[Tasting] Bearded Bella @ 8 Craig Road

Bearded Bella is a cosy casual eatery with good coffee, wholesome food and good company. Started by Regina Tay and Sarah Ling, the place exudes a lovely soft ambiance and staffed by fun, young adults. There's a front-yard where diners could chill outside too.

front-yard

Happy Birthday Bearded Bella!

Was invited for dinner and its dinner menu would be of sharing plates concept. A quick browse of the dinner menu had us easily identifying our dinner plates. But first order of things, would be....drinks, of course. It was TGIF after all!

Wanted something with sweetness and was recommended a G&T named as "The jam sessions." Special drink for its reverse infused gin and tonic. Botanist gin and tonic infused with mixed berries, lemon and sage. A lovely pinkish hued glass that is adequately sweet and easy to drink.

"The jam sessions" @$14

Or, you could opt for some bright gold sparkling Spanish cava. Fresh, crisp and with fine bubbles. 

Franck Massard Mas Sardana, Cava Brut Nature @$14

Snacks

Though we'd start strong with an order of beef cheeks. The portion was just right for us. We were a party of 3! The Australian grass-fed beef cheeks was braised in red wine jus till delicately fork tender and served sitting on-top of a puffy mound of creamy celeriac puree. Devoured in two bites. Ok, probably 3-bites for more lady-like dining.

Australian grass-fed beef cheeks @$15

SGD9 for two eggs are not exactly economical but glad I ordered the Devilled Eggs at Bearded Bella. Lovely golden yellow hues for its crips parmesan chip as well as the tasty miso yolk. Was pleasantly surprised with the slight sweetness at the end of the bite. Was there caramelised sugar?

Devilled Eggs @$9

Garden

Yes, it is mandatory to have two servings of vegetables for every meal. Hence, we got ourselves the cauliflower done three ways; roasted, couscous and crisps. Loved the puree in this dish. So creamy and milky. I enjoyed the cauliflower couscous and the roasted version but not the crisps as it tasted like dehydrated.

Cauliflower done 3-ways @$12

Regina sent us one of her favourite garden plate and that was how, the baby beetroot plate landed on our table. Would I have ordered baby beetroot? Unlikely. But after having a taste of this version, I'd gladly order one if I'm there again!

sweet baby beetroot, beetroot juice, pickled beetroot, feta @$10

Sweet is so apt to describe the baby beets. So sweeeeet~ in fact. So good with a bit of the feta cheese crumbs and those crunchy nuts. More please.

Sea

The treasures from the sea that we opted for was the sea bass. I liked that the sea bass natural flavours were accentuated with the coconut tom kha sauce and the fragrant curry leaf. Good mouthfeel overall.

Sea bass, lime, coconut tom kha sauce, grilled tomatoes, curry leaves @$22

Another dish that I enjoyed was the seared scallops. Good price point, reasonably sized and bouncy scallops with refreshing mint pea puree. Loved the colours on this plate.

Yuzu ponzu pan-seared scallops, mint pea puree, hazelnuts @$17

Land

Pork, beef or chicken? We had pork jowl as well as the beef cubes. Be warned that these would be quite filling especially after all the starters.

Seared Spanish pork jowl, honey truffle pear, celeriac and pork crackling @$13

Yes, we did the pork crackling test and it was amazingly crunchy! If you could only hear the sound of the crunch. So loud! Hahahaa! Yes, it was a tad embarassing but in a good way. For this dish, best to get a drink ready as the pork jowl was fatty and rich. Flavourful, oily mouthfeel with super tender meat and scoop a few of those julienned sweet pear and some celeriac mash. So good!

Of course, on the other extreme, you could opt for the healthy lean chicken. I think this would make very good gym food. Lean white meat that wasn't tough, clean tasting and paired well with creamy cauliflower puree.

Chicken, roasted butternut squash, cauliflower puree @$14

For the second most expensive plate around, it was the Australian grass-fed tenderloin cubes. 180g was enough to induce a short bout of meatgasm. The medium rare meat was jaw friendly, flavourful with each chew and complete with jus.

Australian grass-fed tenderloin cubes (180 g), yuzu shoyu, chili threads @$28

It was at this stage that we figured that we had eaten more than we should. Tummies filled and heart full.

But, what about dessert? Will we be able to bear leaving yet not knowing how dessert would have tasted like?

Plated Dessert

Dark chocolate and orange bread pudding @$13

Yassss to dessert! But because we only can choose one (as any more we would've combusted there and then), we exercised caution and a long deliberation before deciding on dark chocolate and orange bread pudding.

I think this plate was nothing short of magical. Scoops after scoops of that pudding went into our mouth as though we had not eaten anything for dinner prior! It was just that good.

Served warm, its texture was delightfully moist (or dare I say, molten?) and contrasting with the wonderfully cold (but melted too fast) vanilla bean ice-cream. Sweet endings indeed.

This is bounced up into the must-order list.

Thank you Kris for the invitation. To Regina, thank you for your generosity and hospitality. To Bearded Bella crew, thank you for taking care of us on our night of visit.

See you again!

Bearded Bella

Address: 8 Craig Rd, Singapore 089668

Website: https://www.beardedbella.com/

Contact: 9880 0775

Business Hours:

Monday to Thurs: 730am to 5pm

Fri: 730am to 11pm

Sat to Sun: 730am to 6pm