There are many Spanish restaurants in Beijing, and although there are many of them of excellent quality, these restaurants often have a limited style, and it is difficult to compare with the refined Italian and French cuisine. However, the exception is TOP Tapas, a hot spot in Sanlitun South, which broke the traditional impression of Spanish restaurants in the past. InterContinental Center has injected the high-end dining temperament of a star-rated hotel into the hot Spain, and its dishes are closer to fine dining.
Originally from Beijing, Chef Alex Liang studied in Germany and Austria before joining InterContinental Hotels Group after nine years at The Ritz-Carlton. The name of the restaurant is TOP Tapas, and the menu here is indeed based on Tapas. Tapas in Hot Spain range from cold to hot dishes, with signature dishes such as slow-cooked Australian Wagyu short ribs, marinated scallops, Iberian ham meatballs, Spanish fried cinnamon puffs, duck confit and more. The duck confit is a recipe for creativity in the restaurant, the dish looks like a pot of black soil with small flowers and watermelons, the "soil" is actually a sesame muffin, and the traditional duck confit is hidden under the "soil", and then a layer of corn porridge flavored with rosemary and bell pepper is placed underneath, creating a unique taste experience with multiple layers of texture and flavor.
热点西班牙菜单里的“Crusty & Tender”品类为食客提供了传统意义上的Tapas。Tapas即西班牙小吃，是西班牙美食的重要代表。最早的Tapas多为一片小面包，安达卢西亚人将其作为饮酒时遮蔽杯口的盖子，用来阻拦果蝇，西语的“Tapa”即意为盖子。在这片小面包上叠放各种食材，便形成了最初的Tapas。热点西班牙为食客提供了一个类目，专门供应面包片形式的Tapas，小小的面包片方寸之间便成为了厨师展露新意和创造力的舞台。Smoked eggplant puree with sea urchin、香煎鳌虾、八爪鱼配番茄及菠菜脆片、生食金枪鱼腩及生蚝酱、烩野生菌配黑松露等，不少Tapas都值得尝试，分量小巧，造型精致惹人，色彩绚丽，味型搭配和滋味呈现也很出色，如果忽略和城中其它西班牙餐厅相比起来略显突兀的价格，热点西班牙的Tapas确实称得上无可指摘。
Since it is a Spanish restaurant, ham and paella have to be mentioned. The restaurant offers 48-month-old and 24-month-old Iberian oak-fed black pig hams, which are of excellent quality, golden in color, thin and neatly sliced, attractive in appearance, and salty and oily in the mouth. Although the restaurant is mainly based on Tapas, there are also main dishes to offer, the amount of paella here is very real, the rice and seafood ingredients are very sufficient, red shrimp, mussels, sea rainbows and so on are large in quantity, large in size, the rice grains are cooked and soft, in line with the taste of the Chinese people.
It is worth noting that the Japanese restaurant "Ying Cuisine", the Chinese restaurant "Ying Chinese Restaurant", and the steakhouse "Cha Restaurant & Lounge" are all located on the same floor as the hot spot Spain. Given the short menu and the scarcity of main dishes, this kind of food linkage provides more convenience for diners who come for the main meal.
The restaurant's attached bar, the Hot Bar, has an extensive wine list with the largest number of whiskies, of which single malt whisky is worth trying. Single malt whisky is known as the "emperor" of whisky, which requires the spirit to come entirely from the same distillery, is made from only malted barley, and matures in the distillery's oak barrels for more than 3 years. Most of the single malt whisky in the hot bar comes from Scotland, the whisky mecca, covering the Scottish Highlands, Scottish Lowlands, Speyside, Islay, Campbelltown and other production areas, with a wide variety.
The environment of Hot Spain is exquisite and luxurious, with bold colors, fashionable and warm tones, and it can be said that it is the best Spanish restaurant in Beijing. There are plenty of sofa seats in the dining room, and the atmosphere is casual and relaxing, in addition to enjoying Spanish food, it is also a space suitable for afternoon tea. The sofa seat by the window is suitable for afternoon tea and tapas, but if you want to enjoy a formal meal, the low table that goes with the sofa is not friendly enough, and it is a little embarrassing to lean over to eat. The service level of the restaurant is commensurate with that of a five-star hotel, and it is reasonable and in place. Compared to the Spanish restaurants represented by the gardens there, the refined route of TOP Tapas is quite eye-catching; However, as a Tapas restaurant, TOP Tapas' positioning and the pricing of its star hotels also bring great limitations to the dining scene of the restaurant - it is only suitable for girlfriends or couples to spend their afternoons, and for other customers, there are more Spanish restaurants that are more cost-effective.
