Blu Kouzina (Closed)

Blu Kouzina has been a place that I've been wanting to try out for years. Situated in a plush residential area on Bukit Timah Road. It's white and blue colours gives a very comfortable and friendly vibe. I've always seen groups of friends sharing a hearty meal together spiced with Greek food.The first floor dining area is more of an open concept with a view of the kitchen and the main Bukit Timah road. The upstairs dining area is air conditioned and is more spacious, capable of seating dining groups of 10pax. The walls are painted blue and the chairs and tables are wooden painted in white. There's a lot of daylight that comes in through the main windows facing Bukit Timah Road.Looking at the menu, they have very interesting offerings, such as grilled seafood platters, with the *hint that the fresh fish are from greece. The prices were pretty reasonable too. Here at Blu Kouzina, they place high importance on their extra virgin olive oil as it is their family's signature recipe!For appetiziers, though I could barely pronounce the menu item names, the description were clear and it was pretty easy to make a decision. Check out the dessert menu on the right. Items like Baklava is always a must at a greek restaurant. Other items like Galaktoboureko and Bougatsa were new to me.Every table gets complimentary bread and go crazy with the olive oil!!The bread itself was yeasty and had a nice salty flavour to it. The olive oil brought about a nice fruity flavour and aroma that leaves me mouth wanting for more! 1. Talagani Saganak $18.80++We decided to go out of our comfort zone and try something new. This is sheep milk cheese from Messinia topped with blu sauce. The portion may look seemingly small, but do not be fooled. The cheese is quite thick and dense. Two wedges of this and I was quite good!The edges of the cheese had a slight charring and was sometimes crispy, almost flaky. The cheese itself didn't smell too cheesey, which I was afraid of. Instead it had a mild sweet aroma and each bite was soft and chewy, almost like biting into a cheese stuffed bun. It was an interesting experience. Do give it a try!2. Mousaka $27.80++ *Highly Recommended* 6 STARS!!! Can I give this item 6 stars? It's the best Mousaka I have ever tried hands down, and this is not my first time trying it! A mousaka consists of oven baked eggplant with potatoes, minced meat and bechamel sauce. It came in a piping hot bowl with a very flat and smooth surface, off the top of the potatoes. You could see the slightly burnt edges, which were my personal favourite as it was slightly crisp!Check out the eggplant~! They were generous with the ingredients. The eggplant were so soft and moist, it had all the flavour from the minced meat. The skin of the eggplant had a nice silky texture to it too. Eaten together with the extremely flavourful and almost cotton candy styled mash potatoes, I was in heaven! Or Greece! Or Greek Heaven?! The minced meat was very tender, and you could tell it was well seasoned, fresh and alot of effort was taken into preparing this dish. Not all mousakas I've tried had such soft and tender minced meat, most had clumped up meat, being that it is seated at the bottom of the bowl.3. Kalamaki Souvlak $15.80++Beef kalamaki served with fresh onion, sliced tomato, in-house bread and lemon. After a very appetizing and excellent 6 star start of the lunch, this turned out to be just average and didn't quite WOW us like the other dishes. The beef had lots of juices, but the meat just tasted normal and I was contemplating not finishing this dish.I did like their in-house bread which was more like a toasted garlic bread that had a very biscuity texture. For the price, I think this is one of their cheapest main courses.4. Xtapodi Sxaras $29.80++ *HIGHLY RECOMMENDED*You know that Blu Kouzina works with the freshest of ingredients, some especially flown from Greece when you try this grilled octopus. It's like no other octopus I've tried. It is so tender, almost like a juicy chicken breast! This was a huge octopus piece, this blew our mind as we did not envision this! We starteed to slice up the octopus tail and stunningly, we realized how tender the meat was as you could literally cut it all up with a butter knife! The octopus had a very subtle flavour and aroma, but you could distinctly taste and smell the grilled goodness.5. Desserts (Complimentary)Galaktoboureko - Filo pastry filled with semolina cream filing and topped with homemade syrupApple with Cinnamon & Green Thyme Honey - The apple slices were crunchy and the cinnamon gave a very sweet fragrance to the apple. The honey was sticky and a bit too sweet for my liking, but after trying the Baklava, this honey was just perfect!Baklava - Filo pastry filled with walnuts and topped with Blu Kouzina's homemade syrup. I usually shy away from Baklava as it's too sweet for my liking, but this wasn't the case here. The flaky pastry was so flaky, I had difficulty trying to fork it! But the pastry melted in my mouth in an instant, before my mind started to realized there were chunks of walnuts embedded inside this sweet and delicious Baklava!Bougatsa - Filo pastry filled with semolina cream filing, served hot with powered and icing sugar and cinnamon. This pastry was indeed hot, you could feel it as I held up this plate in the palm of my hand. The cream filing oozed out and literally dissolved in my mouth! It was perfect, a great bread of sweetness and warmthOverall : Blu Kouzina will take you through a short, enjoyable and memorable trip to Greece. The food will not disappoint you! Be bold and try something Greek!! Service was excellent as the staff were very attentive and food came out in a timely manner continue reading

I am not in a position to judge the authenticity of the food here since this is my first time at Greek Cuisine. However, one can appreciate the simplicity of the ingredients and the robustness of the flavors from the food at Blu Kouzina. They have other specials that are not listed on the menu.For more details and pictures, visit : http://dairycream.blogspot.sg/2012/12/blu-kouzina-my-big-fat-greek-dinner.htmlWe tried the classic Greek Salad , Red peppers stuffed with spicy feta cheese, grilled lamb chops , beef patties and 2 desserts.Do not worry as the waiters are friendly and would explain the dishes to you. This was a great cultural exposure to not only learn about the cuisine but also the Greek words...the meal here for five is about the same as a meal at a casual Japanese restaurant. Nonetheless, it would be good if the saltiness of the salad can be reduced and if they can offer the starters bread for free. continue reading