Landing in Spain, it felt. Expat Choice reporter Joanne Flinn had gone as far as Changi! Tucked into the ground floor of the very modern PLQ, opening onto the forum area, is Pura Brasa, a Spanish char-grill restaurant that has had a loyal following at its Tanjong Pagar outlet and has now landed here.
There's a lovely covered outdoor area with shade from sun and rain, and a sleek indoor space refitted in modern Spanish style, blacks with brilliant red neon touches that give it a funky edge. There for lunch, my eye's caught as I walk in by the neon scripts along the wall, their reflection casting a warm red glow even in the early afternoon. The kitchen sits to the right, the dining area to the left. You feel like you could step straight into the kitchen. And I did.
But first, the food.
Channelling my best lady-who-lunches, I was there for a leisurely lunch with a glorious glass of wine and a new-to-me companion who was fascinating. He's a long-time corporate turned food blogger who met his wife in the early days of blogging. Their courtship meal practice was to travel along an MRT line, get out, find somewhere new to eat, and write it up together. A practice he says still continues quite some years on. Rather a cool idea, given Singapore's restaurant turnover means there's always somewhere new to find.
We began with tapas. Abuelas meatballs, the chef's grandmother's recipe of beef and pork in a sauce that went well beyond tomato, with onions, capsicum, seasonal mushrooms, and crispy potato cubes alongside. Then an Iberico pork collar satay with Indonesian-style peanut sauce, where the Josper grill had created a lovely crisp caramelisation on the meat that lifted the whole dish.
I need to introduce the Josper grill to you. Not an open grill, it's an enclosed charcoal oven. It's far more than a Weber, as this is a Michelin-star piece of equipment. The external finishing alone was beautiful, with a brass plaque on top. Yes, I was invited into the kitchen to see. It was about a metre across, with two to three layers of briquettes, giving the chef real sensitivity over heat and smoke. Higher up for a slower, more infused effect. Lower down, directly over the coals, for intense searing. When Chef Lluc opened it, a magnificent puff of smoke billowed out. And in the restaurant itself, you felt none of it. Watching him roll the briquettes and judge the timing by intuition was a privilege. This is a family-run business, he and his brother are the chefs in Singapore, with close connections to the Josper company itself. There's also a Pura Brasa in Bangkok for anyone travelling through.
Back to how this showed up in the food. The white sweet corn was divine. Grilled so the sweetness intensified, served with a touch of butter and sliced into quarters for easy nibbling. And in contrast, grilled broccolini (which I admit I had not ever thought to grill) served with romesco sauce and escalivada emulsion. The frondy tips were properly charred while the stems stayed tender. Very, very good.
Then the mains. A grilled Argentinian strip loin with crispy fried potatoes and house-made chimichurri. I'm a fan of their chimichurri, and it was brilliant with the beef. The Josper had seared the outside while keeping the inside beautifully pink, and the grill crispness on every slice gave a sparkle — a strange word for a grill, perhaps, but the lift in flavour on the palate was really quite something.
This was contrasted with grilled octopus, served with an escabeche emulsion, potato parmentier and a touch of paprika. Getting octopus tender off a grill is a Mediterranean talent, and Chef Lluc Brossa Argany had it. The lightness and freshness of the sea balanced the robustness of the sirloin perfectly, and the char effect on the octopus was entirely different again.
By this point, I'll admit I was full. Which was perfectly timed, because we took a break and that's when I went into the kitchen to see that amazing grill.
Back at the table, the Iberico pork paella arrived. The richness of pork paella, as opposed to the more common seafood version, made it a genuinely different dish. The paella pan on the Josper created a caramelisation I hadn't experienced before, pork jowl, crispy pork bites, and vegetables chopped so fine they were almost the size of the rice grains, so every mouthful carried an amazing range of flavours. Now, feeling rather well fed, some of this was tahpao-ed and yum for lunch the next day.
And dessert, because in a Spanish restaurant, one must. A burnt Basque cheesecake. Exquisite. Three guesses where it was cooked. Actually, I'm not sure it saw the Josper, but they definitely know their burning. And a Catalan cream with a soft hint of real Madagascar vanilla and something at the back of the nose that my memory says was violet. Faintly, beautifully.
Around us, the PLQ lunch crowd told its own story. Influencers at one table, styled and purposeful. Corporates at the next. A couple of people stepping in from the street. A very pleasant place to be, particularly if you're on the east side. And for anyone whose work takes them near PLQ, I look forward to seeing you there.
They also do pork ribs and lechon aka suckling pig. Just so you know what you're getting into if you really are ready for the full celebration!
Find them at Pura Brasa,
1 Paya Lebar Link, #01-01 Paya Lebar Quarter 1, S408533
