It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Spanish food and one of my favourite Spanish restaurants in KL would have to be Estilo, located at Publika, Solaris Dutamas. I’ve introduced it to the Kevin (who happens to be a big fan of Paella like me) and he approves too. By the way, my previous visit was documented here. So when Pei Shyen extended an invite to try out some of their new dishes, I didn’t hesitate for a second.

The reason they have revamped their menu is largely because of their new toy in the kitchen, the Josper Charcoal Oven, which is a unique combination of a grill and oven using an advanced technology that, under high heat, ensures all natural moisture and flavour of the food stays intact. Oooh, fancy! I will also admit I went and google the image of Josper oven to satisfy my inner food geek. Well, let’s take a look at the food then, shall we?

The first starter happens to be one of my favourite tapas here, the Sauteed Mushrooms, but this time Chef Pedro has upped the ante by adding Truffle Paste along with the intoxicating mix of Garlic, Wine and Cream.  The smell is amazing, and the gravy is just so rich and creamy, I soaked my bread in it and devoured every drop.

I like how Chef called this “caviar”. It’s basically like Babaganoush, roasted aubergine made into a dip. This one is nice and smoky with a creamy smooth mouth feel, and I might be biased because I happen to love aubergine (ranked top 3 on my list along with zucchini and well, cauliflower). Lovely!

I’ve had the Escargots at Estilo to but this time it has gotten itself a makeover and this presentation is definitely more eye-catching, with the skewers of entwining tomatoes and snails on a bed of roast potato, swimming in a lovely leeks and cream sauce. The snails remained juicy and tender, pairing perfectly with the rich sauce.

Coca refers to any Catalan bread-based product be it savoury and sweet. The savoury type is very much like the Italian’s pizza, with various toppings on top. Here we have a selection of salted and pickled anchovies along with some smoky grilled vegetables (which has a fancy name called Escalivada). Not only it’s a pretty dish, I love the snappy sound the crust made, and the sweet smoky strips of red capsicum. Although you do have to be careful with the distribution of the anchovies because a little goes a long way.

Estilo do their salads very well, and one of their newbies is the Grilled warm zucchini with Goat’s Cheese, Prawns, Croutons, Sundried tomato and walnuts. All my favourite things on the plate, and it can win beauty pageant too while at that. It’s obviously well-thought and I had fun with the textural contrast and that juicy zucchini. You’ll be sure that I’ll be replicating this dish soon.

And for the final dish, a majestic looking piece of Beef Ribs arrived on our table. Cooked with the Josper oven of course, no doubt for a long time in low temp. The meat is buttery soft, with a fabulous smoky note, a mixture of savoury sweetness, with a lovely side watercress salad to cut through the richness and also a blue cheese sauce (of course, I had to warn Kevin to not touch this) to complement. The roast potato is nice and fluffy too. Superb!

In general the new menu looks great and there are some dishes I’m dying to try, so you bet your “insert body part of your choice” we’ll be back very soon for another feast!