Esquina - Awesome Spanish Cuisine

Esquina had always been on my mind when I was planning to visit my favourite restaurants that I had dined at before my solo dining era. When I saw that they have a tasting menu featuring more than 10 dishes, I quickly jumped onto it and made my reservation.

I love Esquina’s concept of many small dishes of tapas presented in the tasting menu, giving me a full picture of what the food here is all about and of course, enjoying an awesome, exciting, varied gastronomic adventure through the landscape of Spain.

The taste of the food ranges from simulating, exciting to satisfying and blissful to indulgent and complex. The flavours and textures are carefully curated to be in perfect balance, yielding lots of lovely surprises on the palates. I love all the dishes here so much. One of the best Spanish restaurants? A definite Yes!

The ambience at the first floor bar counter in front of the busy open kitchen is vivacious, hip and cool. I love watching the chefs in action. The decor has that warm, rustic feel of Spain in summer, further enhanced by the Spanish music playing in the background. I do feel occasional rushes of hot air from the nearby oven when seated at the centre of the counter tending towards the right, so take note. There is a 2nd floor dining room for group dining or some romantic times.

Service is warm, friendly and great, and that includes the chefs. I’m so happy that I come back again for such an awesome dining experience.

Uni Paella is such a luxurious dish packed with umami of different forms: intense sweetness of uni, briny sweetness of Mediterranean red prawns and buttery saline taste of lobster. I also love it that lots of premium seafood is stuffed into this cute little bowl. The red rice is al dente in texture, being a bit like that of the bottom claypot rice. Talking about bottom, the bottom of the paella is the best part of the rice, being soaked the most with the sweetness of the lobster.

The first snack is Olive stuffed with roe is intense and simulating in flavours, waking up the senses and whetting the appetite.

Oyster soaked in ponzu sauce, jalapeño and garnished with ginger flower, spring onion features so many harmonised flavours that spellbind the palates.

Smoked Mackerel on thin crispy wafer biscuit provides the perfect base to showcase the vibrancy of espanol sauces.

Ibérico Ham is the undisputed King of Hams featuring slightly chewy texture with an iota of firmness and beautiful nuanced flavour of smoked meat laced with a lovely richness of oil filled with nutty aroma. The Ibérico Ham here is elevated even more by the crispy, fluffy bread underneath, adding texture and light sweetness of the wheat to the ham.

Salmorejo (tomato garlic soup) with uni and berberechos (a kind of cockle) is a rich and indulgent dish full of seafood goodness peppered with zest from the tomato.

The Foie Gras Terrine here is most probably the best foie gras I ever have. The crispy thin puff pastry adds an unbelievably excellent texture to the rich buttery foie gras with jelly-like consistency. The sherry vinegar adds a hint of sweetness and zest while the leeks introduces a pungency to lift up the whole taste. Simply magical.

Tuna Escabeche is lightly seared Tuna that has the lovely combination of taste of ocean and gamey flavours of meat. The refreshing taste of green apple and spiciness of jalapeño actually accentuates the sweetness of the tuna.

Smoked Quail Egg is oh-so-good because of the super earthy sweet Sweet Potato puree punctuated by hints of saltiness of the ibérico. Teh sweet potato is unbelievably sweet that a feeling of bliss welled up in me when savouring this.

Uncovering the Quail Egg hidden beneath the Sweet Potato Puree

Grilled Sucrine Lettuce amazes me with how good lettuce can be. This is a must-try for that eye-opening experience of enjoying amazingly good vegetable that can rival its meat counterparts. The crispy, juicy leaves of lettuce is brushed with a layer of char for an extra dimension in taste. The sweetness and light zest of herb yoghurt and cider vinegar highlight the refreshing freshness of the lettuce. The macadamia nuts add earthiness and rich nuttiness to the taste and variation in texture.

Black Cod, with its pliable succulent flesh, surprises me in a wonderful way by its sweetness, further enhanced by the fino sherry. I also love the Atlanic clams that are plump and pumped with the essence of ocean. Spanish winter truffle adds luxe and a nice earthiness to the taste to these treasures of the sea.

The gamey flavours of Spanish Suckling Pig with Mulled Wine is nicely cut through by the zest of Apple and Rhubarb Chutney for balanced flavours.

(From left) Delicious Spanish Cheeses of Tor dels Tillers, Garotxa, Manchego and Retorta. I especially love the wet cheeses. And they go perfectly with the sweetened eggplant. I actually love pairing the cheeses with this eggplant, which is wet in texture, over dried preserved fruits.

I'm going bananas over the Beer Stout Ice-Cream with bananas in different forms: cut, mousse, bread. I'm not usually into banana dessert, but this one is an exception. Because the bananas used here are so lovingly sweet that they totally entrapped my tastebuds. The sweetness juxatposes perfectly with the mild bitterness of the beer stout ice-cream. Caramel sauce adds a salty kick to the taste, highlighting the floral sweetness of the banana.

A special after dessert of rich chocolate ice-cream served with roe. Very interesting combination that works beautifully.

I'm really blown away by how good the food here is. If one is willing to splurge and want to try a good variety of food, I do recommend the tasting menu. One can also care and share to order the menu items since the portions are pretty big, thus being perfect for sharing.

Thoughts: Truly Outstanding Spanish Cuisine that hits all the Sweet Spots in Taste and Texture!

16 Jiak Chuan Road

Nearest MRT: Outram Park