"Please, just one bite," cajoled Derrick Lim, patting my shoulder like a solicitous Asian grandmother. "You have to try this dish." A certified sake professional, Lim had been explaining the concept behind his latest venture — a sake-and-tapas bar called Bam, located on Singapore's trendy Tras Street — and was eager to demonstrate the harmonious relationship between Spanish food and Japanese nihonshu. "The chorizo is a great match for the sake," he continued, pouring me a glass of Shichida Junmai Ginjo from Saga Prefecture and pressing a fork into my hand.
It's not that I didn't believe him. The look on my face was not one of skepticism, but of defeat. I'd just finished a 10-course dinner at the Tippling Club, one of Singapore's best and hippest fine-dining restaurants, around the corner from Bam. That meal had begun with a salvo of eight intricately crafted amuse-bouches (which together count as one of the 10 courses) and had ended with me vowing to go on a diet immediately. Earlier that afternoon, I'd had the tasting menu at Jaan, another of the city's top restaurants. After a full day of gorging, I stared at the plate before me — a pile of deep-fried chipirones (baby squid), sprinkled with chunks of spicy chorizo and served with a soft and wobbly onsen tamago (lightly poached egg) — with a mixture of curiosity and dread.
In the end, I couldn't resist taking a few bites. Fried squid is one of my weaknesses, and the dish paired well with the sake: The saltiness of the chorizo highlighted the gentle fruitiness of the brew, and the egg matched its smooth texture. "There are many similarities between Japanese and Catalan cuisine. Both use a lot of seafood and ingredients high in umami," said Pepe Moncayo, Bam's executive chef and Lim's business partner.