A steeply priced beachside restaurant that will tempt you with exotic ingredients, but then skimps on said ingredients and pads out your menu choice with cheap filler.
There are so many places to eat and chill on the Siloso Beach Walk (nevermind on the entirety of Sentosa Beach itself), but it soon becomes apparent that Ola Beach Club is the most interesting one. This beachside bar on Sentosa Island features a vaguely Hawaiian menu, but Asian (especially Japanese) elements frequently pop up. You can also rent equipment from here to make it a memorable beach day like paddleboards, inflatable boats, and even a water-powered jetpack!
Click on menu pictures to enlarge
There are seating options for everyone. Furthest from the restaurant (and the hardest spot to flag down a waiter) are pairs of loungers stationed under umbrellas and with a small side table between them. Behind this line of loungers are deck chairs and tables also in comfortable shade. Closest to the restaurant are circular booth seats that surround a single low table. All of these are on the beach so you can kick off your sandals and feel the sand between your toes.
There’s seating inside too for strange people who come to a beach bar and want to sit inside for some reason. Depending on whether you’re getting a drink, a nibble or a full meal, you should choose where you want to sit accordingly. The view from Ola Beach Club is of peaceful swaying palm trees, the sea (which will always have ugly shipping boats in it) and, in our case, a girl trying to get the perfect Instagram shot.
We nabbed a couple of loungers and ordered some cocktails, which are the most interesting libations on the menu. This wasn’t easy as the staff seemed determined to forget we were there. We both got the Ke’o Ke’o Tiki ($18), which is made up of two kinds of rum, sweetened with honey, and includes almond extract for a lingering aftertaste. It’s a refreshing little beach drink, but very sweet.
They arrive in what are supposed to be menacing tiki idol cups, but these little guys are just so cute! Balanced on top is an inside-out lime half. In the lime-boat sits a mouthful of lychee-flavoured boba, which are incredibly juicy and explode when you bite into them. I’m really not sure what you’re supposed to do with these – pour these into the cup, or down them all like a shot? We dumped ours into the drink, which maybe was a mistake. There’s so much damn ice in these cocktails. When we reached the bottom of our drinks, we were digging around the cup to get those last bubbles.
We got a bowl of Ola Chips ($18) to nibble on. Nicely cooked fries, but the amount of guacamole and jalapenos was much too sparse for the number of chips provided. We had to top it with extra ketchup so there wouldn’t be any naked chips. Let’s not even talk about the supposed candied bacon, which was nearly absent in this.
Typical of places like this where you’re paying for the view and ambience, the food was below average but wildly overpriced. Charging a crazy premium is expected, but what pisses me off is Ola Beach Club then stuffing as much filler as they can, like the ice in the cocktails. This might have been the most expensive place we ate in Singapore, even though we got the least amount of food.
Price for 2 Pax (SGD): $63.55
OLA! Chips: $18.00
Ke’o Ke’o Tiki x 2: $36.00
10% Service: $5.40
7% GST: $4.16
Rounding: ($0.01)
Ola Beach Club
46 Siloso Beach Walk, Singapore
Sunday to Friday: 10am–10pm
Saturday: 11am–12am
Alcohol Served: Yes
