Chillout at Praelum Wine Bistro

The cosy looking, relaxing Praelum Wine Bistro sits at the heart of Tanjong Pagar, to be exact, 4 Duxton Hill, Singapore 089590, and the number to stay connected is 6238 5287. We chanced upon it while taking a stroll to see what else is there besides Flor Patisserie.

This neat, edgy, modern drinking place boosts of soft lightings and earthly wood hues against a white backdrop. It is perfect for the office executives or professionals working nearby to unwind over good wine, or friends to gather for a good time in this wine-cellar ambience.

Nestled against the wall is a Vending Machine for Wines, yes. There are different kinds of wines basically, and you are given a card to track orders.

This is the card which you slot into the machine (see the green light indicator between the shelf of wineglasses and bottles of wines in above picture? Pick a wine glass, slot the card in.

Then place the wine glass beneath the slim metal pipe dispensing your choice of wine. For your information, the wine comes in different servings too - Tasting size, Half-Glass and Full-Glass. They're all priced differently, of course. 

This is such a unique concept as one gets to try many different types of wine in one evening.

After ordering food, the Bread Basket is being served. The crust is very crispy, I was surprised at first bite because I had expected it to be hard. The bread itself is cotton-soft, and tastes divine with their garlic cream cheese (served with bread). It was a rather awesome starter.

The Five-Spice Calamari was served next - juicy, crispy, tasty squid rings with thin crusts so one could taste the succulently-chewy squid flesh within. The homemade spice-mayo dip that came with it was awesome, bursting with different flavors.

Then the Roasted Vegetables with Goat Cheese was served next - comprising of peppers, zucchini, eggplant and yellow squash. It was a delicious and rather healthy platter of roasted delicacy - soft and tasty. Paired with the exquisite flavor of goat cheese, this was a hearty dish one could indulge in without guilt or feeling sinful.

The Head Sommelier / General Manager Gerald Lu was very friendly and knowledgeable about his wines and food; it was a delight to talk to him and chill out at this lovely, serene bistro. We spent SGD55.00 each (4 glasses of half-glass wines and 2 Stella Artois in all, besides food items).