2024 has been a big year for Esquina. The modern Spanish joint has been celebrating its 12-year anniversary with a series of collaborations each month. The old faithful, with Carlos Montobbio at the helm, has been dishing out reliable small plates that are equal parts inventive and inspired by tradition.
Start your meal with snacks from the a la carte menu. Here, Montobbio showcases signature Mediterranean flavours with a touch of Japanese flair – think uni toast with burrata and caviar ($22) and tsukune made from ibérico pluma, sobrassada and burnt onion sauce ($9). The mains are split into soil, sea and land – with long-standing favourites on the menu the Spanish Suckling Pig ($65/$98) and Hokkaido seafood paella ($68) still sitting pretty on the menu. They also feature on the $148 tasting menu that's available for both lunch and dinner if you'd prefer to leave it up to the chef.
And while Esquina has very much cemented itself in Singapore's food scene, it's not one to rest on its laurels. Montobbio shows no signs of slowing down – in fact, he teased that he'll soon launch a new tapas bar along Joo Chiat. But till then, you can have a taste of some of the casual small plates he has in mind with Esquina’s freshly launched Viva Vermut menu.
Viva Vermut features a specially curated menu of vermouth cocktails (or beer), tinned seafood and light bites served every first Saturday of each month between 11am and 5pm. Inspired by his memories of tinned seafood afternoons in Barcelona, Montobbio recalls fighting over who could eat the most clams. He serves the seafood just as he would back home – spiked with a splash of sour and spicy Salsa Espinaler.
Also on the menu: jamon chips topped with extra shavings of jamon for good measure, croquettes, and an oozy-in-the-middle tortilla. Dig into some tinned mussels and clams, all harvested at the peak of the season and imported directly by Esquina from Spain to Singapore.
Depending on how the concept does with the fans of #tinnedfishtok, Montobbio plans to expand Viva Vermut to every Saturday of the month and possibly even Sundays.