Esquina 2.0

C says:

Esquina recently unveiled a new look and new menu. They've now included a second floor, which they open up on busier nights. Because it's located away from the kitchen, I assume it's less of an interactive experience than sitting at the bar counter, but perhaps some people may prefer less frenzied, sit down dinner experience.

They've also revamped the menu, with the dishes now divided into Snacks, Soil, Sea, Land and Desserts. They also have some daily specials, but for the time being they're not offering their set lunch.

From the Snacks, we had the pork crackling with salt cod and smoked herring roe, and the dashi poached oysters with onion foam. The pork crackling was good but I'm not sure that it's a sustainable dish. It's so light that it kept billowing in the breeze of the fan, and the couple next to us had one of theirs fly off the plate as they were being served, and had to get a replacement plate. I can just imagine the challenge getting these upstairs from the kitchen to the second floor.

From Soil, we had the heirloom tomato salad with watermelon gazpacho (A is a sucker for anything with gazpacho), smoked anchovy and avocado. It was interesting to see how different the various varieties of tomatoes could taste, though I expected and hoped that the anchovy would be a bit more aggressive.

From Land, we had the ox cheek and tongue with blue cheese gnocchi, fried broccoli and hazelnut and tarragon pesto. I loved the broccoli, which was fried till the florets were nicey browned. The meat was very rich and tender, but got a bit heavy after a while. On the other hand, the pan fried foie gras with little nuggets of smoked eel was fabulous.

We had another meat from the specials board - a duo of lamb with a braised lamb shoulder and seared lamb rack. This was excellent. I liked the differing tastes and textures of the lamb shoulder and the lamb rack. This came with charred green onions and a manchego mashed potato, which had a slightly odd, gummy texture from the cheese.

Finally, from Sea we had baked cod with salt cod, smoked mussel and potato chowder. The texture of the fish itself was a tad dry, possibly overcooked, but the chowder more than made up for it with really intense smokey goodness.

A last minute addition to our order turned out to be one of the best dishes of the night - the flame-grilled sea trout with heirloom carrots, pistachio crumbs and crudo lardo (yes, a literal translation of that is raw fat). Thin slivers of lardo were placed on top of slightly cured trout, then flame grilled with a blow torch. The result was the best possible surf and turf combination.

We were definitely too full for dessert, and as always, we left making a mental note to be back again soon.

A says:

OMG so good.

Esquina

C says:

First visit of 2013! Hopefully this sets the tone for rest of our 2013 visits to come, because once again, lunch here was great. While there were only a few changes to the main menu since we were last here in December, there were enough specials for us to only repeat one dish - the roasted padron peppers.

There was an uni and prawn bisque, which was beautifully served in a sea urchin shell on top of a huge stone. This dish alone should silence all the Esquina detractors out there who think this place doesn't serve food worthy of a fine dining restaurant. The presentation was exquisite, and the flavours were really intense.

The duck confit paella with gambas and mussels was also very good - kind of like a rustic surf and turf paella. The addition of the shredded duck confit was a nice touch, as it added a savoury meatiness to a regular seafood-based paella.

We tried a new egg dish on the menu - a poached egg with truffle egg mayonnaise, charred leeks and a walnut vinaigrette. Again, great flavour combinations, with each element not overpowering the other.

The tandoori lamb shoulder was probably the least successful dish of the day. The tandoori flavour was quite subtle, and the lamb, though very tender, was more braised/slow-cooked than we usually like. The accompaniments, a pickled cucumber and some kind of chutney, tasted faintly of achar; I wonder if that was the chef's intention.

We tried a new dessert - a chocolate tea ice cream with sacher sponge, pickled cherries and hazelnut praline. I quite liked this for a change, but I think A would've preferred the cookies and cream again.

For Esquina newbies, they've just lauched a Chef's Tasting Menu - $95 for 10 courses. It's available at both lunch and dinner, and you get tasting portions of most of their specialties, with a choice between 2 main courses. Since we've pretty much eaten our way though their entire menu (and all its variations), we may not go for this, but if you're planning a visit and don't quite know what to order and where to start, this sounds like a good idea.

A says:

Win! Plus, the new Chef's Tasting Menu is great for newbies. I may try it myself one day if I can't choose between all the great dishes there.

Esquina

C says:

We finally dragged L and M to Esquina on Thursday night for dinner. It was absolutely packed, and we managed to get corner seats for the 4 of us by the skin of our teeth. Since it was L and M’s first time, we ordered some of the usual suspects like the salt and pepper squid and the bone marrow, but we also took the opportunity to try some new dishes too.

We ordered the roasted padrano peppers with garlic, chilli and salt for the first time. Wow, this definitely goes on the repeat list. The peppers were sweet and smoky rather than spicy; amazing that they managed to achieve such charred flavour from a simple cast iron skillet rather than a grill.
 

We ordered two dishes that, on hindsight, were quite similar. One was a roasted pork belly with bacon and seaweed dashi broth, and the other was a festive dish – Brussels sprouts with slow cooked egg, bacon and pork cubes in a seaweed broth. It may have been a bit much for just me and A, but it was perfect for the 4 of us, because we all couldn’t get enough of the awesome dashi broth. It was absolutely packed with umami flavour; I almost didn’t need the rest of the ingredients, though the pork belly and egg were really good too.
 

Another festive dish was roast duck with truffle honey and celeriac foam. I couldn’t actually discern very much truffle nor honey flavours, but the duck itself was cooked really well – rare in the center and really flavourful.
 

We actually ordered the Iberico pork chop off the Josper Grill menu, but they may have forgotten our order because when we reminded them towards the end, they told us they were out of the pork. That was a bit disappointing because I really wanted to try it. We settled for another Josper Grill dish – the grilled ribeye with parsley and shallot dressing. The beef was great, but the parsley and shallot dressing really “elevated the dish” (in A’s exact wanker words).
 

We ordered the cookies and cream dessert again, and it came served/plated slightly differently this time, with sweetened milk and the cookie served separately. The general consensus was that the manchego custard with olive brioche crumb and apricot jam was “interesting”. It was savoury rather than sweet, so a bit unexpected for a dessert. I guess if you liken it to a pre-dessert cheese course, then that helps you get over the mental obstacle that you’re having a cheese flan for dessert.
 
We’ve concluded that at least for the non hip-and-happening Atetoomuch, we’d much rather come to Esquina for lunch than dinner. Sure, at dinner there’s definitely a cool buzz, but at lunch time it’s a much more relaxing experience – they don’t run out of food, you don’t feel stressed out (yet admittedly a bit smug) by the people hovering behind you waiting for a seat, and the whole place is less frenetic, so you get to chat to the guys behind the counter and watch them do their thing at a much more calm, leisurely pace.

A says:

Food is always great, but after coming here for a dinner service, I definitely prefer the more laidback lunch atmosphere. Being so close to the "kitchen", I actually get stressed out by the dinner rush.

Esquina

C says:

Good news - Esquina is now offering set lunches on weekdays. At $39 for 3 courses, this is pretty unbeatable value. On the Monday that we were here, this was the set lunch offering:

We decided to order one set lunch, to gauge both the quality and the portion sizes, and supplemented it with other items off the menu. First, we'll showcase the set lunch dishes.

First course was trout tartare with a red pepper gazpacho. This was similar to another dish we ordered a la carte a few weeks ago, so we can vouch for the fact that they don't skimp on the ingredients nor the portion size just for the set lunch. Once again, the flavours were great, with the gazpacho a perfect blend of sweet and tart.

For the set lunch main we had the beef with peppercorn sauce and carrot and cumin puree. It was cooked a bit more medium than we would have liked, but still pretty tasty.

We would ordinarily have chosen the chocolate mousse, but (a) we've tried that before and (b) we were eyeing a similar dessert off the regular menu, so we went for the manchego, quince and toast. This could be the most straightforward dish we've had at Esquina to-date. No reinvention or modern spins, just straight up cheese, quince and toast.

One of the reasons we came here was a Facebook post over the weekend by one of A's friends, who raved about a grilled Madagascar gambas with seaweed aioli. To my initial dismay, the dish is part of a Josper Grill selection that's only available at dinner time. However, one of our regular waiters noticed how distraught I was, and got the kitchen to make it for us anyway. It was a lovely gesture, and an even lovelier prawn. It was huge, perfectly grilled and I could literally use a spoon to scoop up the delicious head juices. Sublime.

On the festive menu is a pretty awesome pig dish - a slice of pork belly, crackling, and a roulade of suckling pig rolled with minced Iberico pork. The heaviness is cut through with a side of sauerkraut. I'm not a huge fan of their normal pork belly dishes here but this, with the suckling pig, was amazing.

Props also to the fried quail's egg with curried haddock rice. I'm a sucker for a good rice dish, and this was really addictive. There was just enough curry flavour to complement the smoked haddock - I dare say this is better than their paella.

After so many visits, we decided to finally try the ham croquetas. As far as croquetas go, this is one of the best we've had. The filling was creamy and absolutely filled with diced jamon.

They've revamped their dessert menu, and the first thing that jumped out at us was the Cookies and Cream - condensed milk ice cream, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cake and salty hazelnut paste. This was a truly awesome interpretation of cookies and cream, with the entirety even better than each of its parts.

A few weeks ago we were here, and had a good but not as wonderful experience as the current one, possibly due to the combination of dishes that we ordered. The kingfish sashimi with barbequed cucumber and uni mayonnaise is worth mentioning though. The sashimi was delightfully creamy, and each bite-sized morsel of cucumber and uni mayo packed a ton of flavour.

At long last, we also tried their Iberico pork and foie gras mini burgers. I found the patty to be less burger and more pulled pork, and the flavours were decidedly of a chorizo nature. I'm glad we tried it, but it's not something we'll order again.

The kitchen and the service staff have definitely found their groove. It's a lot less manic these days, and they have the time to chat with and get to know you. You don't feel as if you can't linger because there's a long line of customers waiting to take your place. Is this our last visit for 2012? Hmm, I don't know. The dinner-only Josper Grill items are calling to me...

A says:

I love this place. Especially at lunch when things are more chill. If I didn't have to watch my weight or my wallet, I'd be here at least 4 times a week.

Esquina

C says:

Our visit to Esquina was the day after we went to Lolla, and reinforced our view that even with all the new tapas-esque places popping up of late, Esquina still remains a firm favourite. I like the fact that the menu keeps changing – in all our visits, we’ve never had the exact same menu twice. The chef has always made a few subtle changes to certain dishes, ensuring that we get a surprise each time.

We have to have an egg dish whenever we come. This time we got the grilled asparagus with quail’s eggs and jamon Iberico. Good, but perhaps not their best ever dish.

It got steadily better though. The marinated beetroot salad with honeycomb burrata and pinenut crumble was awesome. The quenelles of burrata were rich and creamy, accentuated with a drizzle of honey, and the tartness of the beetroot kept everything in check.

On the specials board was a steak tartare with a confit egg. It was served with a couple of slices of toasted bread, pickled onions and a red pepper sauce, though it was really good enough to have on its own.

I was glad that the seabass with corn and bacon chowder, that I’d eyed on our last visit, was still on the menu. The fish itself was ok, but the foamy chowder really made the dish. It had so much flavour from the bacon that both of us took a spoonful and immediately went “wow”.

The roast lamb rump with black olive polenta and anchovy chimichurri was also amazing. The lamb was flash seared then roasted, and still nice and pink. The chimichurri that was smeared over the plate was insanely good. A far cry from the lamb dish at Lolla, I have to say.

The one thing that was a bit disappointing was the barbeque roasted corn, though I guess it’s because it was totally not what I expected. I thought it would be some sort of corn on the cob, but it turned out to be little bar snacks of super crispy corn kernels. I guess it also didn’t help that we ordered these towards the end of meal, when it should have been a pre-meal snack.

They’ve changed their chocolate mousse a little – it now comes with espresso syrup and olive oil jelly. Because the chocolate was so strong, I didn’t taste the olive oil jelly at all when we had it together. I could only barely discern the flavour when I tasted the jelly on its own. 

I won’t say that we’re regulars, but I guess we’ve been here often enough that a few of the regular waitstaff (well, one really) have begun to recognise us. The familiarity probably makes our experience even more positive, which I guess becomes a vicious cycle.

I’ve heard of people being less than impressed with Esquina, either because they went mid- service so the kitchen couldn’t give the food the exacting attention that they do during first service, or they perhaps had different expectations of the ambience, food and service. Either way, perhaps this place isn’t for everyone, but it most certainly is for us.   

A says:

Great. As always.

Back to Esquina

C says:

I’ve been having serious withdrawal symptoms after not revisiting Esquina since April, so on another day off today, we headed there for lunch, armed with a new camera to boot (thanks, ladies!).

Rare view of an almost empty counter (taken with funky Miniature picture effect)

The menu has changed somewhat, with some dishes like the tuna tartare and the baked egg with anchovy, capers and lemon no longer available. I guess those that remain are considered their classics, like the bone marrow and salt and pepper baby squid.

The egg dish we had today was from the Specials board – slow cooked egg with bacon, shrimp black rice and seaweed dashi. The black rice was a bit like a risotto, with bits of shrimp as well as baby squid. The dashi was poured on at the last minute, and given that I’m a big fan of comfort food like risotto and porridge, this was amazing.

They no longer have my gambas with orzo pasta, so again we looked to the Specials board for a prawn dish – sautéed gambas with potato dumpling and bisque sauce. The prawns were smaller than expected so didn’t have as much of the lovely head juices as the jumbo prawns. The dumpling was a bit dense and heavy, but the bisque sauce was enough to make me forgive everything else. Total essence of crustacean.

We had yet another dish from the Specials, since we figured we had to try those while we could. We had the seared scallops with mushroom ceviche, miso aubergine and ponzu dressing. I let A have most of this, since I was busy polishing off all the prawns, but again the flavours of each element really worked well together.

Lastly, we had the roast pork belly with crispy skin and chorizo octopus bolognaise. This was quite a heavy dish, and I guess that’s why it came last. I couldn’t detect any octopus in the sauce, but there were cannellini beans together with the chorizo, which explained why we were so full after finishing this.

As always, I love the food and I love the vibe, particularly at lunch time. After a 3 month hiatus I’m now scrolling through my calendar for the next time that we can come back.

A says:

Awesome, awesome, awesome. My current fav place to go in Singapore.

Not Esquina again?!

C says:

Esquina seems to be our new go-to place on a Saturday when we have no other plans and can afford to eat really early. At 5.50 pm we got the last indoor seats and couldn’t even sit at the counter this time; we were at a little bar table in the corner.

Finally, we managed to try the tuna tartare, and it didn’t disappoint. It came with an avocado puree, and was seasoned slightly Asian style with a hint of sesame oil. It was refreshing and flavours were very balanced.

The sea bass with black olive puree and a salt cod soup was very good. Unfortunately the soup came served on the side, and the waiter didn’t pour it in for us. We didn’t know if we were meant to pour it or eat it separately, so we opted for the latter. Halfway through the dish, our regular waiter saw us and told us we were meant to pour the soup in. Both elements were good on their own, but really complemented each other when eaten together.

There was an off menu special of baked scallop with chorizo and pork belly, topped with a piece of fried pork skin dusted with paprika. The scallop and chorizo combi was very good, as was the pork skin. The braised pork belly was a little too sweet for my liking.

We tried the saffron paella too, with red peppers, prawns, fish and baby squid. I’m a rice whore so I really liked this. The stock used to cook the rice was the very essence of seafood.

We were pleasantly surprised with mini cones of sangria ice cream before dessert was served. They even gave us an extra one in between our desserts because they had one to spare.

We had room for dessert this time, so I ordered the pistachio cake recommended by our waiter, and A had the chocolate mousse. The mousse was quite dense and rich, but at least the chocolate crumbs added a textural crunch. The pistachio cake was amazing. It looked ordinary but it was warm, moist and fluffy. It was served with vanilla ice cream and a sangria jam, though it really didn’t need any accompaniments.

I think we’ve finally gone though all the dishes that we’ve wanted to try, although given how frequently chef changes the menu, and the variety of the specials, I won’t be surprised if we make our way here again sooner than we expect.

A says:           

Except for the other poser patrons, I love this place.

Esquina

16 Jiak Chuan Street

Tel: 6222-1616

Mon to Fri: 12 noon to 3 pm; 6 pm to 11 pm

Sat: 6 pm to 11 pm

Closed Sunday

www.esquina.com.sg

Esquina. Again.

C says:

Oh wow. Our second visit to Esquina for lunch today was even better than our first, if that's possible. I had the day off today, so we came sharp at 12 when they opened. We waited outside for about 5 minutes while they sorted themselves out, and were then ushered in.

 They changed the menu slightly since we were last here. Apparently the chef likes to change things up every few months. To my dismay, this meant that the ox cheek oloroso with bone marrow crumbs was no longer available. The dish in its place was named “Braised ox, tongue-in-cheek, cumin mash”. The braised ox cheek, with a carrot and cumin mash, was topped with a slice of ox tongue, hence the name. This got a bit heavy towards the end but the flavours were good; the cumin mash was more subtle than I expected. The ox tongue was a mouthful of pure joy though.

I finally got to have the salt and pepper squid, after watching the chef assemble plate after plate of them last time. They were worth the wait - using baby squid rather than calamari slices or rings makes the pieces so much lighter and crispier.

It’s a hard fight between the slow cooked egg bravas dish from our last visit, and the egg dish we ordered today –baked egg with anchovy, capers, onions and lemon. The bravas egg has a more liquid and gooey centre, but I think flavour-wise, this baked egg dish was a winning combination.

We tried an off-menu special – lamb chops with mint yogurt and curried olive couscous. Hands down the best dish of the day. The lamb chops were perfectly cooked, about medium, and really tender and juicy. Even the couscous, which I’m not usually a big fan of, was done very well. Light and fluffy, and again all the flavours worked very well together, complementing the lamb but not weighing it down.

The baked bone marrow with snails, parsley and horseradish pesto was also amazing. Unlike most bone marrow dishes, which can be quite heavy and one dimensional, the marrow here is mixed with chopped escargots and lightened with herbs, so the whole thing is more reminiscent of a rillette instead of eating straight up bone marrow.

Even the humble sangria is not spared the Esquina touch. Their version is more like sangria two ways – a fruity red wine below, and topped with a sangria foam. Delicious.

I think you need at least 2 visits to get the best of Esquina, although given how frequently the chef likes to shake the menu up, I don’t think things will get boring any time soon.

A says:

This is probably my favourite place to eat in Singapore now. Nuff said.

Esquina

16 Jiak Chuan Street

Tel: 6222-1616

Mon to Fri: 12 noon – 3 pm; 6 pm – 11 pm

Sat: 6 pm – 11 pm

Closed Sunday

www.esquina.com.sg