Lumbre

Jamon Iberico Croquettes 3/5
Squid Ink Fideua with Argentinean Prawn 3/5
Beef Short Ribs with Smoked Cauliflower Puree and Broccolini 2/5
French Toast with Yoghurt Ice Cream 3/5

A great meal deserves a wonderful finale, and the Pineapple With Catalan Cream ($16++) is a fantastic finish to any & every meal at @lumbre.sg. The wood fired grill that made the meats majestic is called into action one final time to grill up a sixth (?) of a pineapple, and it transformed Spongebob’s old house into a delightful dessert.⠀
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Pineapple is absolutely divine when grilled, as the heat evaporates the water in the fruit to leave behind all those lovely sugars. Lumbre’s pineapple took it up a notch, adding that sexy smokiness to the concentrated sweetness of the sweet & tangy pineapple. While the pineapple did lose some of its water content, it’s still plenty juicy, and every bite is bursting with its sweet & sour juices, enhanced by the smoke imparted from the grill.⠀
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The pineapple is stellar on its own, but trust Lumbre to turn it up to eleven with a generous application of Catalan cream all over the pineapple flesh. Catalan cream is similar to crème brûlée, but it’s made with milk whereas its French counterpart is made with cream. This gives it a heavier, milkier taste & consistency, and I’d call it a charming cross between ice cream and custard. Cross the Catalan cream with this grilled pineapple, and you get a divine dessert fit for the greatest of meals.⠀
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Look Spongebob, I’m sorry your house got repossessed, but this pineapple dessert is absolute FIRE.

No meal is a proper one without dessert, and @lumbre.sg trio of desserts are fit to finish any meal on a sweet note. All the desserts are priced rather reasonably at sixteen bucks each before additional surcharges, so glucose enthusiasts will be quite thrilled.⠀
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First up was the tiramisu, which did seem a little out of place on a Spanish restaurant’s menu. However, it rightfully deserved its spot on the menu, as it was a delightful dessert. It’s utterly inundated with extra strong espresso, which has fully permeated everything from the sponge of the ladyfingers to the mascarpone cheese. There may be coffee liqueur within, but all I know is that this potent dessert will satisfy your sweet tooth and give you a caffeine boost.⠀
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The second dessert was the Caramelised French Toast, but this French toast is superior to any other versions you may have had before. The thick pillar of bread is exceedingly eggy, as the center of it is effectively a custard. No joke, slicing into this excitingly eggy French Toast will reveal a slightly flow-y, molten custard core, and each superbly spongy & sweet bite will bring ecstasy to all consumers.⠀
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While I’m always receptive to a brilliantly boozy rum & raisin ice cream, the r&r ice cream served on the side of this fabulous French toast was a bit disappointing. It was still very much frozen over, as I was crunching into little shards of ice within what I was expecting to be a smooth, creamy & boozy ice cream. Can’t win ‘em all, I guess.

Yet another pasta offering by @lumbre.sg is the Rigatoni Pasta Stuffed with Seafood and Bisque Sauce ($28++). However, this one was more memorable than the preceding pasta dish due to its uniqueness & unctuousness. Stuffed rigatoni isn’t common, so it was a novelty that needed to be sampled.

The hollow cavities of the al dente rigatoni pasta are stuffed with a chopped up seafood mix, swaddled in zucchini slivers and immersed into a shallow pool of foamy seafood bisque. The bisque is undeniably umami, with a deeply satisfying salinity that could only come from shellfish slowly boiled in seafood stock, and it’s the main seasoning for the entire dish.

The zucchini is sliced into ribbons so thin they’re translucent, but they’re thick enough to render a refreshing crunch as you gnaw on each individual rigatoni. It’s a welcome textural contrast to the soft, al dente characteristics of the rigatoni pasta and the perfectly poached seafood stuffing within. Speaking of the seafood filling, it was brilliantly bouncy in texture, while maintaining a satisfyingly meaty chew as you bite into it. If I were forced to guess the identity of chopped seafood trio stuffing, I’d say it’s a medley of prawn, squid and perhaps a smattering of clams within.

At the end of the day, the identity of the seafood components within the rigatoni don’t quite matter, as they are merely a congenial component in a dish that unites the best of each element to create a superb symphony of sumptuousness on a plate.

The penultimate entrée served to us at @lumbre.sg was, without debate, the absolute best, blowing us all away with its ethereal excellence. The Beef Short Ribs with Smoked Cauliflower Purée and Broccoli ($36++) is the pièce de résistance of Lumbre’s wood fired grill, and showcases the chef’s mastery of the grill.⠀
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The short ribs are taken from an Angus cow, and the quality of the beef is evident at first glance. The meat is so majestically marbled with fat that it leaves no doubt as to the tenderness of the short ribs. And they were tremendously tender indeed, and I swear my slice of short rib melted in my mouth. On god man, I barely even had to chew before it fell apart on my tongue. It’s stunningly smoky from the grill, and seasoned sublimely. The rich demi-glacé enhanced & turbocharged the already sapid beef, and was a great binder to tie the short ribs to its accoutrements.⠀
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Speaking of the side pieces, the cauliflower purée was smooth as butter, creamy, and downright delicious. While it’s spectacular in its own right, it’s best enjoyed a little smear at a time atop a slice of that stellar short rib. All that richness may sound like too much of a good thing, the grilled broccolini on the side is there to rein the richness in and clear your palate. Smoky, a little bitter and vegetal, it’s the yin to the yang of the incredibly indulgent beef short ribs. Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.⠀
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While I do think that some items on Lumbre’s menu fail to live up to their price tag, the Beef Short Ribs are worth every single last penny you’ll splurge on it. It’s truly that transcendent.

@lumbre.sg Seafood Wet Fideua 'Arroz Caldoso' with Calamari and Smoked Eel ($48++) sounds exotic, but despite it being Spanish, it was highly reminiscent of a local Singaporean favourite. Arroz caldoso literally means ‘broth-y rice’, and it’s the Spanish equivalent of a risotto. But what the heck is fideua? A quick google search revealed that it’s paella, but with thin pasta noodles instead of paella rice.⠀
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Due to the noodles being cooked in a stunningly sapid seafood broth, each and every single soft noodle is utterly laden with umami. The little bits of calamari mixed in provide an irresistible chewy contrast to the soft noodles, and the flavours are sublime. Remember when I said that Lumbre’s fideua was a dead ringer for a Singaporean favourite? That’s right, this was essentially Spanish fried seafood bee hoon. And it’s essentially excellent too, with charred crispy bits at the bottom of the cast iron pot begging to be scraped off the pot and into your eager maw once you’ve devoured your way through this pot of piquant noodles.
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The slab of unagi-sorry, smoked eel on top was delicate in texture, but incredibly bold in flavours. Smoky, salty, seared spectacularly and simply stellar, the moist eel was well deserving of its place atop the redolent fideua. However, forty eight bucks before tax & service charge is a shockingly steep ask considering that it’s not a notably large portion. I tried it and relished every last morsel of it, but I’m not entirely sure if I’d order it again.