El Meson @ Bangsar

El Meson – the Spanish Table.

You just gotta love the vibrant colours of this Spanish restaurant located along one of Bangsar’s busy food streets.  The bright red menus match the equally brilliant red walls either hand-painted with murals or hung with various pieces of modern art pieces.  And the bull’s head, don’t forget that head hanging over the bar – such an attention-grabber piece.

From tapas to iberico pigs to paella, I had a chance to try some of El Meson’s specialities recently.

A huge platter of cold cuts – serrano, iberico, parma hams, speck, salami, chorizo with slices of refreshing sweet rockmelons, pickled chillies and olives certainly set the mood for that evening. The slices of cured meats went so well with the tart sourish saltish olives and that stirred our appetites for more to come.

The list of tapas served in El Meson is pretty long – ranging from Albondigas to Queso Fritos. I loved the 2 tapas items we had…

Gambas Al Agillo – fresh succulent plump prawns tossed in olive oil, garlic and chillies.

Piquillos Rellenos – sweet Spanish peppers stuffed with pisto (minced pork) and drizzled with creamy cheesy sauce – absolutely lovely. Those Spanish peppers were really good – aromatic, juicy, flavourful and perfectly balanced with the minced meat and tasty sauce.

Stewed Iberico Cheeks in Red Wine served with Potato slices, caramelized Onion Terrine & Confit Bacon in Olive Oil and Spanish Paprika.  Meltingly tender chunks of Iberico cheeks, completely suffused with the flavours of red wine – I wished there was more on the plate!  The potatoes, the onion terrine and the bacon – all were so yummy that they were polished off the plate very quickly with murmurs of approval.

I was told the chef is from Valencia and so it is no wonder that he cooked a delicious Paella Valenciana, served in a cast iron pan. Chunks of chicken, pork, chorizo and green beans were generously scattered in the fragrant saffron rice. A bowl of chilli dip was served to accompany the paella.

El Meson’s Roast Suckling Iberico Pig is a popular item – quite a number of tables had this served. You can order 1/4 portion (RM49), half portion (RM95) go for the whole pig at RM188.. all served with fried potatoes and salad.

The suckling pig was perfectly roasted… crispy golden skin with a thin layer of fat and tender juicy meat beneath. For pork lovers, I assure you there’s nothing not to like about this!

We tried 3 desserts that evening… Creme Catalana (RM11), Ultimate Chocolate Molten Lava Cake (RM18) and Brazo di Gitano (RM15).

The Creme Catalana was a bit mushy – it would have been better had it been firmer in texture. Chocolate lovers would love the Molten Lava Cake with its perfect liquidy “lava”. The most interesting one was the Brazo di Gitano – rolled sponge cake filled with custard cream served with Mixed Berries Coulis. The sponge cakes were deliciously moist but I went easy on the coulis which was a tad too sweet.

There are many other dishes I would want to try on the next visit – like I said before, their menu is really pretty extensive. Salmon a la Plancha, Conejo a la Cazadora (Rabbit Stew in Red Wine with Serrano Ham), Lamb Shank Braised in Herb Sauce, Iberico Rack of Ribs and of course, their list of tapas!

El Meson
61-63 Jalan Telawi 3
Bangsar Baru
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2282-8290

My appreciation goes to Marian Eu for the kind invitation to such a lovely dinner & excellent company that evening!