Cafe Iguana

 

 

 

Very impressive, Café Iguana, located in Riverside Point, facing the Singapore River is the perfect place for after work chilling hangout or as a pre-clubbing place. The ambience is definitely festive mood and the place was packed with foreigners, office crowd, and party goers – mostly above 25 years old on the night I went. The restaurant had a very warm and friendly Mexican-themed interior with bright eccentric colors. Food is served on long tables and therefore if you want privacy, head for the tables outside but no privacy guaranteed here too as you will be literally sitting facing the walkway along the river.

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                             

Like most Mexican restaurants, we were served a bowl of nachos – really crispy. I have had experiences of being given almost soft nachos or broken pieces in some Mexican restaurants. Two side bowls of guacamole and salsa made the perfect balance of texture. The guacamole was made of ripe avocado; I did not taste the plastic taste of artificially ripened avocado. Very much to my liking, the guacamole had chunks of avocado, colors of diced tomatoes, enough lime juice to hold the dip on the nachos without dripping and almost neither there or not there kind of heat. What I found missing was the coriander leaves but it was truly a satisfying dip. The salsa was fresh, quite tomato-y and a bit spicy with almost smooth texture.

 

 

Next on the list of eatables was Smoked Salmon Tostadas – deep fried flour tortillas with smoked salmon, mixed vegetables and orange and chipotle dressing. In case, you don’t know, traditionally, tostadas were created using stale corn tortillas that are still fit to be eaten. The tortillas were toasted until crispy and then topped with ingredients of your choice – yummy smoked salmon was generously topped with the dressing.

  

I heeded the recommendation of Ms. Lisa Tan, the Marketing Executive and ordered the Carne de Puerco en Chile Verde – basically spicy rich pork stew served with in-house made soft tortillas, rice, beans and sour cream. I first had this dish in a family owned Mexican restaurant in California and this dish was almost like theirs. I am a fan of green sauces and the pork in this dish is simmered in seasoned green chillie sauce as well as diced green chillies, onions, garlic, and lots of cumin; cumin is one of the spices that is favored by the Mexicans and South Americans too. With it, I got a generous serving of piping hot soft tortillas – I had it, just the way I would eat chapattis, tear the tortillas and dip it in the pork stew!

 

The Camarones al Diablo – plump prawns sautéed with fiery hot habanero chilli, ginger, cumin and lime served with cheese quesadillas was a dish I liked very much too. Because the Diablo sauce was hot, the cheese quesadillas balanced the heat. Who does not like melted cheese with a zing? Quesadillas are basically cheese and other ingredients sandwiched between two flour tortillas and pan cooked on both sides till the cheese melts and then serve cut into wedges. It is very addictive when eaten dipped in the piquant Diablo sauce.

 

The Tequila grilled half chicken is another dish we tried. Tequila may put us to sleep but it certainly wakes up this chicken recipe! The chicken is marinated with lime juice and finished with a smoky and spicy tequila glaze. This is quite a tasty chicken with just a touch of heat and tons of flavors. It was served on a bed of poblano-scallop potatoes and grilled skewered vegetables. All the food at Café Iguana was created to accompany well with the drinks and was good value for money as the portions were generous.

 

 

The Dessert Devil was not satisfied with the dessert menu. The Sauteed bananas with Kahlua and brown sugar glazed bananas were   served with vanilla ice cream and it was an extremely large portion….I mean really generous portion.

 

 

 

Green Apple Enchiladas, basically flour tortillas with apples, raisins and mascarpone cheese, served with apple cream sauce and vanilla ice cream was different. Enchiladas are very classic Tex-Mex savory food but this was creative – use of traditional enchiladas making method but stuffed with an almost apple pie filling.

 

 

The bar at Café Iguana had a great collection of over 60 brands of 100 per cent blue agave Tequila and by the way this restaurant also offers one of the largest collections of Tequila in Asia and is one of the 180 establishments worldwide that have received the exclusive Award T! Their margaritas and tequila based drinks are supposed to be the best in Singapore! Therefore sipping such wonders from specially designed glassware to bring out the best tequila flavors certainly made the difference.

 

I tried the Partida Reposado Rita, known around the world as “the Bentley of Resposado’s”. This rich, smooth, aged but subtle flavored Tequila is in a class of its own. When it was placed in front of me, I was smitten by the beautiful amber gold color and when I sipped it, I know why it was called the Bentley!

 

The Iguanarita is the signature margarita made with fine 100% agave tequila and handcrafted Iguana Lager beer that is special, light and refreshing – direct from the taps of Brewerkz. The Paloma is a Tequila based cocktail made with refreshing Blanco fresh grapefruit soda. Between the three, I tried my favourite was the Partida Reposado Rita.

 

The staff were friendly and attended to all our needs even though they were busy doing something or another. I suggest ringing up the restaurant to reserve a place before you go.