Eat Drink KL: El Rincon @ Changkat

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

El Rincon @ Changkat

El Rincon: Round Three. Earlier entries: May 2Oct. 29.

Immersing this entry in seafood, let's dive into dinner with a chunk of red grouper pate, full of gracefully subtle flavors that prove fish pastes can taste as fine as meat ones.

Escalivada, a Catalan salad composed of soft-roasted bell peppers and egg plant, topped here with tuna belly and tomatoes and anointed with slick oils for a Mediterranean marvel.

Baby squid, stuffed with rice and cooked in its own thick ink. Comfort food and squid might not often find themselves in the same sentence, but this rustic recipe could change that.

Galician poached octopus _ not too rubbery, rubbed with paprika and placed on soft-boiled potatoes on a wooden plate. Texture is king; each olive-oil-laced mouthful makes for a moist medley of chewy-creamy sensations.

For a change from paella, try the Valencian Fideua, the best "seafood beehoon" one could ever have, thanks to firm, conveniently chopped noodles, strongly flavored with a mix of saffron and the crustacean brininess of tiger prawns, mussels and clams.

We'd love to let these oceanic flavors linger on our lips, but customers requiring a palate-cleanser after so much seafood can try El Rincon's nice range of traditional sweets, including the milky-creamy "leche frita" fried custard square.

Rice, rice, baby: "arroz con leche," sweet grains cooked in milk, topped lovingly with ice cream, like a Spanish madre might make it.

Kir Royale (cava, creme de cassis) and Tio Pepe (dry sherry).

Two styles of Sangria, the left is with white wine and the right is red.

Spanish wines: Guti Verdejo (2011) and Finca Antigua Petit Verdot (2009).

El Rincon,
14, Changkat Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03-2142-7633