Avg price: $65 with a glass of wine
For great wines and really tasty nosh
The rundown
RVLT is well known among the foodie set for a great selection of natural wines and superbly tasty nosh. The kitchen is helmed by Spanish chef-partner Manel Valero, who went on a culinary sabbatical around Europe and staged at some of the best restaurants and wine bars in various European cities. Except tapas-inspired small and big plates made for sharing with like-minded (by that we mean food and wine loving) friends.
The vibe
Tucked away along Carpenter Street, RVLT is super low-key on the outside, but it’s a whole different world inside. With underground vibes, the setting is industrial with exposed ceilings, long wooden tables and high seats, with warm and red (that’s right!) lighting. The service staff are super laid-back and know their food and drink well, and made many great recommendations when we visited. We also got the sense that they genuinely love working with one another, which results in amazing energy and synergy. This is a great place to toss back a few drinks with friends on a late night — the kitchen closes at 10:30pm on most days (and later still on weekends), and they stay open till midnight or even after, so there’s no stress about gobbling up your food. Our only gripe — the open kitchen meant we left smelling really strongly of food grease. Make this the last pit stop if you’re on a bar crawl.
What’s good
We’re going out on a limb here, but honestly, everything we ordered was seriously tasty, although we do have our favourites. For small plates, we really enjoyed the House-cured Duck Prosciutto ($16), which were just the right amount of oily and melt in the mouth tender, the Fermented Potato Focaccia ($8) that was served with a blow your socks off bacon-kissed relish, and the Mushroom Croquetas ($12) that were crisp golden on the outside and full of creamy mushrooms within. Before you move on to the bigger plates, order the Crab, Kohlrabi & Tamarind ($21) that pairs fresh crab meat with the crisp shavings of the turnip-shaped vegetable and an uplifting tamarind sauce. We dare say the dish is a must to balance off what would otherwise be a meal that’s full of heavy, heady flavours.
As for the bigger plates, we say skip the “A-La-Plancha” Prawns ($24), which are essentially chargrilled prawns with a wedge of lemon, and go with the Sweet Potato Gnocchi, Pork Ragu & Gremolata ($32) — pillowy seared gnocchi made all the more substantial with the tasty ragu. The only dessert on the menu is Passion Fruit Semifreddo ($8) that sealed a really good meal off on a fresh, fruity and creamy note. On wines, they only have a single white and red served by the glass (this changes as they like); the rest are served by the bottles. If you like variety or to have more choice in what you drink, come with enough friends to get a bottle or two.
Check out what the Burpple community says about RVLT here!
