Lumbre

Opened in 2022, Lumbre is a fire Spanish restaurant serving up flamed grilled dishes on a small plates and big plates concept which is perfect for sharing

As one of only 16 Spanish restaurants in Singapore with the Certified Restaurant from Spain Award, Lumbre uses authentic Spanish ingredients in its menus. Lumbre has both indoor and outdoor spaces for diners to choose from but we went for an indoor seat as it was too warm to sit outdoors

There are 2 areas within the restaurant for customers; the main dining hall and the inner dining room. The main dining hall is more suitable for smaller groups and overlooks the open-concept kitchen so it can get slightly warm as you sit nearer to the kitchen. The inner room has bigger tables for bigger groups and is quieter compared to the main dining hall. We got the table at the main hall and fortunately, we did not feel greasy after the meal even though we were seated next to the kitchen

Lumbre has a wide variety of both cold and hot tapas served in small plates and the price per item is also on the high side. Mains are limited to just 6 items and 4 choices for desserts

Our first tapas was the croquetas de jamon, which are basically fried aged ham croquettes. Each serving was SGD 12 for 3 pieces and we got the servers to serve us 5 pieces since there were 5 of us at the meal. Each piece was priced at SGD4 which is quite pricey. While the croquettes were creamy, smooth and savoury with a crispy exterior, the price was quite a deterrent for me to order more

As we ordered a bottle of wine, we were given this dish free. This was the patatas bravas which was potatoes with bravas sauce and aioli. The bravas sauce has a nice peppery flavour and tastes like a mix of tomato sauce with paprika. When eaten together with the aioli sauce, the potatoes have a nice creamy and peppery flavour which is quite addictive

I had fried eggplant with honey in another Spanish restaurant and really loved it so when I saw eggplant fries on the menu, I decided to order. The serving size was small with a price of SGD 14 but the eggplants were well fried and tasted great with the honey provided as a dip. The batter was light so the fries were not overly crusty or crumbly

One tapas which was not in my first order was the Padron peppers since I cannot take too many chilli peppers and I was also not sure about paying SGD 14 just for grilled chilli. My friend insisted on ordering this and I was pleasantly surprised by this dish as the chilli was grilled till the skin was slightly crispy with a charred flavour and as it was lightly seasoned, it was savoury with a light kick from the chilli peppers. It was not spicy at all and was extremely addictive as I ate peppers after peppers but you can get quite thirsty from eating too many peppers due to the salt

The last item we ordered from the tapas list was the Calamares a la plancha which is grilled squid served with garlic olive oil and caramelised onion. I love squid so this dish was a must-order for me and it was great that the squid was cooked well without being rubbery. The squid was tender and had a light charred flavour with a citrusy garlic sauce. Priced at SGD 28, I feel there is still room for improvement as some parts of the squid were slightly tough. If this was priced cheaper, I would be more forgiving since it is not easy to get squid cooked well

Another dish I will always order in Mediterranean restaurants is the Octopus and this was part of the mains section of the menu. Chargrilled octopus is served with Iberico pork belly and Chorizo foam. The end result is a creamy and tomato-based flavoured dish with small chunks of pork belly and chorizo. I could not really taste the chargrilled flavour of the octopus as the flavour of the sauce overpowered the taste of the octopus. Rather similar to the bravas sauce, the gravy in this dish was savoury and peppery with a tinge of tomato flavours. While the dish was not too bad tasting, it was not worth its price tag of SGD 32 and we immediately regretted not getting the lamb or pork chop at a few dollars more

Lastly, we ended the meal with paella which is another dish you must order at any Spanish restaurant. The first impression of the dish, when served, was just disappointing as it was priced at SGD 38 and the serving of seafood was quite pathetic. The squid ink rice was also very hard and tasted almost like scorched rice. The serving was so small, that everyone only had 2 spoonfuls of the dish and the rice was quite salty. We added the lemon to balance out the saltiness of the rice

Overall, the price of the dishes at Lumbre is really high and some of their dishes are not worth paying the hefty tag. The mains we had were disappointing, especially the paella and I am not sure about a Spanish restaurant that cannot get their paella done well. While some of the tapas were delicious, I probably will not visit them again as I have eaten at other Spanish restaurants with better food in the same price range

Address: 30 Victoria St, #01-20, Singapore 187996

Operating hours: 12 pm to 3 pm and 5 pm to 11 pm