Spanish cuisine isn’t exactly very wide spread in this county. As far as I’m aware, there are only a handful of restaurants that go the whole deal instead of only having some tapas on the menu.

As the new kid on the block (just barely a month old when I visited), El Meson is true to its Spanish origin, from tapas to iberico pork. I was overjoyed when I saw El Meson on the list of restaurants that are running the Merry Guinness promotion, and chose to come here without thinking twice.

El Meson at Bangsar Telawi 3

Situated at Telawi 3 just right across Bangsar Village 2, El Meson is a pretty nicely decorated restaurant. There’s the bar with a proper Guinness tab and seating areas around it. Dining tables sprawled around the 2-shop lot restaurant with at least half a dozen tables set along the walkway ala alfresco.

It is a pretty chic yet comfortable set up along the busy street.

cold cuts as appetizer, Guinness the main meal, chocolate cake the dessert

To start off dinner, we ordered the cold cuts as appetizer. The menu stated – iberico, serrano, parma, salami, salchichon with melon & olive (RM68); which basically means a few different types of very delicious pork with some olives and rock melon. They were really, really delicious. It was no less than what I had at Bermuda and Onions over a year ago.

And of course, the pint of Guinness went very well with the meat, saltiness of the cured pork versus sweetness of the melon versus the slight bitterness of the black beer = perfection.

Chilean sea bass, Capellini aglio olio with prawns and scallops

For our mains, Karen and I ordered the Chilean sea bass spaghetti (RM 46, one of the two dishes that comes free with a perfect pint of Guinness during the promotion) while Elfie chose to have Capellini Aglio Olio with prawns and scallops (RM 39.)

Both dishes were quite excellent, the sea bass fresh and not over cooked, with the pasta and its sauce tasting just right too. Elfie too gave her thumbs up for the aglio olio, now if you know Elfie you’d know that this girl can be very critical, if it’s not good, she’ll just tell it to your face that it is horrible and then proceed to blog about how bad it is on her blog.. or something like that.

KY, Karen, and Elfie with some Guinness

We capped off the night with a couple more glasses of Guinness and a slice of chocolate cake to share. While the food was great, service at the restaurant proved to be slightly slow at first, probably due to the fact that they were just opened.

However, the manager Miguel (a guy with Spanish origin, no less!) was very friendly and did take care of us exceedingly well. I am sure this place warrants many returns.

This occasion also served as a testament that good food and drinks can bring people together, Elfie is the first fellow Kadazan girl that Karen met despite having stayed in this region for 4-5  years already. Here’s one to Guinness!

For more information on Guinness 250 anniversary promotion and the list of participating outlets, check out Guinness Malaysia facebook page. You can also find all my previous posts with Guinness (including last year’s promotion) here.

Address:
El Meson espanol
No. 61-63, Jalan Telawi 3,
Bangsar Baru, 59100 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.130435,101.670978
Tel: 03-2282 8290

Tags:  Bangsar,  elfie,  guinness,  karen,  parma ham,  pork,  spanish cuisine

Posted by KY | 28 Comments »

A couple weeks ago baby Marco’s father invited me to have a food tasting session at this curiously named Bermuda and Onion at Cangkat Bukit Bintang. Since I was bringing a couple guests, he reminded me that this place serves pork, more pork, and nothing but pork! My drool started flowing just from hearing that magic sentence.

note: Unfortunately this place has gone halal (updated jan 2010)

love the decoration of this place

During the weekend, parking around the area was surprisingly easy to find. We were greeted by this absolutely beautiful interior decoration the moment we stepped into the restaurant, the lime green wall, egg shaped lamp on the curvy ceiling fan, the patio, the bar, the chairs; this place looks like something out of a romantic movie, a striking contrast from the nearby Jalan Alor kopitiams.

bruschetta, parma ham with asparagus, prawn, and okra on skewers

As 2 of my buddies and I waited for TBG and her lesser half, we were served some bruschetta with olive oil and balsamic vinegar to start the day off. Very nice.

Then the pork dishes began, in a small way at first. Out of the three skewers we had, two of them had pork in it. The prawns and parma ham was absolutely fantastic, the asparagus and bacon was equally delicious with it’s contrasting texture and taste of vegetable vs meat. Ladies fingers and tomato gave a pretty good balance to counter the meat just a little. It was a very good start, and I was quite impressed already.

cold cuts, caesar salad, parma ham with rock melon

To warm up our stomach further before the main dishes, we were presented three other appetizers: cold cuts, caesar salad, and prosciutto and melone.

The cold cuts came with three different types of meat with some olives. I love two of them but find the harder type a little bit too much to handle with it’s dryness and more pungent smell (purists would love it though). Caesar salad came with plenty of prawns, bacon, Parmesan cheese and egg. It was very refreshing and delicious!

However, my favorite of the day has to go to the prosciutto and melone. I never knew parma ham could go so well with rock melon, the saltiness of the meat and the sweetness of the rock melon was absolutely brilliant! You must order this when you go to Bermuda and Onion, do not forget this!

wild boar fettuccine, bread dumpling soup, pork chop ala mustard

Then came assault of main dishes. The wild boar fettuccine was pretty strong tasting, with generous chunks of wild boar meat and mushroom cooked with fresh herbs. The speck ‘canedarli’ gnocchi is a homemade Italian bread dumpling served in double boiled chicken broth and Parmesan cheese. The chef explained that they’d have made this bigger in Italy as compared to here.

Then of course, there’s the pork chop ala mustard that came in a huge plate. A generous slab of pork chop is pan seared, and served with creamy Dijon mustard sauce and plenty of mash potato. Very rich and creamy but really good.

sea bass and roasted pork belly

Just as we thought the lunch session is coming to an end, two glorious dishes appeared. The interesting looking sea bass and roasted pork belly.

The sea bass, as with most dishes from this restaurant, didn’t escape the influence of pork. Mantled with parma ham and served with mixed sauteed vegetables, it gives you a false sense of enjoying “healthy” seafood but of course, with a more satisfying experience through the taste buds.

As for the pork belly, what can I say? Proper and glorious layers of pork skin, fat, and meat served in a thick brown sauce with mashed potato and Lardoni bacon, I can’t help myself but to continue slicing it up and chew em down despite already being very full.

hot restaurant manager Sharmini, and good Chef Max

We capped the day with a hot cup of cafe latte, it was definitely the best lunch I’ve had in a long while. Chef Max and restaurant manager Sharmini were very friendly, as with baby Marco’s parents as well.

Price wise, I’d think this place is pretty reasonable. The skewers are RM 8-9, my favorite parma ham with melon at RM33, other main dishes are priced at around 30+ to 50+. Give it a try!

Bermuda & Onion is located at Changkat Bukit Bintang, nearby Jalan Alor

Address:
no. 41 Changkat Bukit Bintang,
50200 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.147592, 101.708100
Tel: 03-2145 8333

Tags:  cangkat bukit bintang,  delicious,  dining,  food,  italian,  parma ham,  pork

Posted by KY | 50 Comments »