Foodbar Dada

$60-plate of grilled rib eye beef

Rating: 3.25 out of 5

In a city of escalating rentals, bijou eateries with shrinking footprints make perfect sense; the owners don’t just save on precious real estate costs, such petite spaces also seem to lure a hip and fun-loving crowd. Such was our expectation when we set out to visit Foodbar DaDa in their first few weeks of operation.

We circled Robertson Quay for this elusive hole-in-a-wall and found this blink-and-you-will-miss squeezy 20-seat eatery hidden behind a door of frosted glass panels next to Smitten Café. They will be expanding outdoors (24 seats, to be exact) in June.

At first glance, it ticks all the right boxes: it’s a retro-inspired industrial space with a lipstick-red floor, shelves stocked to the brim with bottles of alcohol and an interior fitted with chic recycled materials like wooden railway sleeper table tops and perforated metal sheets. These sheets afforded no leg room at the 12-seater bar counter; we’d likely be better off tucked away at the restaurant’s rear wooden table for five where a foursome was engaged in clandestine discussions during our visit.

The futuristic/industrial interior of FoodBar Dada

But the niceties stop here: the weekly-changing menu is presented on an A4 size paper with a tepid list of merely eight dishes typed out in bold font. Thankfully, this presentation will change, and some of the Josper oven-grilled dishes – this restaurant is owned by a Josper oven distributor – were palatable.

Barcelona-trained chef Aitor ‘Dante’ Olabegoya – an El Bulli alumni and 1999 winner of ‘Best Young Chef in Spain’ who has since (as owner Joseph Wong divulged) been let go – served up succulent and savoury morsels of grilled baby squid ($15) that were first sautéed in garlic, white wine and dried chilies, then tossed with egg; an oddly delicious Iberican surf and turf ($24) that combines Iberian pork with Serrano ham with a light-as-air mashed potato cream streaked with pearls of caviar also tugged at our heartstrings. The latter is incoming Catalan chef Manel Valero's signature dish.

But it wasn’t all milk and honey.

The grilled local mussels ($8) were pedestrian – uninspiring and lacking in the expected garlic or onion flavours. At least this has been removed from the menu. But in general, prices are a little exhorbitant: strips of grilled 390-day grain-fed USDA prime rib eye beef served with Spanish piquillo peppers was tender and smoky, but not worth the $60 price tag. We couldn't help thinking about Esquina’s aged rib eye with chimichurri dressing can be had for a mere $22.50!

When asked for a drinks list, we were told there isn’t one. Wong has since confirmed that this lack of menu will change. Not that we didn't like the personalised verbal run-down of the list of “custom-made cocktails, wines and beers – Asahi and Heineken only”, but we expected better, especially from Din Hassan - a 25-year veteran of the local cocktail scene. To add to that, the dessert chef was away on vacation, so we departed with half-empty stomachs and $135 lighter. We didn’t expect four plates of tapas and two half-pints of beer to do so much damage. At least we had our starters – now to settle dinner. 

In-depth ratings:
Food: 3/5
Service: 3.5/5
Ambience: 4/5
Value: 2.5/5

Must eats: grilled baby squid, Iberican surf and turf

Foodbar DaDa | Address: #01-12, 60 Robertson Quay | Tel: 9639 7862 | Opening hours: Tues-Sat 6pm-11pm

View the original article here