Frontera, Jaya One

The chocolate chilli brownie here was much hailed upon by my reliable foodie friend Kevin & me being me, didn’t need much prodding to round up a group as soon as he said he is up for it again.

We had all together 3 appetizers and 3 mains. ( This place is great if you are going in a group; we wouldn’t have been able to taste so many varieties at one time if otherwise)
Lastly was the long -anticipated choc chilli brownie of course.

When you go Tex- Mex, chilli is a must, so our first order was this.
Chilli Con Corne RM16.95
Beef chilli garnished with homemade tortilla strips, topped with shredded cheese and chopped onions.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was not as spicy as I have expected chilli to be, which is great since I find the burning, tongue numbing versions unkind on the stomach. Also, I am of opinion that one can really taste the flavour of the food better if it is not too overly spicy.
Two thumbs up for this, it was really good.

Taquitos de Pollo RM19.95
I have read so much about this dish (almost on every blog post that has been written about Frontera) that not ordering it would be taboo!
Basically shredded chicken, mixed with chilli, onions, with sprinkling of black pepper (I kid you not, I opened the roll and poked at the filling to check what’s inside), the tender meat paired with the crispy tortilla roll plus the green salsa verde and sour cream certainly whetted our appetite for the night.

Of course, other than chilli con carne, nachos are a must.
So the Frontera Nachos was duly ordered. RM28.95
It came pizza -like, with the base of crisp tortilla chips, covered with refried beans, cheese and sliced jalapeno.

The jalapeno is sweetish and vinegar-ish, a nice spice- it- up to the otherwise common pizza-like flavour.
Choices available are chicken or beef, and the waitress seeing our dilemma in deciding, gave us a combo. 🙂
The sour cream here is really nice and the pico de gallo (which is salsa to me) but to quote wikipedia;
pico de gallo = Spanish for “rooster’s beak”) is a fresh condiment made from chopped tomato, onion, and chilies (typically jalapenos)
.
The version they served here was confirmed to have the above ingredients by the waitress.

Half stuffed, we shared the mains as well.

The Beef Enchiladas RM28.95 came highly recommended by Gissel ( I think she is the restaurant manager?) as well as the Chicken Tex Mex Burrito RM19.95.
Both came with sides of Mexican rice; which was nicely flavourful and the refried beans was delicious as well; all soft and mushy.

The burritto came in one big roll & I did find the skin a wee thick, though it complements the thick layer of monterey cheese melted on top. The minced chicken filling was a bit sparse though.
The Beef enchiladas, on the hand, with its really thin skin was a better choice.
Generous filling of slow roasted shredded beef, moist and plump makes this a winner.

Note: I was a bit worried about the “refried beans” phrase hence I did a little check on wikipedia.
It would be interesting to share with you guys on this little bit of info:

The name is based on a mistranslation. In Mexican Spanish, the prefix re- is an informal form of emphasis meaning “very” or “well,” not to be confused with the English re- and formal use of the Spanish prefix re-, which indicates repetition. Thus, frijoles refritos, the Spanish name of this dish, would translate to English as “well-fried beans,” not “twice-fried beans.”

Being a chinese, re-fried immediately gave an impression of leftovers being re-cooked ;p
Well, its good to know that wasn’t the case!

Frontera’s famous BBQ Beef Ribs RM49.95
Slow roasted mesquite, smoked beef ribs, basted with Frontera’s homemade Habanero BBQ sauce, served with mash potato and sauteed vegetable of onions and corn.

Don’t let the BLACK glob that you see in the picture put you off. The sauce that covers the rib was sweet smokey-goodness! Meat that gave way to the knife with no resistance what-soever..with melt in the mouth fat.
And of course the mash was good as well, earthy, spud-dy, creamy, buttery. Good to lick off with your spoon.

And for dessert, what else but the Choc Chili Brownie. RM12.95.

The brownie texture was alright, it wasn’t too dense neither too rich. There are outlets with better versions of course.
But what makes this a must -try was the experience of dull burn or the swirling effect of subtle chilli heat that only comes to surface after the rich smooth chocolate taste has melted away in your mouth.
Imagine, sweet, lightly spicy..then the cooling sensation of creamy vanila ice-cream. Undeniably something unique.
 chocchilli brownie

note: While it was good on that particular night, it was disappointing during my next visit a week after with a different group of friends. We found it a bit dry with a very miserable portion of vanilla ice-cream.

One dessert is never enough for me, and my friend bought Pavlova from Alexis.

 Pav
Very nice & not overly sweet. Sure beats the ones served at The Apartment, KLCC.

All in all, I was pretty satisfied with the meal, and because my friend Kevin forgot to order the ceviche (of which was the 2nd main reason I organised this makan-makan, we might have to head back there soon 😉 )
Another suggested dish is the mexican mole, which is a complex chocolate-y sauce to be eaten with meat.
An acquired taste, I was warned, but I think I’m up for it 😉

Advance notice are required for both dishes so if anyone wants something out of the ordinary, do call up Larry or Gissel (03-7958 8515) TO CHECK WHETHER they would be able to prepare it as sometimes they might not have the necessary ingredients on hand.

Frontera Bar & Grill
18-8-2, Block L, Palm Square, Jaya One
72A, Jalan Universiti, PJ.

group pic




This Post Has 32 Comments

  1. Life for Beginners

    Hmm… chili in my chocolate? I’ve certainly tried chocolate (well, cocoa powder) in my chilli before! 😉

  2. Selba

    Wow… mexican food!!! Love it!!!

  3. thenomadGourmand

    lfb: LOL..sprinkle choc powder on yr sambal belacan??
    ehh..now Schokolart/theobroma got this choc chilli drink & choc cues as well. I tried them be4 but it was too mild compared to this! this is definitely better!

    selba: u do?? Indo got rite?? My fren who was in Mexico be4 (she was there during the dinner) claimed tht the food was pretty authentic.

  4. J2Kfm

    1st time i tried chilly-flavoured chocolates was at Beryl’s factory.
    hehe .. had a whale of a time sampling all sorts, from mango to durian, and tiramisu to chilli.

    surprisinly palatable, and even a little addictive.

    Tex-Mex food, humoungous portions, and good company.

  5. Sugar Bean

    So many eateries in Jaya One and I haven't even been there before. >< Hope to visit this area soon! Wonder how would the chili blend in chocolate brownie? Interesting, but would hesitate if I would order it.

    And the brownie did look a bit dry.

  6. Myhorng

    there were quite a number of u guys lei.

  7. gill gill

    im sure this is better then “chilis” yea? Look so authentic to me! Drooling oredy la! i have list down in my next KL trip schedule! 🙂

  8. Sean

    wah, i don’t recall that brownie on the menu when i visited this place last year. a good reason for a return now! 😀
    the other interesting thing here is the use of habanero chilli, which is really intense. we asked for a piece of the chilli to be eaten on its own, and we suffered for it! it’s so spicy, you can feel it burning inside your tummy!

  9. FoOd PaRaDiSe

    wow…. make me want to go for mexican foods now…. ^-^

  10. 550ml jar of faith

    They do special order Mole? How exciting! It’s one thing I’ve been absolutely dying to try, even tinkling with the idea of making it myself! The brownies look a little standard though… I’ll stick to the savouries!

  11. Rebeliciosz

    I missed it a lot!! Will definitely go again

  12. CUMI & CIKI

    So cute.. I thot highly recmdd by giselle the model!
    Lol..

  13. thenomadGourmand

    j2Kfm: yes beryl got all kinds dun they?
    like i told LFB, Schokolart & Theobroma has got this choc chilli drink & choc chilli cubes as well but the heat wasnt string enuf for me.

    sugar bean: yea..overloaded with eateries. Some survived some didnt.

    myHorng: normally I try to get my makan- makan grp to be ard 6-7 peeps. Then can order & share & sample 😉

    gill gill: honestly..chillis aint tex mex!

    sean: oh yes. My friend Alex took the Habenero challenge! He cried!

    food paradise: well..you can go to Blue Sky on Chulia St. Do u knw tht one?

    Rebeliciosz: Yes, for Alex's b'day ..since he's gonna take tht habanero challenge. we shall enjoy the margarita ohis behalf. ;p

  14. thenomadGourmand

    cumi&ciki: hhehe ;p

  15. thenomadGourmand

    550ml: oopppss..missed ya out..
    oh u knw mole? funny tasting i heard?

  16. Allan Yap & Nigel A. Skelchy

    Wow, there’s a mexican place at Jaya One? Must explore. 🙂 By the way, lovely to meet you the other night 🙂

  17. Wilson Ng

    Habanero is really wicked…

    Rachel tried when we were there as well….

    I loved their nachos….

  18. Bangsar-bAbE

    My bestie made chocolate chili brownie for me a few weeks back, but she DIDN’T tell me there was chili inside. I was wondering how come the cake so “pedas”!! =P

  19. burpandslurp

    I never knew SE Asia had good tex-mex restaurants! the food looks damn awesome! I'm craving some enchiladas and burritos now…
    and chili is NOT supposed to be spicy…I remember when I first came to America, and got chili, excitedly envisioning this real spicy stew…imagine my disappointment to find something just slighty spiced (NOT spicY) and tomato-ey! the stupid name is so misleading…

  20. thenomadGourmand

    allan & nigel: great meetin you too 😉 U guys r fun!!

    wilson: wow..rachel did? *salute*

    bangsar-babe: wow she knws how to bake one? can share recipe ahh ;p ?

    burpandslurp: yes indeed it was. & we asians takes the name literally, so we hv got some mex places who makes heir chilli realllyyy spicy!

  21. "Joe" who is constantly craving

    a very hearty meal..must try la..

    esp if its not killing spicy..cant take that either..

  22. Jason

    The chilli looked really good!

  23. Lao

    Thanks for the nice comments guys, if you don’t mind I’d like to clarify a few things.

    1) Gissel is not my wife 😉

    2) There are no mushrooms in the taquitos.

    3) It is spelled Frontera – which means ‘border’ or ‘frontier’ in Spanish.

    I’m aware of the problem with the brownies and hope to have it rectified ASAP.

    We did Mole Poblano at Christmas and have dont Ceviche a few times on special request. Understand that there basically a four hour window (after the marination) to eat Ceviche and so it needs to be VERY fresh.

    It will be a while before we can do Mole Poblano again – currently we don’t have any stock of Mulatto chilis. We have everything else just no Mulattos.

    Once again thank you for the nice comments and I hope to see you all this weekend – we will be celebrating the launch of some new menu items and my birthday!

    Mesquite grilled Carne Asada will be back on the menu and it is awesome.

    Mini chimichangas with chipotle ranch dressing

    and more

    be sure to join our group on Facebook and invite your friends.

    Cheers,

    Larry

  24. thenomadGourmand

    joe: yes, a hearty & good meal. 😉 Alws had an impressive tht chilli is killingly spicy, glad that they do an authentic version here!

    jason: it is lohh!

  25. thenomadGourmand

    Laos: Helloo there Larry!

    I have edited the post based on yr comments. Thank you for clarifying.

    The Ceviche was something introduced by Kev, I'm not entirely familiar on what it is hence we will be coming back for that soon 😉

    As for the mole, Gissel did told us that night to call & check in advance. Guess we will have to wait for the Mulatto chilis ;p

    Of course I will try to get a group to drop by if possible this weekend. New items yeah? Awesome!
    Last but not least,
    Happy Birthday Larry!! ;p

  26. Alexandra@Chefspiration

    Oh yes try the burger! you'll love it 🙂 Where is cristang?

  27. Alexandra@Chefspiration

    Oh yes try the burger! you'll love it 🙂 Where is cristang?

  28. Emelda Brundige

    Are you kidding me? There is mole here in KL???

  29. James

    Great text and nice blog.

  30. Wonda Tezeno

    Hi there, long time reader and lurker here with my first ever comment! My only daughter is getting married to her lovely mexican boyfriend soon, and I’m tasked with doing the wedding arrangements! I thought enchiladas would be a nice snack, so trying to find some good enchilada recipes. What do you think? Any more suggestions?? Anyway, thanks for your hard work as ever…

  31. Farhana Osman

    Has anyone tried their chicken wings? I think it’s buffalo chicken wings. My friend has that and it left him crying and sweating all over. It was THAT hot. If you think you can handle heat, you should think twice when your having their chicken wings. Do you have what it takes to eat them?
    😛

    1. rebeccasaw

      Wow! When was this? U tried it recently? Heheh.. gonna drag some friends ovr to try!

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