Tinto at Desa Sri Hartamas: Restaurant review

Buen provecho! There’s cause for celebration whenever a Spanish restaurant opens in KL, especially one that does justice to the tasty traditions of tapas, paella, cheese and wine.

Starters

At Tinto, patrons should start with a plate of tenderly cooked potatoes topped with a runny egg and intensely savoury ham (RM28), a profoundly pleasurable patchwork to send our palates to paradise and back. Keep hamming it up with the best of the butchery, a sumptuous chorizo platter that showcases the compelling flavours and textures of top-flight chorizo iberico bellota, salchichon bellota, lomo embuchado, and wild boar salchichon (RM68).

Seafood and sides

Seafood is capably tackled; the grilled octopus succeeds with a fleshy succulence (RM65), while the squid stuffed with minced pork conveys its own kind of meaty juiciness (RM33). The classic potato omelette pulls off an irreproachable balance of potato and egg (RM16), and tri-coloured capsicums with blue cheese (RM15) and marinated olives (RM12) perform well in supporting roles.

Paella

Tinto’s paella proves worthwhile too, prepared with chorizo, seafood and bell peppers, with a potent, stick-in-your-mouth flavour, the moistness of the rice underpinned by an accomplished socarrat, the lovely caramelised crust at the bottom (RM68).

Cheese platter

Save space for the cheese platter, a solid Spanish selection of firm varieties with pronounced characters, including Manchego Viejo, Manchego Gran Valle, Picos Blue Valdeon and Murcia al Vino (RM48).

Drinks

Our satisfaction extends to the Sangria (RM90 per jug), a good gin and tonic made with quality components (RM20) and a pleasantly robust red wine picked from Tinto’s cellar (RM150).