Colin Chan
Google
This venerable institution has a weirdly dissonant culinary identity, but the live music - even on a Tuesday night - goes down smooth.
Blu Jaz has been around for a while, and, after having survived some publicized adversity, continues to be a proud fixture in one of the coolest spots in Singapore. The current incarnation of Blu Jaz boasts something rather unique - two menus to choose from, one for Indian food, and the other for Italian. No, it's not fusion cuisine. The menus are distinct and the dishes stolidly traditional. But as a consequence you may enjoy a bowl of biryani with your margarita pizza (and perhaps embark on a few impromptu culinary experiments on your own, like dipping the pizza crust into the accompanying raita).
It's an interesting idea, but on balance I'd recommend just ordering from one menu or the other, not both, so as not to overdo any one macronutrient.
On the music, I've always dreaded live performances in Singaporean establishments (most are mediocre at best, awful at worst, and disrupt the normal course of a dinner with their cacophonous warbling), but if you're in Blu Jaz, you must be there for the express purpose of sampling the lineup. Luckily, they know what they're doing; on my Tuesday visit, at least, a mellow jazz band was playing and they were pretty good. Just don't expect to be talking to your dinner companions past 8pm (shouting is the minimum).
As for the food:
Liked:
- Mutton biryani. Pretty decent biryani, a little on the salty side but the mutton is fork-tender and the raita cuts into the savory richness quite nicely.
- Asparagus risotto. Also a little salty, but the texture of the rice is excellent and the herbaceous notes of the green stock shine through.
Ambivalent:
- Pizza. Overfried, greasy crust, almost brittle in places and too thick. More like a sheet-baked pizza, which was not really what I was expecting from an Italian menu.
- Pistachio tiramisu. Too much cream, not enough pistachio flavor and marsala-soaked ladyfingers.
