Olivia Restaurant & Lounge

Olivia Restaurant & Lounge is a Spanish restaurant and cocktail bar on Keong Saik Road, on the Tanjong Pagar side of Chinatown. Its cooking draws on Catalonia and the wider Mediterranean, with tapas, small plates and larger dishes to share.

Olivia opened in 2019. It was co-founded by chef Alain Devahive, who spent about ten years at elBulli, the celebrated restaurant in Spain. The restaurant is named after his daughter. Olivia appears in the Michelin Guide Singapore as a selected restaurant.

What to order

The menu is built for sharing, so start with a few tapas and then move on to a larger plate. Tapas on past menus have included Ibérico ham, bread with tomato, croquettes and fried Padrón peppers. Reviewers have also mentioned spherical olives, a modern technique made famous by elBulli's Ferran Adrià. Menus change with the market, so check what is on offer when you book.

For the main event, the Michelin Guide picks out the Segovia-style suckling Ibérico pig and the A Feira octopus. In the octopus dish, pieces of octopus and pork belly sit in a light potato foam with caramelised onion.

Leave space for dessert. Olivia's creamy cheesecake is its best-known dish. It mixes blue cheese with cream cheese, which gives it a rich and unusual flavour. The cake was so popular that it led to a spin-off cheesecake brand, Queic by Olivia.

The setting

The interior is the work of Lázaro Rosa-Violán, a designer based in Barcelona. Handmade tiles and a relaxed Mediterranean style set the tone. Daylight fills the room at lunch, and the lighting goes down for a cosier mood at dinner.

You can sit at the counter, which suits a solo lunch, or at a table with a group. The Michelin Guide also lists a terrace. The lounge side serves cocktails built around herbs, citrus and other Mediterranean flavours.

Good to know before you go

• Reservations: book online, by phone or by WhatsApp. Booking ahead is wise for dinner.
• Lunch: a set lunch menu runs alongside the à la carte menu.
• Drinks: the restaurant is known for its wine list, and there is a separate cocktail and drinks menu.

Nearby

Keong Saik Road is lined with conserved shophouses, many now home to restaurants and bars. Our Tanjong Pagar and Keong Saik guide covers the area in more detail. The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple is a short walk away, so a temple visit and a long lunch fit well together.

If you want to stay nearby, Mondrian Singapore Duxton is a short walk away in Duxton. For wine and baked goods, try HENRI Wine Bistro & Bakery. You can also browse more European and Italian restaurants or see all restaurants in Chinatown and Tanjong Pagar.