Food review: Superloco at Customs House

SINGAPORE — For a country with one of the world’s most diverse dining scenes, Singapore is still behind when it comes to good Mexican restaurants. Sure, there is a small handful, but we remain hard-pressed to find a breadth and depth of Mexican cuisine. Having opened two swiftly popular restaurants in the last four years, The Loco Group has nudged its way into that cabal of good Mexican eateries. Both Lucha Loco and Superloco purvey that winning formula of trendy design meets menu of familiar yet inventive fare. 
Their latest Superloco outlet is no different. Situated in an enviable waterfront spot in Customs House, it is already thrumming with life, thanks to a captive audience from the surrounding business district. 

THE VIBE
Occupying the once sombre space vacated by Italian restaurant Procacci, Superloco’s owners have thrown open the glass walls to highlight its breezy, idyllic location. Admittedly, it is far more idyllic after dusk when the heat of the day dissipates.  
Its interiors may have taken inspiration from the ramshackle vibrancy of Mexico, what with handmade tiles and hand-painted artworks, but its owners’ Aussie roots are also starkly evident. There is a sense of airy modernity in the tasteful splashes of muted colour and the brass accents that lend just the right amount of polish.

WHAT TO ORDER
With a cuisine built on beans, cheese and meat, Australian culinary director Chef Jason Jones manages to bring a sense of lightness to the dishes served here. Never mind that a bowl of esquites or sauteed sweetcorn (S$8) is blanketed in mayonnaise and cotija cheese. There is enough lemon in the mayo and acidity from a squeeze of fresh lime to cut through it all and complement the wet crunch of the corn kernels. 
Mole, Mexico’s national dish, is reinterpreted as a dipping sauce (mole Oaxaqueno, S$7), resonant with a dark sweetness, smokiness and spice. The kitchen reportedly “roasts and toasts” 30 different ingredients, such as sesame seeds, tomatoes and mulato chillies, before hours of stewing and a quick finish with chocolate and vinegar. The velvety sauce is served with supple tortilla y sopes (small, thicker-than-usual corn tortillas). 
In the menu of family-style plates is a whole barbecued sea bass (S$46) served with cleanly flavoured red and green salsas, if that’s your thing. But what I can’t get out of my head is the Cerdo ($S32), a slab of spoon-tender pork belly cooked overnight with agave, onions and vegetable stock and then grilled before serving. Presented with batons of grilled pineapple and a creamy black bean hummus, it alone is reason to gather your friends for a meal here. 

WHAT NEEDS IMPROVING
Because the menu is so vast, that something-for-everyone cliche holds true here. If we had to nit-pick, then the cerviche was too acidic for my taste, while the Tres Leches dessert (S$13) came with some stodgy blinis. 

VERDICT
A lovely new addition to the waterfront. It’s not just the food that’s good; the drinks — showcasing the largest selection of agave spirits and plenty of aged tequilas — are as much a part of the draw. ANNETTE TAN 

Superloco
Where: 
#01-04 Customs House
70 Collyer Quay 
Telephone: 
6532 2090
Opening hours:
Monday to Friday noon to 12am, Saturday 5pm to midnight
Closed on Sunday and public holidays