Take your lunch experience to new heights — on the 54th floor of Centara Grand at CentralWorld to be exact — at Uno Mas, one of Bangkok's best-known Spanish restaurants.
To mark this luxe lunch, Uno Mas has introduced 10 new dishes, covering starters to desserts. Listed under the Tapas section, the Truffled ham tortilla (B260) is a sizeable starter for sharing. Topped with Serrano ham arranged like a flower with pollen made of amaranth microgreens, the potato and onion omelette is somewhat fluffy but could have scored more had the truffle come through more strongly.
Classic Spanish olives (B390) should pique your curiosity and appetite with its unusual presentation. Two types of olive are served on six spoons. The ones that look like grapes are jelly refreshingly bursting with liquid olive while the rest are marinated olives from Spain, which are stuffed with piquillo peppers and manchego cheese.
From the Frituras section, comes Deep fried whitebaits (B450). The super crunchy tiny fish can be eaten whole sans worry about them piercing your palate. It may look like Japanese-style, deep-fried smelt but the Spanish twist comes in the form of a yin-yang sauce made of squid ink and aioli.
From the mains, comes the succulent Snow fish al "Pil Pil" (B1,390). Have your camera ready as the dish announces its arrival with the savoury sound of snow fish sizzling away in bubbling aromatic oil infused with garlic. "Pil pil" refers to a sauce made of garlic and chilli infused in hot olive oil in Spanish and Basque cuisines. The fish is generously covered with pieces of gold garlic and is served with two slices of soft baguette that you can dip into the pil pil sauce.
Arroz negro con pulpo (B1,090) looks slightly Lovecraftian with a panful of black rice as a background and a huge red tentacle as an appetising foreground. Aromatic bomba rice grains are blackened with octopus ink and cooked with garlic confit, red and green pepper and picada sauce while dollops of aioli lend a creamy contrast. Most importantly, the tentacle is delectably chewy.
Arroz con Leche (B290) or Spanish rice and milk pudding has been given a tropical twist at Uno Mas. It's served à la mode in a chilled double wall cup with pineapple sherbet for a refreshing contrast. Dig down and you'll get pineapple purée for creaminess and rice grains for some chewiness.
You no longer have to wait until dinnertime to savour signature delights of Uno Mas such as Gambas "pil pil" and decadent Crab "Txanggurro". Lunch at Uno Mas also comes with a great cityscape and a stylish yet relaxed ambience but it doesn't come cheap. Uno Mas open daily from noon-11pm. Call 02-100-6255.
