Iberico Kitchen, Oasis Square, Ara Damansara

Address:
Block D, unit D-G-07, Oasis Square, Jalan PJU 1A/7A Ara Damansara, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
Opening Hours:
Mon - Sun: 11am - 10pm (Not sure if they're really gonna stick to this.)
Time Visited:
Lunch time! Around 12:30pm on a Tuesday afternoon.
Attire worn:
Business. (Cause my suck company decided to disallow wearing t-shirt anymore.)
Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Initially ordered the Iberico Ribs but the co-owner came over and said that it might be a tad too much for a lone diner like me to finish it and recommended me The Pilaf instead which contains one Iberico Rib in it. It's also one of the items in the set menu which comes with a Sugar Cane drink.

They probably just opened on the day that I visited or maybe it was their second day. All in all, they definitely had just opened in less than a week.

I know, it's weird I'm visiting Oasis Square a lot but this is a place that I frequent often for lunch and they're blossoming forth with many new avenues of cafes and eateries of late.

Iberico Kitchen is highly visible at the back of Asa and Rakuzen unlike the former restaurant residing at the same place which hides itself among the greenery. Iberico Kitchen has a more transparent concept to it's design and from afar, you can already see inside the restaurant with very visible signs that it's a place that serves pork. I didn't like their furniture though because it's hard, wooden chairs and tables with loads of big gaps in between boards. This was a cause of concern for me that drinks may be easily spilt over and what's more, food dropping onto you if you're a clumsy eater. I hope they cover it up with tablecloths soon and put something to fill the spaces. They've set up tables for four for most and for big groups, at the sides. It is a very wide spaced restaurant. You're also able to peer into the kitchen no matter which table you're sitting and I can see that they got loads of kitchen staff in there.

Being just newly opened, they were somewhat disorganized and things not working as expected. The WiFi is not working yet though it did for less than a minute for me. The cash register program hanged and they had to issue a manual receipt in writing to me. The waiter is baffled at some of the questions I pose to him. Good thing I'm training them up with my out of the blue questions, eh? LOL. The main characteristic of the restaurant would be that it serves Iberian Pork dishes. It also serves beer which I think is a good move because it goes well with pork. But I highly doubt people will just come for beer since there's loads of pubs around.

So let's get onto the food. The Pilaf is a dish where there's Spanish Pilaf Rice on it served with Iberico Ribs. The Pilaf rice was fragrant, somewhat like Saffron rice but not quite. A little more fragrant than that with a hint of spiciness in the mix. The dish was well presented and looks appetizing from the start. The mixture of all the ingredients on my plate goes well together in perfect harmony. The Iberico Ribs were sensational. I've never eaten Iberian Pork before and this was the first time. I can tell you the taste between this and normal pork is very different. The pork taste in it seems to be stronger. When I read the description, it says you'll taste some hints of apples and corns because that's what they're fed with. And I have to say, well, it don't taste that way. LOL. I asked a foodie friend who had tried Iberian Ham before and he described it as smooth and richer. That, I have to agree. The ribs didn't have a lot of meat on 'em but then again, it is ribs. And it tasted oh, so delicious. It is adequate enough.

As for the sugar cane drink, well, I now see why it was the cheapest drink in the menu. It's awfully sweet and served in a vase-like container, it just looks pathetically less with the straw fancifully bent for you to sip out of. I'm not a fan of sugar cane anyway.

Since they newly opened, they had the co-owners wandering around interacting with the customers to find out how they like the meal. One of the co-owners explained to me too on what my meal was.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM30.80. RM28 was the set lunch and 10% I believe is the service charge. I have to assume here since the waiter had no idea what's the 10% charge was for and it was handwritten without the description to what it was.

Final Verdict:
7/10. No doubt the service was great, very attentive to customers and eager to gather feedback but being newly opened, this is one restaurant I'm seeing way too many hitches and glitches on a lot of things exposing them on not thinking things through entirely and to prepare for situations like that. However, I do like the idea of serving Iberico Pork dishes (I'm a pork fan and being introduced to a different kind of pork is great!) and am interested to try other things the next time around.