I learned 3 things last night.

1. The name of this restaurant is not "eff-oh-see". It is pronounced the same way a gangster from a Guy Ritchie movie would say "F*ck" 🙊. And it means "fire" in Catalan.

2. There're two more FOC restaurants opening this year. One will be on Sentosa's Palawan Beach and the other, in Orchard.

3. The food at FOC is "focking good" (sorry, I couldn't resist that 😏 ).

Across the board, Catalan cuisine struck me as being unabashedly vibrant in appearance and flavour. Basically, be prepared to be bombarded visually and more importantly, tastefully. And for the latter, it's such a fun ride that your pumped up tastebuds will be all too happy to hang on tight and scream their heads off on their rollicking journey.

Now that I have painted that very weird picture in your head, let's move into saner territory. In normal speak, we were very pleased with every dish that came our way. Between the two of us, we inhaled close to ten items. Pictured above were the ones I managed to snag a good photo of before greed got the better of us.

Clockwise from top left:

Octopus Galician Style ($22++): The masterful preparation of this tricky seafood ensured my teeth only encountered delicately springy tenderness through and through. First slow-cooked then charcoal-grilled, smokiness from the lightly charred edges of the octopus made it all the sexier.

Baby Squid with White Wine and Egg ($18++): If I was forced to choose my favourite from all that we ate, this would be it. Being extremely partial to garlic, I couldn't help but be dazzled by the intense garlicky-ness coupled with the heady wine found in here. You would think the baby squid would not stand a chance against such strong elements but nope, their terrific sweetness was equally potent.

"Xapadillo" Eel and Pork Belly with Egg Yolk and Cauliflower ($20++): This was the most multi-textured dish of the night. The shatteringly crunchy grilled eel and the slightly chewy pork belly tasted best when swished through the rich ooziness of the yolk.

Open Tortilla with Peppers and Iberico ($26++): This arrived in the large pan it's cooked in so our eyes were first treated to a spectacle of the colourful ingredients spread across the eggy tortilla. Then, using a pair of spoons, the chef proceeded to deftly roll it up for us to savour. Because the kitchen didn't have any truffle when we were there (it's listed in their menu), Iberico ham was used instead. I didn't have any issues as it tasted heavenly with everything else.

Just to add in closing, if you are coming with just one other person, I'd recommend counter seats so you can be entertained by the kitchen's hustling and bustling action. Groups of three and above would find sitting at a table much more conducive for conversation.