Halloumi cheese, Warm brie and Tapas @ Sauce

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Grilled Halloumi cheese
Havent tried Halloumi cheese so ordered the grilled Halloumi.
The appearance was dark brown and it looked it was fried and not grilled.
Anyway the texture of the cheese was rubbery and dry and it made a squeaky noise while it was in my mouth when it rubbed against my teeth.
Although halloumi cheese is meant to be salty, the halloumi cheese served at this place was extremely salty.

 

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Warm brie
This was heaven, the cheese was lovely, gooey and soft.
There was roasted garlic to accompany it as well and the garlic was soft and mushy and came out of the pod easily with a fork.

 

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Other tapas that were ordered:

Blueberry smoothie and spanish twirls @ Juice bar

Originally wanted to order the strawberry smoothie, but since it was sold out, I tried the blueberry one given by the staff. I found it very syrupy so I ordered one without any sugar at all. But for $20 it can be an option as a thirst quencher.

The smoothie is rather thin in consistency compared with the normal ones. Not as thick as it should be. Without the sugar, the yoghurt can be tasted. The colour of the smoothie was quite purple as real blueberries were put in, however they are frozen ones.

I was also given a box of spanish twirls (churros sprinkled with icing sugar. I didnt like it very much, but then i didnt like it when i was given some to try along while ago.
Firstly it was too sweet, and secondly, u can taste that the oil hasnt been changed and they were so rancid..

Set Tapas @ UNOMAS

Finally came here for lunch, this is probably my first time having real Spanish food, the ones I have had before are the fake ones.
I liked the lunch style, you can choose a 3 set Tapa from the Tapa list of 15, 14 for food and one for dessert. For two people, we chose 6 Tapa’s.

The restaurant was spacious yet cramped, there were tables spread across the room, however the table for two we had was quite small, not designed for Spanish Tapa’s, you could have at most 3 Tapa’s on the table. I had trouble getting to my cramped my seat, and I am a thin!

The service was a bit cold, could have been better. Not sure if tap water was free, but other tables were given it. Also coffee/tea was included in the set, but they didn’t remind us, and we felt they had different attitudes to causcasians and asians.

Food:

Ensalada de lentejas con jamon:
Brown lental salad with ham, red onion, tomato, olive oil and vinegar, a nice tangy starter.

Chipirones al ajillo: baby squids with garlic and parsley:
this was the best, the squids were fat and soft with generous sauce.
Croquetas de Jamon:
almond crusted chicken and ham croquettes, could see or taste the almond crust, infact it was just plain crumbs with smooth sily potato inside.
Croqutas de Arroz:
Saffron rice and manchego fritters, This one I could taste and see the almond pieces as the coating, inside was rice, and moist too, the sauce tasted like pumpkin sauce.
Tortilla con chorizo Potato tortilla with spicy chorizo and paprika:
this was just like an omelette, very buttery.
Cordero al vinto tinto: lamb in chorizo in red wine sauce: it tasted more like beef.

Dessert: Orange and almond cake with syrup.

Overall the food was ok, the service and attitude was not!

squid and prawn saffron rice @ UNOMAS

I was a bit disappointed as I was looking forward to a variety of Tapa's and now it is only the fixed lunch set with starter, mains and dessert.
It is pricier than the tapa's set too.

Anyway since I was already there I ordered the bread with serrano ham as a starter, and the squid and prawn saffron rice with vanilla dessert.

The bread with ham was quite nice, the ham was soft like smoked salmon, and the taste was like cheese.

The rice was a bit hard, my jaw was practically tired after eating it.

The dessert was nice and creamy, and not too sweet.
Overall the food here is good, but service is bad, you practically need to ask them for a glass of water or they will not give you one.

if they have the tapa's lunch I will come back again.

 

 

I am back......and.........tapas lunch is back @ unoMas

As stated in my earlier review at Uno Mas on 3/11/2009
"if they have the tapa's lunch I will come back again."
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2041031

So here I am, I am back here again!!!!
SADLY this shop has been replaced by TSUI WAH chinese restaurant !!
The new MOTTO by UnoMas is:
one more?
much more?
unlimited tapas
at uno mas

Since 2009, I have to say, there have been BIG BIG improvements, and this time it certainly deserves a
Some of the staff are still the same that worked there before, and some new ones.

After sitting down, they kindly offered water, and asked if I wanted hot or cold, previously not attended to, and there were more smiles on their faces than before.

The menu was very pleasing, I was happy with their 3 tapas lunch per person before, but now it is unlimited which is even more amazing.

There are 17 choices of tapas including soup and dessert.

Instead of the annoying air conditioning being on during the cold winter, making you colder, they had heater, which made the dining experience alot warmer, and the food was kept warm, unlike those irritating air conditioners.

 

The only slight dissapointment was the baby squids were not on the tapas menu , i have been craving for it since my last tapas lunch here two years ago, which shows this place is better than it seems since it is still here after 2 year considering alot come and go in the Wan Chai area.

There 17 choices of tapas are:
I tried all the tapas except for 2, 4, 8, 14.

1-PATATAS BRAVAS
Deep fried new potatoes dusted with spicy paprika, served with alioli
COMMENT:
The potatoes were fluffy inside with a crisp outer layer jazzed up by the spicy paprika and the mayonnaise was gorgeous with the potato.

PATATAS BRAVAS

 

2-ENSALADILLA RUSA
Russian Salad with Tuna
Didnt try:

3-CROQUETA DE POLLO
Chicken potato croquettes
COMMENT:
These were fried just right to crispy golden brown, and the potato inside was silky, however the chicken couldnt be tasted.
Left hand side of picture below

CROQUETAS DE POLLO

 

4-CALAMARES A LA ANDALUZA
Fried squid rings "Andalucia"
Didnt try:

5-GAMBAS AL AJILLO
Sautéed prawns with garlic
COMMENT:
The prawns were very fresh and the sauce was very appropriate for dipping the bread in.

GAMBAS AL AJILLO

 

6-COCA SABLE CON ANCHOAS Y PIMENTO ROJO DEL PIQUILLO
Shortbread with olive tapenade, piquillo red pepper, white anchovies, and Manchego cheese
COMMENT:
This was presented very nicely, the sauce, the layers and it tasted nice especially the olive puree, although I would have preferred savory bread/biscuit.

COCO SABLE

 

7-ALBÓNDIGAS CON TOMATE
Meatballs with tomato herb sauce
COMMENT:
These tasted how it should, bit like italian meatballs.
Middle of the picture

ALBÓNDIGAS CON TOMATE

 

8-CHORIZO FRITO
Fried chorizo sausage in red wine reduction
Didnt try:

9-PINCHO MORUNO DE CERDO
Grilled marinated pork skewers
COMMENT:
Just ordinary marinated pork
No picture

10-SETAS MIXTAS AL JEREZ
Sautéed mixed mushrooms with dry sherry
COMMENT:
Mushrooms always taste good and with sherry even better.

SETAS MIXTAS AL JEREZ

 

11-CONCHINILLO ASADO CON MIEL Y AJOS TIERNOS
Honey roast suckling pig with spring onion
COMMENT:
Quite sweet, and the pork was tender, the skin was slightly sticky

ASADO CON MIEL Y AJOS TIERNOS

 

12-RABO DE TORO
Braised Ox tail in red wine reduction
COMMENT:
The ox tail was very tender and the sauce was rich.
See the meatballs picture on the left.

13-ARROZ NEGRO
Rice cooked in squid ink, garlic and onion
COMMENT:
The rice was so yummy and fully flavoured, and not undercooked.

ARROZ NEGRO

 

14-ARROZ CON VERDURAS
Mixed seasonal vegetables braised in saffron rice
Didnt try:

15- TORTILLA DE PATATA
Potato, onion and egg omelette with alioli
Didnt try:
But tried on my previous visit, it is basically like a big omlette, and its too filling for lunch.

16-SOUP OF THE DAY
COMMENT:
It was spinach that day in clear consomme, the spinach was blanched just right.

 

17-DESSERT OF THE DAYCOMMENT:
It was almond ice-cream which I do not have a picture, but it was good anyway, not too sweet.

Complimentary bread:

 

Matching silver pencil and Menu stand[:/b]