SUBSCRIBERS

Open Tables

As Phase 2 kicks in, new restaurants are preparing to finally open their doors

Jaime Ee

Published Thu, Jun 25, 2020 · 09:50 PM

TUGA SINGAPORE

(OPEN JUNE 19)

COVID-19 delayed Carlos Couto's plans to open his little Portuguese enclave in the heart of Dempsey village, but since June 19, the veteran architect turned wine importerrestaurateur has been happily serving customers amidst a shortage of staff.

Tuga - short for 'Portuguese' - is the Singapore offshoot of Tuga Taipei, a successful Portuguese wine shop cum restaurant that Mr Couto opened five years ago. The Singapore collaboration with Quek Sue-Shan of the SPRMRKT restaurant group will follow the same setup that emphasises its extensive collection of Portuguese wines, with food to accompany them, rather than the other way around.

"Portuguese wines are very good but underrated," says Mr Couto, who lives in Macau but has been happily "stuck" in Singapore for the past few months because of travel bans. "I import wines from 14 regions and 31 DOCs, so my concept is to bring in the best wines from these regions, along with the best ingredients from the top producers in Portugal from codfish to…