainvilleas, the straw-hat lamps, ratan chairs, , white-washed walls, full-panel glasses to let lots of natural light in to add to the dining experience. It reminds me of the famous Greek island, Santorini that I see in the photos.

The service is very good, being polite, professional, friendly and prompt to response. The team lead guy takes very good care of me by informing me to order dessert later and offering to hold my order of chicken skewers due to the possibility of me not being able to finish everything. And true enough, due to the generous portions of food, I have to limit what I can order. I'm really impressed by this thoughtfulness.

There are other food items that I really want to try here, not to mention a dining experience here really perks up my interest in Greek cuisine, so I look forward to be back again.

Thoughts: Greek food is awesome!

38A Martin Road

Nearest MRT: Havelock or Great World City