La Barra (The Star Vista) – First Colombian Eatery in Singapore

Maureen
Maureen
December 04, 2012
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Colombian food can be a very delectable adventure for your taste buds. It is based on African and European decent, which make Colombian food a unique blend of mouth watering cuisine. Now, you can try columbian dishes in La Barra at The Star Vista.

 
 

Opened by a husband and wife duo of French and Colombian descent respectively, La Barra is the first Colombian- inspired eatery in Singapore, a great place to enjoy wine cocktails. They offer an authentic Colombian street food, Partricia Klammers which is the wife designs the food offerings at the bistro while the interior design of the restaurant is taken care of by a Singaporean-based Colombian architect, Antonio Eraso.

 
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We shared a Picada Platter ($35) which is a tasty sharing meat platter with chorizo (pork sausages), carne asada (grilled beef) and sausages served with patacones (green plantains chips) & papas criollas (round potatoes).

 
 

Carne asada is flavourful sliced beef marinated with lime juice, garlic cilantro and spices. It was abit tough on that day but the meat has a tangy and smoky flavour. Dip it with the green chilli sauce for extra shiokness. The Colombian papas criollas have a thin, tender skin and a buttery yellow interior that yields an amazing flavor.

 
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We also had a special platter which is Beans Stew ($25) with crispy pork belly, avocado, eggs, rice and arepa. An arepa is a dish made of ground corn dough or cooked flour, very prominent in the cuisine of Colombia.

 
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Have you heard of ‘Lulo’? This is one of the most popular fruit juices in Colombia. It looks a lot like a tomato but has a citrus fruit taste and is drunk all over the country. If you ask a Colombian about Lulo you will see their eyes light up. Here at La Barra, you can to try Lulo milkshake ($6.50) which we can hardly find in Singapore. For something safer, try Mora milkshake (blackberry type fruit, $6.50) which is abit sourish.

 
 

Another drink that is favored by many of the Colombians is coffee. They start the day with coffee and end the day with the same. You can try their columbia coffee too.

 
 

Dining here feels like a roadside kiosk in Columbia but the price is slightly steep to me. The eatery doesn’t have air condition. So it was a abit warm in the afternoon, but it gets very windy at night and you can enjoy listening to columbia songs while enjoying columbia food.

 
 

However, service here needs some improvement. The waitress wasn’t attentive. It wasn’t crowded nor noisy when I went there on a Sunday afternoon but she had to constantly asked us to repeat our orders for her. And the waiter who served us was clueless what Lulo was.

 
 
La Barra
Address: The Star Vista, 1 Vista Exchange Green #02-21
Tel: +65 6694 2495
Opening hours: Tue – Fri: 4:00 pm – 11:00 pm, Sat – Sun: 12:00 pm – 11:00 pm, closed on Mondays