Thursday 3 April 2014

Pinchos, Changkat Bukit Bintang

Ah Pinchos....One of the first places we were taken by friends when we moved to KL. One of the first places I took family when they came to KL, and also the place all my workmates usually go to when we all have a day off.

Pinchos is a tapas bar / restaurant found on the main road of the busy Changkat strip. It's Spanish owned, and run by a team of friendly Filipino staff.
It's nearly always busy, and you often have to make a reservation before arriving. Today we just turned up so we were put deep inside the cave-like interior.

When you arrive you are given a paper menu, which looks like this:

As you can see above, we ordered a Spanish omelette with onion and potato RM15 (approx $5).

This was excellent, with lots of potato and onions heavily involved along with the egg.
The pork and beef meatballs RM19 (approx $6) looked like this:
Despite my efforts, I couldn't get a clear picture of the inside of these, but the pork is thinly shredded and is combined with the beef mince, giving them a nice flavour and interesting texture. The acid test for any meatball ordered in a restaurant is 'are they better than the ones I can make at home?', in this case the answer is a resounding yes.  My only gripe is that the sauce is very rich and if the portion was any bigger, this would be an issue.

The Manchego cheese and tomato on toast RM19 (approx $6), is an absolute favourite of Erin's.

Excellent cheese, subtle tomato and a drizzle of quality olive oil on some toast - a deliciously simple plate of food.

In a rather predictable turn of events, more food was ordered. First up was the Spanish Chorizo on pan-fried bread RM25 (approx $8).
High quality, spicy and salty chorizo with some fried bread underneath, how could this possibly be anything other than a winning combination? One of my favourites.

Next was the pan-fried eggplant with parmesan and tomato RM13 (approx $4).
This worked extremely well when combined with the lovely fluffy white bread that comes with your meal.
For dessert we had the chocolate mousse on toast ?!

This was a nice surprise, especially because I don't particularly like chocolate mousse.

Although I was initially skeptical, the bread worked really well, allowing you to eat this thing like a cracker. Another nice touch was the chunky salt grains on top of the chocolate, giving it that irresistible mix of salty and sweet. The texture of the mousse was unlike any other I've tried before - the whole thing was simply a winning combination.
Overall - I'd give the whole Pinchos experience an excellent 4 / 5

This is the best tapas bar you'll find in KL and one of the best you'll find in Asia. For me it ticks off all the boxes: the decor is cozy, the atmosphere is lively but unobtrusive, unlike many of the places on this street, and most of all the food is excellent; I've been here a number of times and almost everything I've tried is great. Tapas works if it's all worth sharing - in Pinchos it certainly is!

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