Estudio (Admiralty)

FARMHOUSE BREAD -
Pan Con Tomate made with minced garlic, tomato on farmhouse bread baked next door are given out with some of the below dishes. Its already better than Tapeo's! The Plain Bread meanwhile were either dipped into Spanish olive oil or into the remaining sauce of the below dishes!

JAMON DE IBERICO 'HAND CARVED' LEG HAM 40g -
There are a few optional Iberian ham muscles available. The Paletilla we didn't order from the front shoulder is cheaper and machine sliced, but somehow in hindsight seemed the better option as it is more marbled as we observed from our neighbours. The aged for 36 months, Jamon hind-leg we received seemed slightly too lean. This is also hand carved as per Spanish tradition, which is authentically cut 'along the grain', but unfortunately is not my favourite slicing method although that's how it always turns out with bone-in hams unlike some of the Olala options. I thought the ham flavour was good, but it wasn't melty nor having enough acorn flavours due to lack of marbled interlaced fat. Sometimes, certain pieces also seemed sliced thicker than others. Its the only disappointment of the night.

$150

TORTILLA WITH EGGS AND POTATO -
Very good. Its the version made with sliced rather than chunky potato, which I prefer sometimes as it can't go wrong as easily during cooking. Very good potatoes and eggs taste. Great.

SQUID COOKED WITH SQUID INK -
Sauce was quite garlicky with the nice black squid ink flavouring. Pretty enjoyable with a lot of squid taste intact. Quite a different experience compared to a baby squid version.

EGGS COOKED WITH BLACK MORCILLA FROM BURGOS & PIQUILLO -
I love Black Puddings especially the Spanish ones, and the Morcilla's or the Boudin Noir's or even British versions are hard to find in HK for some reason. It has similarities to our Cantonese 潤腸! Anyway this was cooked together with some Piquillo peppers, with not a trace of hotness in any strands in this batch, lucky or unlucky, you decide!!? Pretty good, could do with more blood sausage taste as it was relatively mild.

5J JAMON AND BECHAMEL CROQUETTES -
Very creamy, crunchy croquetas and the 5J Jamon ham flavour was good and apparent too. Very lovely, I would say better than almost any other similar ones I've tried recently.

ESTRELLA INEDIT BEER 75cl -
This Spanish barley and wheat beer is very special indeed - why? Because, its a result of the formulation and collaboration between a famous brewery, together with Ferran Adria, the most famous chef in the world from El Bulli.

This was very good in fact and tasted just like a Belgian Beer with a herbal floral notes and honeyed background, rather than a typical Spanish beer. Apparently this engineered taste profile makes it more complimentary to the food eaten. One of the best beers around?! $90 for 750ml is not bad either!

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A Very High Quality Tapas Bar. Tapeo or Unos Mas has Some Serious Competition:

..... There was not a dish that could be faulted, except perhaps for the section of the Jamon which we received this time, but as always this could be inconsistent. I wasn't expecting much from a little corner-situated Tapas Bar opposite a chain store burger joint no, especially one situated within a supermarket. ESTUDIO IBERICO sells a reknowned Spanish 5J Ham, which used to be sold at the other end of GREAT Supermarket anyway nearer Watson's Wine Cellars but nowadays the same Iberian Ham range is licensed to be sold by a new owner at Estudio... Apparently invested by an Australian owner (?) who is very passionate about Spanish tapas and wanted to showcase real Spanish tapas to Hong Kong, he then recruited a Headchef who turned out to be a friendly and equally passionate Spanish Cook. He and his kitchen team loves cooking, we shared our preferences and methods during a brief talk and they are energetically keen on exploring different Tapas options and recipes each day and customers are sometimes encouraged to try dishes from off the menu, as we did - this approach to food, is what usually makes for a successful hearty kitchen, it practically applies to just about any cuisines in the world...