H
Harters
New member
Listed by the Michelin Guide, Can Cuarassa’s €29 fixed price menu is worthy of the Guide’s more illustrious “Bib Gourmand”, awarded for imaginative good food at moderate prices (currently three courses under €40). Even without the Bib , this is cracking value for money offering three courses from a very short listing, together with wine, water, coffee and liqueur.
It wasn’t a particularly good start though. Bread was that pre-baked 7 frozen mini-baguette stuff. But there was chicken liver pate to have with it instead of butter. OK, so that’s on track now. Service is slick and we’re clearly in good competent hands. As might be expected at this level, there’s an amuse bouche – two mouthfuls of fig, ham and mozzarella, with basil dressing – lovely.
Starters were both fresh and light. On one plate, a big handful of mixed salad leaves, topped with grilled vegetables – courgette, aubergine, pepper and mushroom – all dressed with more of the basil vinaigrette. The other plate was a carpaccio of octopus – thin slices of cured octopus, tasting simply of the sea and dressed with a light tomato sauce. On top, a small pile of shoestring fries provided an absolutely bang-on crunchy texture contrast.
We both went with beef for the main course. A couple of slices of something like topside, quickly fried, still leaving a little pink in the middle. This came with a rich wild mushroom sauce. Alongside, some excellent gratin dauphinoise potato, a little tumbet and, perhaps the star on the plate, a couple of slices of green pepper, in a perfectly crisp tempura batter.
Dessert was fine although, as often the case, did not sing out as loudly as the other courses and, as often the case with restaurants at this level, almost certainly bought in from the wholesalers, rather than made on the premises. A fairly bland vanilla mousse topped a disc of sponge. The real enjoyable taste here came with the surrounding plum sauce, which was rich, fruity and really very good.
And, to finish, excellent “cafe solo”. Service had been good throughout although, even allowing for a Mediterranean pace, there must have been some sort of problem in the kitchen. A 30 minute wait between starter plates being cleared and main courses arriving is simply too long. But this was the only significant issue with the evening.
It wasn’t a particularly good start though. Bread was that pre-baked 7 frozen mini-baguette stuff. But there was chicken liver pate to have with it instead of butter. OK, so that’s on track now. Service is slick and we’re clearly in good competent hands. As might be expected at this level, there’s an amuse bouche – two mouthfuls of fig, ham and mozzarella, with basil dressing – lovely.
Starters were both fresh and light. On one plate, a big handful of mixed salad leaves, topped with grilled vegetables – courgette, aubergine, pepper and mushroom – all dressed with more of the basil vinaigrette. The other plate was a carpaccio of octopus – thin slices of cured octopus, tasting simply of the sea and dressed with a light tomato sauce. On top, a small pile of shoestring fries provided an absolutely bang-on crunchy texture contrast.
We both went with beef for the main course. A couple of slices of something like topside, quickly fried, still leaving a little pink in the middle. This came with a rich wild mushroom sauce. Alongside, some excellent gratin dauphinoise potato, a little tumbet and, perhaps the star on the plate, a couple of slices of green pepper, in a perfectly crisp tempura batter.
Dessert was fine although, as often the case, did not sing out as loudly as the other courses and, as often the case with restaurants at this level, almost certainly bought in from the wholesalers, rather than made on the premises. A fairly bland vanilla mousse topped a disc of sponge. The real enjoyable taste here came with the surrounding plum sauce, which was rich, fruity and really very good.
And, to finish, excellent “cafe solo”. Service had been good throughout although, even allowing for a Mediterranean pace, there must have been some sort of problem in the kitchen. A 30 minute wait between starter plates being cleared and main courses arriving is simply too long. But this was the only significant issue with the evening.