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A very weird experience here I have to say. It seems to be from the outside a typical Spanish tapas restaurant. But it's not. For starters, it appears to be run by Russians! I distinctly heard the waiters talking to each other in Russian. Quite a few of the tapas had an Oriental twist too, which was a bit of a disaster. I mean you can't really call a tempura crab a tapas can you? Or maybe I am not up with the times. Anyway, we should judge the food on its merit and go from there.
We decided to go for the 59.99 tasting menu, because it had the best selection of dishes (on slate) and I always like to go for a tasting menu in a restaurant that I am going to review as it will give you a very good overall feel for the place and it's cuisine.
The first course was a selection of 'snacks'. A shot of Gazpacho, banana with caviar and black bean mousse. All beautifully presented, if a bit over the top. I took quite a few photos as you can see below, as the presentation was wonderful. 5/5 for that. It's just a shame the food didn't live up to it's appearance. Generally I found all the dishes to be rather bland, with a strange mix of flavours that didn't work at all. There were one or two exceptions though as you will see.
The second course was some warm nigiri (a type of sushi) on a croquette. A mix of Japanese and Spanish which didn't work for me. Simply no flavour. Should nigiri ever be warm?
The third course was a selection of 3 tapas. Easily the best course of all. Patatas Bravas, Jamon with croquette (superb) and pork fillet. Proper Spanish tapas for this course and all the better for it.
Next up was the aforementioned crab tempura in a curry sauce. Very innovative for sure, but why? Why mix up nice ingredients in this way. Innovation just for the sake of innovation won't work unless the mixtures of flavours enhance each other. And in most of the courses here, the mixture of flavours just killed the flavour! Sounds strange but it was true!
A couple of courses later was the 'award winning' Cannelloni with goat meat. As an aside here, in the menu, a lot of the dishes are labelled as having won tapas awards in some prestigious competition. Can it be true? It must be, but I can't explain it. I have had outstanding tapas in other restaurants for a quarter of the price. Anyway, I don't know if I have ever had goat meat before. Maybe I never will again. It was forgettable. No flavour, I just don't have any good words to say about it.
Incidentally I was pushed to have some Champagne during the meal which I declined. I had Cava instead, which was supposed to be 'excellent' according to the waiter. He in fact said that everything was 'excellent'. Anyway, a quick check on Vivino revealed the Cava had a score of 3.3 . It tasted OK though, but definitely not what I expected!
The dessert was 'petit-fours' which I don't really know much about. Anyway it turned out to be small globes of various sweet things served in what seemed to be a make-up drawer. More weirdness! What's wrong with plates? I don't think any course was served on a plate!
Overall I will score the food a generous 3/5.
I went into the ladies toilet by mistake. It happens after a couple of glasses of cava sometimes. There was a big crack in the mirror and a mosquito prancing around so I beat a hasty exit. Apart from that the toilets were clean with a nice tiled decor. 4/5.
This place is NOT authentic. If you want proper tapas I will tell you where to go in later reviews. Actually the one in Calahonda is much better so you can go there for starters. They also have much better wine choices.
The reviews for this place are outstanding. However, I cannot recommend it. If the price was 50% less then maybe.
The service was a good 4/5, but a bit 'fake posh' if that makes sense. One of the waiters seemed to be on autopilot and couldn't answer any questions that weren't part of his spiel.
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