WE spotted Wagyu Beef Bone Marrow on the menu at Curious Kitchen and we had to have that. The creamy, almost gelatinous bone marrow had been chopped, marinated in a sauce of miso, garlic, shallots, parsley and white wine, put back in the bone before going into the smoker. This was smooth and buttery on the thin toast, the flavours of the smoky marrow bursting on the palate.

We are sitting in this covered open dining space with a cool breeze blowing across. Curious Kitchen sits on a huge space on the second floor of Tropicana Avenue and is artfully divided into three entities. The air-conditioned restaurant sports a dramatic wall-to-wall screen and is mostly used for private dining and events. Across it is the alfresco dining area, and beside it, a glass-enclosed bar.

We like the casual vibe of it, and in the open kitchen we watch the flaming charcoal grill at work, roasting the meats. It is fitted also with the smoker, fired with imported oak wood for that lovely aroma.

Curious Kitchen specialises in Iberico pork, the prime 5J Cinso Jotas (5J, 5 star) meat from Spain, from free-range black pigs raised in the wild, feeding on grass, and for four months in the winter, acorns.

Our next course is the Iberico Top Loin, grilled and smoked and served with kizami wasabi, potato cubes and honey pickled tomatoes. There’s only one piece of top loin from each animal and we are having 220g of it. It’s served medium rare, with no marination or seasoning. The Iberico pork is tender, rich and juicy, with its natural sweetness coming through with each bite. All it needed was just a touch of chopped wasabi root or kizami served with it. We loved the fluffy, fried potato cubes drizzled with herb oil, and the sweet bursts of the cherry tomatoes pickled with honey.

We enjoyed the Iberico Ribs too which had been marinated with garlic, onion, salt and pepper, roasted for one and half hours in the oven and finished in the grill and smoker. The meat falls off the bone: It is tender, sticky and moist but still has a lot of bite.

The ribs are served with the signature bourbon BBQ sauce. This is a special sauce with 13 ingredients that has been cooked for more than six hours. I like the sauce which is spiced, intense and mellow, with a tapering sweetness. It goes well with the meat and is especially good with the sweet potato chips served with the ribs.

We tried some of the Iberico Belotta, sliced from the leg of ham there. This has a complex, intense flavour, and a lovely aroma which opens up as the thin slices of ham are left to breathe a little.

Dessert was Creme Brulee, with the torched sugar crust which cracked into thick, velvety Madagascar vanilla cream. It was so lovely. Their Lemon Meringue Pie has been singled out too, for its lemon and yuzu curd in an almond tart.

We should come back for the Iberico Fried Rice with boneless magro bites, Iberico Bolognese and other dishes like Live Baby Dutch Mussels and Braised Aussie Wagyu MB1 Beef Short Ribs.

The Iberico Top Loin is RM95, Iberico Ribs (half slab) RM110, Wagyu Beef Bone Marrow RM60 and Creme Brulee RM16. Kids eat for free with the Iberico Bolognese and Magro Carbonara.

Private dining indoors for eight to 10 people is RM250 each, while the event space is up for a minimum spend of RM5,000 on week days and RM8,000 on weekends.

Curious Kitchen is at P-02-01, 2nd Floor, Tropicana Avenue, 12, Persiaran Tropicana, Petaling Jaya, Tel: 010 666 1048. – January 5, 2019.

* Eu Hooi-Khaw has been writing about food for the longest time, covering all aspects, from restaurant reviews to cooking and recipes, as well as the healthy side of it. She has written for major newspapers and magazines, published the cookbook Fresh Ingredients, and also writes for her website hooikhawandsu.com.