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WINE&DINE
204
Jun14
EXPLAIN IT:
This cuisine is known for
Cajun and Creole regional favourites
like gumbo – a meaty soup thick
with seafood, chicken, sausage or
okra; po’ boys – overstuffed French
bread sandwiches; crawfish étouffée
and doughnut-like beignets. Cajun
cuisine, incidentally, is named for the
French-speaking immigrants deported
by the British from Acadia in Canada
to the Acadiana region of Lousiana,
US. Lousiana Creole cuisine, on the
other hand, blends French, Spanish,
Portuguese, Italian, Native American
and African influences with elements
of Southern cuisine. And arguably, this
city does them better than anyone else
(though don’t say that to someone from
Baton Rouge).
WHAT IS IT?
NOLA, or New Orleans-
style cuisine
ENJOY IT:
at Life Is Beautiful – Louisiana
Kitchen & Bar on Duxton
Already, at just after 6pm on a
Wednesday night, the place exudes
remarkable energy. That has to be down
to the Life is Beautiful team – an eclectic
mix of characters, many of whom seem
to have known each other for years.
Instead of NOLA’s typically soupy or
rice-based one-pot dishes, this menu
is tailored to be shared, and to fit in
with drinks and dancing. We especially
love the
pulled pork knuckle with
crackling
($21) and the spicy
gator
and fennel boudin
($28). Then we
demolish a whole
catfish
($38) and see
off a hearty pile of three-day-buttermilk-
marinated
fried chicken
($38). A
special feast menu is in the pipeline
for Tuesdays, just because Mardi Gras
means “fat Tuesday”.
It’s been claimed that cocktails were
actually invented in Louisiana during
Prohibition, as drinkers devised ways to
make moonshine more palatable. From
Virginian bar manager Tyler Hudgens’
back-to-the-classics list of cocktails (all
$18), we try a rye-based
Sazerac
, the
Louisiana version of an old-fashioned; a
delicious
French 75
; and then a girlier
Ramos Gin Fizz
.
Get here early for dinner to be sure of a
seat; later, some of the tables are moved
for dancing. Tonight there’s a special
event, Tropicália, to channel the Brazilian
anti-establishment artisticmovement that
arose in the sixties. DJ Ramesh plays
Afro-beat, dance hall, swing, jazz, funk
– “nothing too commercial”, says team
member Alyssa Kokilah.
This authentic, vibey place well
deserves its early success.
99 Duxton Road
6423 0939 | facebook.com/
lifeisbeautifulsingapore