The Singapore Food Scene is unique as it is shaped by the many international cuisines that you can find here. Now, food lovers can rejoice with Salta Argentine Parrilla + Grocer being the first Argentina restaurant in Singapore.

Just exactly what is Argentina food? From what I understand, Argentine cuisine is strongly influenced by European cuisines, and their diet consist mainly of meat.

A few of us were late and it was almost 9pm by the time the food was served. Needless to say, we were extremely hungry and everyone was glad to see a table full of meat.

Salta Argentine restaurant has quite a few interesting Argentina appetisers like the Matambre (stuffed beef roulade), Molleja (grilled sweetbread) and Salchicha (grilled pork sausages), but to save our stomachs for the main course, we only had the Empanadas and the Sweet potato fries.

You have heard of Barracks Cafe’s truffle fries, but have you tried Salta’s Batatas Fritas sweet potato fries ($4)? Essentially, they are deep fried sweet potatoes, and I feel that they actually taste better than most fries.

Empanadas ($6 for 3) are pastries filled with meat and vegetables which are well known throughout Spanish speaking countries, being one of the signature dishes of Argentina food.

The Empanadas from Salta were shaped like curry puffs, but the pastry was slightly drier to help to soak up the sauce of the filling. If this is your first time trying Argentine cuisine, be sure to try the Empanadas at Salta restaurant.

After the two starters, we dived straight into the grilled meat from the Argentine Parrilla menu, with most of the items being priced between $20 to $30.

Amongst the five of us, we shared a serving of Solomillo de cerdo or Black hog pork loin ($24), Beef Tenderloin ($30 for 300g) and the Parrillada platter for 4 ($70 for 2, $125 for 4).

The Parrillada platter consisted of mixed grilled like: beef sirloin, beef skirt, chicken, pork, sausage, sweetbread, vegetables & potatoes.

The chicken was surprisingly good. It was succulent, tender and very juicy. On the other hand, the rack of lamb wasn’t as well-prepared. Maybe it was down to personal preference, but I thought that the meat had a rubbery texture and there was a very strong gamy taste. The pork from the platter did not taste as good as the Black Hog Pork Loin which we ordered separately, and rightfully so since it was a lower grade of black pig. Both the beef skirt and sausage were good and hearty, but nothing much to shout about.

I am not sure if we were too hungry, but I felt that the platter did not have enough meat to serve four.

… And so we had more meat!

Picking up the fork and knife, I had my eyes on the prized black pig. We started to slice the meat eagerly, and boy, it was good!

Intensely, and wonderfully flavourful, Salta’s Black Hog Pork Loin (first photo) had just the right bite and in fact, this was the most memorable dish of the night. Well, I could be biased since I love pork, but really, you must try this if you are going to Salta Argentina restaurant.

We also had a separate order of Beef Tenderloin, but I cannot really remember much of it as I was too distracted by the Black Hog Pork Loin. Longingly — like a kid with his nose pressed to the glass outside the toy shop — we watched as the last of the meat was gone.

In many ways, Argentine parrilla is similar to the Brazillian Churrascaria, except the delicious grilled meat is portioned individually instead of being served on a skewer.

This was my first time having Argentinian food so I was not sure what to expect from it. Before I went to Salta Argentine restaurant at Icon Village, I did a quick search on Google and learned that the Flan De Dulce De Leche is one of the popular desserts amongst Argentine cuisine. I was actually scanning through the dessert menu before ordering the main course. The chocolate volcano cake also caught my attention, so imagine my reaction when we missed the last order by the time we were done with the meat.

For those of you who are still looking for a nice restaurant to have your Valentine’s Day Dinner, you can consider Salta Argentina Restaurant if both of you are keen to try Argentinean cuisine.

Singapore Food Blog Review
Salta Argentine Parrilla Restaurant
12 Gopeng Street #01-56/57
ICON Village Singapore
Tel: +65 6225 8443
Note: This is an invited tasting.