Overall thumbs up with my overwhelming favorite being the black squid ink pasta with squid, clams, shrimp and aromatic chanterelle mushrooms with a dollop of honey aioli. Fantastic.
My second favorite was the smoked octopus topped with greens and a potato vinaigrette. The octopus was tender, smoky and delicious. The greens were refreshing. It almost didn't need a sauce because it was so fresh.
We couldn't resist the uni flan and while we didn't know what to expect, what we got was so much better than I expected. It came with caviar and some shrimp chili oil that paired very well with the creamy sea urchin. This was probably the biggest pleasant surprise of the evening.
The potatoes. Ah, the potatoes. They were fried and came with chorizo and serrano ham, all topped with an oozy sunny side up egg garnished with some chopped chives. Oh, it was drizzled with some of that garlicky aioli but again, it really didn't need it. This is a classic comfort food dish -- it has all the elements of a breakfast from heaven including sausage, ham, potatoes and a fried egg on top. My only complaint was that the potatoes, while good, seemed a tad over fried (some were a bit too dark on the outside) but overall solid.
The tomato bread that came with sausage slices were good if not served room temperature. The house-made bread was good but not as good as the Bazaar or other Spanish joints that pride themselves on their in-house bread. As much as I love pork and sausages, I think I'm a purist when it comes to tomato bread and prefer it without any bells and whistles.
The charcuterie board had some very interesting pastes to accompany the ham and cheese fest. We first thought it was romesco sauce but it wasn't. There was a porky flavor that we detected and we later confirmed with the manager that it did indeed use ham stock as a base. I would recommend staying away from this as you end up eating far too much bread that prevents you from eating the rest of the menu items.
The cauliflower and broccoli with hazelnuts was good but I wished they had cut up the florets smaller so it'd be easier to eat. I'm not a big fan of broccoli in its original form (soups or sauces are best) and I'm not sure I'd order this again but it was a dose of healthier food amid the glorious pork and fattiness on our table.
The Catalan custard was basically a creme brulee with a scoop of sorbet and ice cream. It was good, especially the breaking-the-crust part that is the best way to enjoy a creme brulee. Once the crust was gone, however, it wasn't anything special.
The mini donuts that we could dip in a chocolate sauce were also good but again, maybe we expected something more different.
I'd definitely return to try the rest of the menu and its extremely popular Paella Nights on Sundays (paellas are only served on Sunday suppers).
No comments:
Post a Comment