Slightly More Atas

This was alright, nothing to fault but also nothing outstanding. Was chock full of ingredients and tasted quite clean but not bland.

Their bread was also p nice! I think it was a tomato focaccia. Crisp but not dry, and a subtle tomato flavour
And the vinegar!!!! Was soooo goood I was rly tempted to have more bread just to inhale more vinegar - it was thick and sticky with a beautiful flavour. Aged balsamic really hits different and I’m here for it.

Quite possibly one of the most memorable fish dishes I’ve had of late. The cod was so meaty and firm yet tender, with a mildly creamy taste. It was lightly breaded such that it didn’t taste like a fried fish / greasy, with the moisture all locked in.

I’m not sure what sauce it was, but it wasn’t very strong so it allowed the fish to shine. The mash potatoes were really creamy and smooth like a purée, was flavourful and not overly butter. Carrots were sweet, and beneath the fish lay a bed of mushrooms and spinach.

TLDR: Was an excellent dish! Definitely formed a good impression of the restaurant and will come back to try other items if I feel like splurging~

Again I didn’t expect that I would enjoy this so much. The lemon sponge cake was moist with a nice crumb, an became extra moist from the lemon ice cream as it melted. The ice cream was more of a sorbet I feel, as it was rather light and didn’t taste like there was cream in it. The little “rocks” at the side were crunchy like honeycomb without the intense sweetness, and there was a surprise fizziness to it which was a pleasant surprise. As a whole, the dessert was sour enough for me, but also not tooo sour till it makes ur face wrinkle. Definitely don’t skip desserts here!

Was really surprised at how good this was! Haven’t had such good beef of late. This one was more on the rare side, but was not tough to chew at all - it was a joy to eat. It has a nice sear at the sides, which imparted some wonderful smoky flavours.

The beef was v good, but the other components of the dish were also outstanding. The charred leeks were so fragrant and naturally sweet and flavourful 🤤 also loved the Catalan romesco sauce, a super tasty bell pepper & tomato sauce that was rich but not too heavy.

My friend and I were both rather impressed with this dish!

This came with the egg dish - I ate it on its own, and also dipped it in the runny egg (Yakun vibes anyone?) 😛 The croissant was crisp and buttery but not dry, and they sprinkled some salt on it which amped up tastiness. Yum!

This was q nice! The potato purée was v tasty. Creamy but not cloying. It looks pale but it has so much flavour. They sprinkled some crunchy Manchego (cheese) crisps, which felt a little like salty fried breadcrumbs, yum! The egg yolk was runny, and the chorizo broth was hearty and savoury, a bit like minestrone.

I love this!! My third time at Esquina, my third time eating this. I really like the fine herbs yogurt sauce + cider vinegar - it’s tangy and acidic and really tasty. The lettuce itself is nicely charred, giving some smoky flavours. I think the first lettuce I had was the best, this time it was a little less cooked than I expected. But still a nice vehicle for that sauce.

This was by far, the most disappointing dish I’ve had this year. Never mind that this $42 plate only had 4 slices (ok thick slices) of pork collar. It was disproportionately filled with fat. Was pretty disconcerting to find that this supposed “main” was just a plate of fats. I’m better off at Fei Fei Roasted Noodles, or Laifabar for their char siew. Or even any decent hawker roast meat stall, or a Chinese restaurant 😤 Taste-wise, it was just alright, nothing outstanding. The salsify tasted like a regular root vegetable. Pork and apple do go together, so the natural sweetness of the apple purée was welcome. But definitely would not recommend this dish and it unfortunately spoilt the dining experience - the better dishes were not good enough to make up for this lacklustre dish.

Octopus was grilled decently, wasn’t chewy/rubbery but I’ve had better! The squid ink zhoug gave a herby angle to the dis. Again, it’s not a bad dish, but not impressive either. Though for $18 I would think the portion of octopus is pretty reasonable.

This felt a little like Esquina’s Sucrine Lettuce. Baby romaine was charred alright, but it could have been done with a little more finesse - it ended up looking a lil burnt. The green goddess dressing was tasty, a bit herby a bit citrusy, and the hazelnuts were nicely roasted and crunchy. There were some herbs to tie everything together. Objectively, not a bad dish, just that the vegetable dish at Esquina were more enjoyable.

The rum baba gave me tres leche cake vibes - a similarly “holey” cake, but soaked in rum syrup. The rum syrup was rather sweet and boozy. The vanilla ice cream was alright, there were *some* speckles of vanilla but not much, and it unfortunately there wasn’t rly much of a smoky taste. I didn’t think this was a bad dessert, just not particularly impressive, and at $16 per serving I definitely could get better desserts elsewhere.