El Willy
20 Donghu Lu
???20?
Shanghai, China
PRICE: ???
RATING:

I’d heard a lot about El Willy but we never got around to checking it out. So what better occasion than to celebrate Chris and Hunter’s birthdays? We went there on a Friday night (on their actual birthdays) and it was crowded, but staff were very accomodating and gave us a small/quieter room to seat in, and were very attentive. Best of all, the food came out at lightning speed! We were in and out of the restaurant in an hour, which is just excellent when you have such a young baby and you want to be home early to bathe him and put him to sleep. It was very much appreciated.

El Willy serves up Spanish food, tapas style. This means you can order more dishes, hehe. Unfortunately for us, we overestimated and ordered a bit too much! Actually it wasn’t THAT much food, but we were really really exhausted so much so that it affected our appetites. It meant we were so stuffed by the end of the meal we could barely walk, *lol*. Well worth it though, because the food was fabulous. What we especially enjoyed was that every dish was entirely unique – it’s not like going to a restaurant and getting a pasta cabonara or the like (ie. you can get that dish anywhere). The ingredients were fresh and delicately flavoured, and the presentation was thoughtful.

We had a superb meal and it was a great celebration for our lil family. And yes, it was a bit of a Willy fest (LMAO) ‘cos we also went to Ohana for the birthday celebration with friends 😉

Hunter all ready for his birthday celebration with Dad

The colourful menu at El Willy

Amuse bouche

Scallop ceviche, avocado, crispy shallots – simply exquisite. Utterly fresh and delicate,
the scallops paired perfectly with the creamy avocado and crispy shallots

Patatas Bravas in spicy sauce – we thought this was the only average dish of
the night. Potato wedges that were sitting in too much oil. The crushed tomatoes
and creamy mayo on top was great though.

Crispy sucking pig cooked 12 hours, apple tatin and 5 spice sauce – outstanding!
Lovely crackling and there wasn’t too much fat. Loved the sweet apple tatin.

Beef cheek cooked 5 hours with banana and passion fruit – the beef was
exceedingly soft and delicious, but I wasn’t a fan of the sweet fruit it was paired with

Lobster paella – utter perfection and came in such a large portion! Creamy,
rich, delicious…. I’d come back for this :)~

Dessert platter – every mini dish on this platter was fantastic.
A lovely way to end our meal!

Chris modelling his new Jaeger LeCoultre watch 🙂