15 Hollywood Road, Central Tel: 2530 1890 Open: Mon-Sat noon-10.30pm (last order Fri and Sat 11pm)
Cuisine: modern Spanish
Price: about HK$350 per person without drinks and the service charge.
Ambience: the decor at Mesa 15 (right) is urbane with dark slate, marble and white tiling. We were the first table to be seated at 8pm on a Wednesday, but the place gradually filled up about an hour later, mostly with small groups.
Pros: the food is billed as the Andalusian vision of Alejandro Sanchez, who comes in every few months to tweak the menu. The chef's high-concept approach means tapas and mains with traditional flavours but reworked textures or unusual combinations.
Cons: the tapas menu is an uneasy mix of basics - cured meats platters (HK$75 and up), croquetas (HK$15 per piece) - and reworked classics such as the cod puree toast with black olives and bell pepper (HK$45). There are odd items such as a mini pork-rib burger with a blue cheese dressing (HK$55) and spicy octopus shooters (HK$89) which were too cold and slimy to be enjoyable. We were disappointed not to see paella on the mains menu, which is divided into seafood - with a focus on shellfish - and meats including braised beef dishes such as oxtail, ox tongue and short rib.