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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

One of the other places we dined at during the trip to Seremban was this very nice looking restaurant called La Esquina, or “the corner” in Spanish. Naturally, it specialized in Spanish cuisine. The interior of this place is modern yet very cozy, it spots a full bar and has seating areas both in and outdoor. The first Spanish cuisine in Seremban is also probably the nicest decorated restaurant at Era Square.

grilled asparagus wrapped in bacon

La Esquina doesn’t have a huge menu when it comes to food selection, they do, however, serve all sorts of drinks and a variety of tapas. As we were still half full from our very satisfying meal at Kensington, we only had some light dishes at this place.

a full bar and a nicely decorated interior

The grilled asparagus wrapped in bacon slice was a pretty delicious dish. I mean, you can’t really go wrong with grilled asparagus and bacon. The bacon, however, is of the beef variety rather than the non-halal version from pork. Though I think the later might have jazzed up the taste just a tad more, the beef bacon wasn’t a bad substitute.

tapas

We also had fresh button mushroom, mussel in white wine sauce, Spanish warm potato salad, and spicy chicken sausage. The tapas were served with slices of bread to go with the sauce that comes with it. I mentioned that the spicy chicken sausage isn’t exactly spicy for our taste, the owner Mr. Satwant explained that the level of spiciness in Spanish cuisine is a lot less than what we are accustomed to.

basque crab casserole

The last dish served was not tapas, but the pretty unique basque crab casserole. Generous portion of crab meat and some other ingredients I can’t name were baked in flowery crab shells. This dish carries a slightly salty taste that I imagine would taste pretty well with some red wine.

La Esquina is located at Era Square

Tapas at La Esquina ranges from RM8 to RM15, the crab casserole goes for RM18 per pair.

Address:
No. 49, Jalan Era Walk 3,
Era Square
70200 Seremban, Negeri Sembilan
GPS: 2.725641,101.930938
Tel: 06-768 7405