subsolo

Photo taken from yourBars website

A colleague highly recommended I check out this fairly new spanish restaurant and bar in the city called Subsolo. According to him, the ambience is fantastic - his sister was the master designer for the interior lighting and he proposed to his newly married wife there, the food is good and it's not too expensive. The restaurant also won an award (I forgot what award) just 2 weeks ago. Since I promised Mr GS I'd buy him dinner after I get my bonus, I made a reservation for us this weekend.

"Subsolo is an amazing underground space with a 'Barcelona meets New York' style decor and an ambience to charm and indulge your senses. Subsolo offers a modern Spanish A’la Carte menu featuring a wide selection of Barcelona Tapas, delicious rustic Main Courses and mouth watering Portuguese Charcoal Grills – known as 'Espetadas'."

From the dinner menu, we had the following:
- Crumbed Meatballs with Melting Manchego Cheese centres in Romesco
- Ensalada a la Española Marinated Garlic Calamari & Sardines, Jamon, Salami, Grilled Chorizo, Garbanzos, Pimentos & Manchego Cheese
- Paella with Chicken, Chorizo & Seafood

From the drinks list, we had:
- Bello Fin: Homemade Lemoncello, Maraschino liquer and fresh lemon juice chilled with a ginger and lemon emulsion. Served straight up.
- Spanish Beer 1906 Reserva SP 6.5%: Deep golden colour with lots of caramel malt on the nose, subtle leafy hops with a broad chewy palate and touches of citrus.

For dessert, we shared a Hot Chocolate Pudding with Melting Chocolate centre and Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.

My entire dining experience:

1. Food & drinks
The food is not fanastic. I've had better Spanish food elsewhere. The dessert was really quite disappointing. There was much anticipation for I specially saved some tummy space for the chocolate pudding but it just didn't wow me. However, the cocktail I had (Bello Fin) was delightful. Mr GS didn't quite enjoy his Spanish Beer, however he added by saying "Can't really say it's not good, it's just different, it has lots of caramel malt and I'm not used to its taste. I'll take a James Squire Golden Ale anytime though."

2. Ambience
The basement setting in a prestigious retail area gives it a very mysterious feel. When we first walked along King Street trying to locate the restaurant, we only saw the lighted sign 'Subsolo'. There was then a flight of stairs down from ground level leading into the restaurant. We couldn't take a peep beforehand to see how the place is like in case we wanted to change our minds. I'm not saying this just because my colleague's sister designed the lighting. But the moment we stepped into the restaurant, the decor just took my breath away. My initial suspicion of it being another dodgy basement place gave way to "wow check out the black chandeliers! wah see that red velvet drapes in that corner there!" and many other exclamations of surprise. I felt slightly relieved that I had kinda dressed up a bit (I wore a black long dress) or I would have felt so underdressed and out of place there.

3. Service
After the initial hiccup where we were seated at a long common table with 2 other groups of people although I made the reservation a week beforehand, I was ready to condemn the place for its lack of service. The long table was just next to the bar and was so noisy we couldn't even have a decent conversation without having to shout at each other. Very tak glam for me to shout across the table when I was in a feminine long dress mood, you know. But after the drinks arrived, we were moved to a proper table in the sit-down dining area. The service from that point on was impeccable. One lesson learnt here: if you intend to make a reservation, do specify you want a private table, not a seat at the common table.

4. Cost
When I promised Mr GS a treat, I stated my condition: total bill capped at $80 for dinner and Mr GS will have to bear the cost of drinks afterwards (I'm stingy haha). The actual bill came up to $107. The average cost of a tapas is $15 and $22 for a main. Fairly reasonable, I feel. (Without the drinks, we would have been close to our pre-set $80 limit) I would gladly pay this amount for the entire dining experience even though the food may not be as good as I expected.

If you'd like to check out this modern tapas place too, it's located at 161 King Street in the city. For reservations, call 9223 7000.