OHLA Tapas & Cocktails, The Intermark

When it comes to food, who could resist good food? I love food, I mean, I will not starve myself just to keep my weight at the ideal standard. Maintaining a good shape is important, but I think I would rather exercise and work out than to prohibit myself from eating the good food! That's so torturing! Speaking of food, love different cuisine, fond of Spanish food especially, I can have Spanish food weekly and will not get bored of it! Glad that I've got a chance to try out OHLA Tapas and Cocktails, The Intermark with my dearies!

OHLA is a great place for chill out and great spot before clubbing!

OHLA is setup like a traditional tapas bar with a long dining bar with high bar stools – no low dining tables here. However, unlike the more rustic and traditional tapas bars in Spain, OHLA has a modern and chic design with colourful wallpaper and floor to ceiling glass panes which you can peer through to view the Twin Towers and KL’s busy bustling traffic go by.

OHLA is helmed by Toni Ruiz, head cook at Ohla, who has cooked in some of the finest restaurants in Spain, one of them being Mugaritz – a renowned restaurant in San Sebastian, and at El Celler de Can Roca, recently voted the best restaurant in the world. Toni is a passionate young chef who cooks pure Catalan menu – no fusion Malaysian/ European stuff here.

babe Karen and yours truly

The menu at OHLA is what you would get in a top tapas restaurant in Barcelona. Toni displays his skills and leads his team from an open kitchen, equipped with a specially-imported Josper charcoal-fired oven.

Mixed Salad – RM22.00

Mixed salad decorated with flowers, onion, apple, tomato and grapes dressing with honey and nuts vinaigrette – a light, but definitely tasty salad with dabs of blue cheese from the Roncal valley, this one was quite a pretty sight.

Grilled Scallops with Pork Belly – RM40.00

Scallops wrapped in savoury Iberico pork belly then grilled in the aforementioned Josper charcoal-fired oven. A delicious and tantalising combination of seafood and meat served on a bed of lemon mashed potato. A well balanced dish which imparted a host of different flavours and textures and was beautifully presented on a fan shaped shell.

Roasted Chicken Cannelloni with mushrooms and parsley oil – RM35.00

The cannelloni is like a Spanish “popiah” stuffed with roasted chicken and with earthy mushrooms topped with a rocket salad drizzled with parsley oil. The skin of the cannelloni is tapa, which is milk skin used in place of pasta.

Seared Foie Gras – RM55.00

Served with a creamy potato puree, black truffle shavings, and a beautiful poached egg yolk. This was simply a delectable mishmash of flavours and textures. The earthiness of the truffle, richness of the foie gras, and the creaminess of the egg and potato puree. A must-try dish at OHLA!

Mediterranean Seafood Black Rice – RM45.00

Langoustines on squid ink rice with a dollop of aioli on the side to provide a little extra richness. I personally love langoustines which are shellfish known by a few different names – Norway lobster, Dublin Bay prawn or scampi (as you will hear quite often in Masterchef Australia). This dish is rather similar to traditional Spanish paella but it the rice was infused with squid ink and a langoustine broth which made it superbly flavourful.

Wagyu Steak with baby pots and salad – RM100.00

That is how you should cook a steak – gloriously pink medium rare! Served with mustard herbs butter and baby roasted potatoes and meat sauce, this dish was really to die for! Tender and flavourful strips of wagyu which barely needed the sauce to complement it. The mustard herbs butter added a nice richness and twist of flavours while the baby roasted potatoes were a delight to eat.

Spanish Cheeses – RM25.00

Spanish cheeses with apple, walnuts and quince paste – a platter of three cheeses with the mild Rocinate Ovesa Manchego Curado (cured goat’s cheese), to Queso Manchego D.O. Ovesa Semicurado (semi cured), to the strong Valdeon Blue CheeseLeon. Served with crusty warm bread, this is a meal in itself for ardent fans of cheese!

Chocolate Ice Cream with vanilla & white chocolate soup – RM25.00

The presentation for this dish left everyone with ooohs and ahhhs! The vanilla and white chocolate soup was poured over the chocolate ice cream with chopped strawberries and small bits of chocolate which were eventually drowned in the soup. This provided both a contrast of flavours and textures in the mouth!