Back in February this year, Hubby took me to Singapore for Valentine's Day. We had a great time and vowed to return. What better time to return than Mother's Day in May, for another eating and shopping spree in Singapore :)
During my last trip, I wanted to go to Esquina Tapas Bar but due to time constraints, we couldn't make it there. Hubby made sure my wish came true this trip. :) Anyway, Esquina is a collaboration between one of my favorite UK Michelin-star chefs Jason Atherton and acclaimed Singapore hotelier and restaurateur Loh Lik Peng.
Jason Atherton has a very impressive CV - he was the first British chef to complete a stage at Spain's famous el Bulli restaurant in 1998 and has worked with culinary bigwigs such as Gordon Ramsay and Marco Pierre White.Back in the UK days, I used to watch Jason Atherton compete on Great British menu on TV and also got the chance to dine in Maze, London while he was helming the kitchen there. It was a very memorable meal, and if I get to go to London again, I would like to visit his 1-Michelin star restaurant, Pollen Street Social. Btw, he is also opening Pollen in Gardens by the Bayin Singaporeend of June 2012, something to look forward to!
Esquina is inspired by the colorful tapas bars found in Spain, serving modern tapas. It is located in Jiak Chuan Road in Chinatown, in a colonial looking shophouse.
A piece of invaluable advice that I can offer you is.. be early! Esquina does not take reservations and can only seat up to 19 people at one time (and if you're not s! eated, y ou don't get served!) so you have to be there before the doors open at 6pm. We arrived around 5.45pm and there were already 3 couples waiting before us. Your name will be taken down, and you can sit outside the restaurant (the staff will serve you beverages or cold water while you wait) and the doors will open at sharp 6.
An experience worth being early for!
While waiting, you can browse the one-paged menu. There is also a specials board inside the restaurant.
Take some photos while you wait
Can you tell that I'm very excited?
Lady luck must be on our side as we scored the best seats in the house! Esquina is designed with an open-kitchen concept with a long bar and high stools, so half the fun was watching the kitchen action and we got to sit right in front of Executive Chef Andrew Walsh!! Wooohooooo!
The restaurant has a raw industrial vibe, and is accentuated with cool decor and these ava! nt-garde stools. Looks slightly uncomfortable but it was alright once you got seated. And sat in it we did for the next 2 hours!
An amazing experience..
This is Executive Chef Andrew Walsh which made our meal in Esquina extremely memorable.Chef Andy is of Irish descent, and has worked in Michelin-starred restaurant Public in New York, Tom Aikens in London and Pollen Street Social in London.
The kitchen guys were so good... very coordinated and pretty calm throughout service. It was definitely one of a kind experience to be able to so up-close and personal to the people preparing your food.
Specials boards - they change regularly according to seasonal ingredients
All diners will be served with a complimentary sangria (we got two each!). YUMMMMMM!
Check out this bad boy.. the Iberico Bellota (S$27) which is sliced right before your eyes.
Best seats in the house...
See how close I was to Chef Andy? Barely 1 metre ;P Scoring the best seats (sorry had to gloat a little) meant that we got to chat with Chef Andyand it was thrilling watching him plate up dishes with precision, one after another. Sorry about the photo overload in this blogpost but it would be a pity not to photograph the buzzing kitchen action.My only regret is not bringing my DSLR and had to shoot with my iPhone4S instead since we're on holiday.
It's amazing watching them, and they never stop! Busy busy kitchen from 6pm to closing time
That's someone else's tuna tartare with avocado and sesame (S$21).
And now he's plating up our two dishes :) Time to tuck in to our food soon.
We ordered the poached hen's egg with asparagus salad, foie gras butter and toast (S$18) from the special's board. OMG I'm not exaggerating but this is THE BEST poached egg dish we've ever eaten. The flavours were amazing, so so divine. The egg is poached to perfection and sits atop the asparagus salad with a drizzle of truffle oil. The foie gras butter was rich and delicious too, we only wished we had more bread to finish off the butter! Definitely the highlight of our meal.. simplicity at its best.I hope that they will put this on the main a la carte menu.
Eggporn!!
We lapped up every last bit of the poached egg.. so delicious
The salt and pepper squid served with a unique, creamy black ink aioli (S$22) was a great bar snack. I could munch this all night with a glass of wine. So crisp and addictive. This is perhaps the most popular dish that night, as we saw so many couples ordering it.
Salt and pepper squid, black ink aioli
Flames in the Josper grill
Do you agree that this is one of the prettiest looking tapas dish? The scallop ceviche with radish salsa (S$19.50) was not only pretty, it was so delicious too. The plump raw scallops were very fresh, marinated in a tangy Yuzu lime juice with a tinge of sesame oil. The radish added colour and texture to this dish.
Chef Andy and my scallop ceviche
Chef Andy plating up another special for other customers - Josper grilled pork chops (S$35 for 2)
Compliments of Chef Andy (thanks!) - another special of the day, the sauteed gambas with sherry sweetcorn bacon dressing (S$25). Large prawns that are so sweet and juicy, complimented very well by the flavoursome dressing.
The Josper Grill
Moving on to the meat section, we ordered the baked bone marrow with snails, parsley and horseradish pesto (S$25). Very nicely presented, the bone marrow crumbs was topped with snails and onions and served in a bone. There was different plays in texture and was certainly a very interesting dish.
Snails, bone marrow with parsley and horseradish pesto
We ordered the heritage tomato with sherry dressing (S$13.50) to meet our daily vegetable quota. It was a great choice, the tomatoes (green and red) were very juicy and so flavorful and was simply topped with tomato salsa, avocado mousse and some fresh basil. Loved it - a big thumbs up from us!
We tried the Albarino from Spain (S$18 per glass) and Viognier Sainte Fleur from South France (S$16). They also serve beer, prices from S$9.
Pre-dessert, complimentary sangria ice cream in mini cones
Happy diner :)
Now the chef is preparing our dessert :)
! 
On the current menu, there are 5 types of desserts. It was quite hard deciding which one to have, if I had more tummy space I would certainly have ordered them all to try since I am a dessert person. We finally settled for the grilled pineapple salad and watermelon salad.
Salad for dessert?
We loved both the desserts. The grilled pineapple salad was served with coconut sorbet and coconut lime jelly (S$12.50), a very light and sweet end to our meal.
The watermelon salad, gazpacho and basil sorbet (S$12.50) sounded very interesting on paper and just as delightful to savour. It was very refreshing. The basil sorbet was a first for me, but went well with the watermelon gazpacho. We noticed that it melted quite slowly compared to the coconut sorbet.
The kitchen and the communal bar.. it's really cosy in there!
Goodbye Esquina, til we meet again.
Some old buildings on the way to Esquina
Night view from our hotel room. We stayed in the Swissotel, and we were lucky to have a gotten a room facing the Marina Bay Sands, more about that later.
Verdict: Will we be back? DEFINITELY. Although this was our second main meal in Singapore, I decided to blog about this first since it was the most memorable and fabulous experience we had in Singapore this trip. Not only is the food great, I really enjoyed watching all the kitchen action. Service was very good too. We would definitely recommend ! Esquina to any of our friends/readers visiting Singapore.
Opening times: Monday to Friday, 12.00-2.30pm, 6.00-10.30pm. Saturday 6.00-10.30pm. Closed on Sundays.
Price: S$166.90. No service charge.
Location: Esquina Tapas Bar, 16 Jiak Chuan Road, 089267. (If you're taking the MRT, you can alight at Outram Park and take the exit towards New Bridge Road. It is a 10-15 min walk from the station to Esquina).
Tel:+65 6222 1616
Website:http://esquina.com.sg/
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