The Tapas Tree(s) Christmas 2008 & New Year 2009, onwards and upwards

All three Tapas Trees had great and well-supported Christmases (with various Menu additions for the festive season), and phenomenal New Year's Eves, and with the aid of a silent auction (just before the tremendous fireworks display at Marina Bay), courtesy of the very professional Chris and Xiao Ru from the ‘Helping Hand Group’ http://www.helpinghand.com.au The Tapas Tree @ One Fullerton managed to raise a couple of $1000’s for the Leukaemia and Lymphoma Foundation of Singapore http://www.llf.org.sg, a cause very close to my heart.

We also did our very popular ‘Cochinillo Asado’ (roast suckling pig) for Chinese New Year (yet another best seller), along with a few more special Spanish Menu additions to reflect the theme, and as with all celebrations (Valentine’s Day, etc.), we try to put something uniquely Spanish on our Menus to reflect the occasion: best to check out our Website near the day, or ask one of our Managers what we will be doing for certain occasions.........

For an ageing Rock / Blues man it’s also been a great year for shows, after seeing Bruce Springsteen last summer, then Queen with Paul Rogers (with our GM and Chef, see following..........), at The Palau San Jordi (Barcelona). Also in Barcelona I have been privileged to see one of my all time favourite Bands, The Stranglers (a truly memorable night - YAS ), Southern Culture on the Skids, AC/DC, and an incredible show by Anthony & The Johnsons, at the Palau de la Musica Catalana! Off Barcelona’s Via Laetana is The Palau de la Música Catalana (Palace of Catalan Music), a concert hall designed in the Catalan modernista style by the architect named Lluís Domènech i Montaner. Built between 1905 and 1908 for the Orfeó Català, it is a truly awe-inspiring place to be: it has to be on everyone’s ‘when I visit Barcelona checklist’! I have actually never been in a concert hall quite like it and the most fitting place to see a Band such as Anthony & The Johnsons; I can’t thank the lovely YAS enough (an acronym, to protect the innocent), for introducing this particular Band to me: a truly wonderful, unforgettable evening.

Also brilliant, were Coldplay here in Singapore and Duffy whom I’ve also seen in Barcelona at one of my favourite clubs Razzmatazz, where I also saw The Stranglers.

If I get my way (no reason I shouldn’t), I’ll get to see Gary Moore soon in Barcelona, plus a host of others at the Benicasim Music Festival in the summer?

Specials: We have a host of ‘Specials’ too, planned at The Tapas Tree(s), too numerous to mention here, but most of which will be mentioned in our website, or our regular ‘mailers’ and at this juncture I feel it apt to mention that whilst I do like to ‘hang out’ in Barcelona and take in all the shows and everything else that the City has to offer, I also spend a great deal of time in researching new ideas, themes and recipes, to inspire our customers and of course visiting various Bodegas (not too much of a drag, really), two of which have stood out recently: Marqués de Cáceres, in La Rioja (whose superb wines we have always had on our wine list ) and in particular, the Vallformosa Bodega in Peñedes, whose award-winning wines and Cavas will be featured soon in our wine lists and special promotions, following my visit there, recently.

Of course one of the highlights of my trip there was lunch, courtesy of Oriol Domènech Vidal, whose dexterity with the Porrón is best seen to be believed! Whilst I have a steady hand and can extend the Porrón to the limit of my arm and keep the thing pouring into my mouth, without too much spillage, there is no way I can do as Oriol can, in aiming the flow into the centre of his forehead, with the wine running around the side of his nose and into his mouth, not a drop splashed, nothing in his eyes, nothing spilled: Brilliant, though I think I needed to be born on the Bodega as he was, to upstage that?

Back to the subject of Rock / Blues (and 'Specials'):
Sunday the 10th May saw us host a ‘doo’ for the Canadian Dragon Boat team at our Changi Village outlet, a truly great day (thanks guys!), with us belting out a string of hits from Led Zep, AC/DC, Roger Chapman, Big Bill Morganfield, ZZ Top, etc., there’s LIFE at The Tapas Trees!

Origins of The Tapas Tree

The Tapas Tree Group– background: Unlike almost all Brits, I didn’t discover Spain until later in life, when I was asked (some twenty years ago), to carry out some work for Shell España as a Consultant in the Offshore Oil & Gas business.

At that time we were based in San Carlos de la Rapita, a beautiful area in the Ebro Delta, Catalunya, where absolutely no-one spoke any English (mainly Catalan) , but where I could get by, by learning the basics of Castilian Spanish, which also proved useful everywhere else in Spain, funnily enough?

My few years with Shell España took me from San Carlos, to work in the North of Spain (Santander, Gijon...), then to Madrid, and of course, Barcelona, where, after this short amount of time in Spain, I realised what I might have been missing in life?

From those days on, I immersed myself totally into the culture of the Spanish, the food, the fiestas, the excitement, the colour, the music, the dance (yup, even the Bullfighting); I embraced it all with a great deal of enthusiasm, and have done ever since and now with an Apartment in Barcelona (my favourite City on the planet): I continue to do so!

 

As a traveller, I have always eaten as the locals do and as a keen (very) amateur cook, tried my hand at cooking the local dishes wherever I had lived, traditional Spanish dishes however, won me over (I make a mean Tortilla) and I absolutely loved the idea of the Tapa, where small tasty dishes can be shared with family and friends; never feeling ‘full’ always feeling as if you need another bite: such an incredible variety of seafood, meats, chorizos (spicy Spanish Sausage), shellfish, vegetables........  

Tapas: uniquely Spanish dishes (though a much abused term by some of my new ‘competitors’ in Singapore, but more on that subject later.....): from the Spanish word ‘tapar’ which means to ‘cover’ in Spanish, thought to come about as a result of Innkeepers in bygone days, covering glasses of wine with small plates of cheese or sausage, to stop flies and mosquitoes flying in?

Others say that tapas began to be served at the entrance to Inns, to satisfy the hunger of travellers who would halt briefly on their journeys, but had no time to get down from their horses or carriages even for a bite to eat and a glass of wine: hence, a small snack (the tapar, or ‘cover’) was passed to them on top of the wine for a quick bite and drink!

Whatever the reason for the ‘tapar’ I promised myself that one day I would open a Restaurant (or two or three), specialising in this wonderful and uniquely Spanish  way, of ‘fun dining’ in sharing these wonderfully  simply but incredibly tasty dishes, with  family and friends.

Hence, many years later and having travelled throughout the length and breadth of Spain many times and with a great deal more business experience; the first ‘Tapas Tree’ emerged at Clarke Quay, Singapore, in 2004. 

Through personal contacts (now partners): identifying the  correct site for our first Restaurant, researching many Restaurants overseas for the Chefs who could cook my favourite dishes in their truly authentic fashion, a designer who could help me simulate the ‘Spanish feel’ in my Restaurants, the selection of products from Spain, wines, etc.......

This gave birth to The Tapas Tree Group: now with three Restaurants of various size and location, operating profitably; we are by far the most original in South East Asia, for our food, our ambience (through music and dance) and our designs, from our hand-made mosaic tables, our eye for getting the Spanish ‘look’ through the use of terracotta, wrought iron and red brick, to the personal photographs of Spain that I have on display.  Not forgetting of course, the images produced by one of Spain’s most prolific and in-demand Flamenco Dance Photographers, Ana Palma. Our Spanish customers call us, ‘That little bit of Spain, in South East Asia’, a title that I am immensely proud of! 

Visits: Often in Spain, but late in 2008, as a quality control trip (oh, and coincidentally, we saw the Band ‘Queen!):  I took our Chef ‘Man’ and our GM ‘Zad’ with me to Barcelona, to sample some of the local delicacies. 

Here’s me drinking traditional Orujo

*beware anything that comes from an old and faded Cardhu bottle!*

 whilst the amused pair look on!! 

Here’s ‘Man’ with the Chef from Los Caracoles

a very popular place in Barrio Gotico, with a wood-fired chicken rotisserie open to the street, now how can you resist that?

Competitors: a most interesting thing for me since the success of our first outlet at Clarke Quay has been the competition in so-called Tapas that we now have around us in Singapore; they seem to be turning up everywhere! This is a fine accolade for an extremely well researched and very passionate about his outlets,  none- food & beverage (Oil & Gas) guy like me: but, please, anyone interested in competing, don’t steal my expensive menus (which happens all the time).  I am decent enough to put a comprehensive Menu on my website:  just enter and follow the ‘Gallery’ link and there it is for you to download, in English and Spanish. All you have to do is figure out how to prepare and cook these 80-over delicacies....................................... 

Business partners: we are keen to listen to any type of business proposal and have several interests in Franchising both within and out-with Singapore: for any personal information on Franchising, please contact: franchising@thetapastree.com  

Salut!

Phil