We ate at O Lume last night as our final treat before returning home today and I’ve got to say we are very disappointed - disappointed that we haven’t eaten here before and that we only went once this year!
It was superb! The courtyard is a lovely place to eat. Surprisingly quiet and peaceful given the location by the main road. You can’t really hear any traffic noise at all and could easily be in a courtyard of a country villa with grape vines over your head. These will be lovely when they have become more established. Jaime seems like a delightful bloke. Very quiet and unassuming with a lovely and very endearing chuckle when he laughs.
There was one large Spanish family eating there when we arrived, and a few children running about playing. I love seeing kids in restaurants – seems to make the place more relaxing. Another two couples and a smaller family arrived later.
The food is VERY good, right from the unusual alternative to bread and olives. We were pleasantly surprised when the butters arrived with the bread and an egg salad type thing – very nice and different. For starters I had the clams (half portion as I seem to recall reading here that these are usually ample). They were delicious and none of the sauce was wasted as I didn’t have to ask as more bread was brought up. My wife’s face was a picture as she tucked in to her duck salad, she thought it absolutely wonderful and so did I as she reluctantly gave me a taste. Easily the best starter she had in the two-week stay. My son being my son ordered ravioli in truffle sauce (I told him to tell his mates the next time they were in McDonalds). He wolfed in down and declared it “pucka”. I agreed with him – delicious fresh ravioli in a wonderful sauce and the truffles were not spared. For ten euros this is superb value.
Very difficult choice of main course as the entire menu looked very tempting. My son and I had the T-bone steak (again half portion), both medium-rare (I’ve trained him well). It was a large piece of meat, god knows what the full portion would have looked like. No sauce was quite a surprise, but in all honesty it was a lovely piece of meat. Cooked and seasoned to perfection, succulent with a lovely char-grilled taste. The fat was even crisped up perfectly and I polished off every morsel. No sauce required. My wife’s medallions of pork were a similar story. No sauce, but again it was not required as the quality of the meat and the cooking shone through. I can always tell when she is enjoying a meal by the look on her face and the approving little noises she makes. The house red and white wines were sampled and without being wine experts (far from it) we thought these were great value. I was very full after the main course, bearing in mind I had the half portions.
The desserts are very tempting and my wife had the chocolate mousse, and my son the crepe with honey. Both were duly polished off followed by coffee and huge complimentary glasses of hierbas (although Jaime did give us a choice of complimentary aperitifs). I mentioned I had read about his famous fried milk which brought another chuckle. The bill came to 93 euros (this included a few beers and soft drinks).
At the end of the meal my wife declared this to now to be her number 1 restaurant in PP, and I don’t disagree with her. For the quality of the food and service, and the various lovely little touches it is SUPERB value. Our best meal this year by some distance. It has been said here many times before, but everyone MUST try this. As Snowy says “Go, go, go!”