The restaurant is called Sueño which means “dream” or “sleep” in Spanish. Located in a location with many good tapas restaurants like Atherton’s 22 Ships, let’s see whether the cuisine is dreamy or just sleepy.
Tapas
The menu only had around 10 items for tapas, and featured mainly the classic like croquettes, garlic prawns, chorizo, octopus.
On the windswept plateau where Madrid is perched, it is too dry to raise cattle and most crops. So pork has long been a mainstay, from jamón ibérico and charcuterie tapas to stews of pigs’ ears and entrails.
Jamon Iberico, 48 months, tomato, crystal loaf bread sound not be considered a tapas, but it was almost always ordered with tapas. The crystal loaf bread was simply very puffy baguette that was toasted until a crisp and drizzled with honey and olive oil.
A salsa of chopped heirloom tomato, passion fruit, olive oil, molasses and pepper was provided to give the jamon another dimension, but seriously, I could simply just eat the jamon on its own.
Pan fried scallops with edamame puree, cheese gnocchi, ham was a hit and miss. While the ham was pan-fried to a serious crisp and tasted like really great bacon, the scallops was tad too undercooked. The edamame puree was a great addition to the one dimensional taste of scallops, but the cheese gnocchi was totally out of place.
Crab meat salad, sesame dressing was quite simple which we can make at home. I liked the addition of the strawberry to give it the fruitiness, but it could do better with fresh crab meat instead of the canned version.
Mains
Cochinillo asado, or roast suckling pig, is one of the most typical dishes in the cuisine of Castilla, Spain, especially in the city of Segovia. Chefs take pride in the tenderness of their roast pigs and prove how delicate the meat is by cutting the pig with a plate instead of a knife.
A suckling pig, as the Spanish define it, has fed only on mother’s milk, has never been allowed to run free, and is no more than a month old. While suckling its young, the mother pig feeds on rye, oats, cabbage and potatoes. A baby piglet is very delicate. Any bacteria or parasite could hurt them. The newborns haven’t built up any natural defenses and they don’t get any vitamins or artificial hormones.
There is a layer of fat under the skin of the piglet, and one test of the skill of the preparation is to examine the underside of the skin. It should be well browned and as crusty as parchment outside, but the underlying fat should have been eliminated, or at least minimized, through long, slow cooking.
Cochinillo, 12 hours slow cooked suckling pig, caramel pineapple was done perfectly. The fats had rendered and just enough were left to provide the moisture and stickiness for the palate. And when eaten with the pineapple that has been roasted, the sour pineapple acted like a pickle to ease the fattiness. The skin was the highlight, very crisp, browned and shiny as parchment paper.
It’s not everyday you get fideuà. The first time I tried this was at FOC at Hong Kong Street in Singapore. Then I had many so-called fideuà, including one really bad one in Barcelona. And then this in Hong Kong.
When seafood fideo, scallops, prawns, squid, clams, lobster sauce was served, I was already excited by the bee hoon texture that it came as. I know I was into something good. The seafood was cooked just right separately, but the chefs have incorporated the stock into the noodles. It was so full of flavours that even I was so stuffed, I ate everything, the full portion for two to four persons.
The shop
The shop is located right next to the famous temple and haunted terrace along Queen’s Road East. When we arrived at our reservation time, we were surprised to find the sign on the door said “Closed”. We opened the door nevertheless and asked,
The open kitchen in the small shop was quite a challenge. We were seated right next to the open kitchen and by the end of the dinner, we smelled of the cochinillo and spent olive oil. There’s a second floor, so I would recommend that you go up a floor.
Over all it was quite good, selection of tapas was limited but the quality was good. The surrounding was casual and intimate for tête-à-tête. I would come again and try the other tapas.
Sueño
137 Queen’s Rd E, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
Tel : +852 5993 5442
https://www.facebook.com/suenohongkong
Date Visited : May 2019
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