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Restaurant review: Bar Con

19 02 2017

Bar Con was opened on the 3rd of December 2016, when new restaurant concept was launched in Kamppi shopping center 5th floor. Owners of Bar Con were also behind the new concept, Kortteli (Block), which includes 11 restaurants with different cuisines.

Bar Con is, however, located in its area above other restaurants and cafes. You climb the stairs to the “6th” floor where is the dining area and bar behind the desk.

Restaurant Bar Con is relaxed and casual spot serving similar food as you would get in Barcelona tapas bars. Menu includes pintxos, which are served on a crunchy slice of bread, tapas and main courses. Also few desserts are included.

Started the dinner with 2 pintxos and 2 tapas. Pintxo is snack, one piece costs 4€. Tapas portion can be shared. Ordered QUESO AZUL Y NUECES Asturian La Peral blue cheese with walnuts and SETAS AL AJILLO Seasonal mushrooms sauteed with parsley, garlic and pine nuts.

Amount of cheese was overwhelming but could not find walnuts. Would prefer blue cheese as slightly melted but this pintxo was delicious.

The garlic taste was a bit overwhelming, but overall it was a nice little snack.

Next came tapas portions, had ordered PIMIENTOS DEL PADRÓN Green Padrón peppers fried in olive oil and seasoned with coarse salt from Ibiza and PATATAS BRAVAS DE BARCELONA Crispy potatoes, spicy sauce made of smoked pepper and aioli.

One tapas plate is enough for two person for starter, if you order first pintxos.

Spiced potatoes were excellent, but missed a little bit taste of chili, which is used in some tapas bar in Barcelona.

Also salted green sweet peppers were as they should be.

For main courses decided to ordered MAR Y MONTAÑA Chickpeas, Spanish butifarra sausage and baby squid and POCHAS A LA NAVARRA White bean and vegetable stew from Navarra.

Mar was now shrimps instead of squid as restaurant was not able to get fresh octopus. Better this way than to serve frozen food, which can be quite stewy when it comes to squids. Butifarra sausage was as good as expected and stew very tasty as a whole.

The white bean stew was the only vegan choice. This dish was a bit too salty, but must wonder if the combination of tapas on top of this main would have made a difference on the taste. Overall a nice warm dish.

Wine list consist of Spanish wines, of course, and most of the wines are from small producers and imported by the company owning Bar Con. List also tells that wines are vegan, which means that animal-derived products has not been used during production.

Ordered Seis de Azul y Garanza, which has its origin in six vineyards placed next to the Desert of Bardenas Reales which produce small grapes. Waiter suggested this wine for all dishes we had ordered and pairing was perfect. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot were perfect combination.

Restaurant Bar Con will be success, no doubt about it. Perfect location and you can even watch out from the narrow bar.

Food is tasty and ingredients used fresh and original, imported from Spain. Must say that so far most authentic when it comes to real Spanish food.

Service was professional and seemed natural. Information about food and wines were available with professional way.

REVIEW: FOOD 4/5 – SERVICE 4+/5 – OVERALL GRADE 4+/5

http://www.bar-con.fi/

http://kampinkortteli.fi/en

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Tags: Bar Con, kampinkortteli, Kamppi, kortteli, pintxos, spanish, tapas
Categories : Bar, Food, Food and Wine, Helsinki, Restaurant, Restaurant review, Travel, Wine

Restaurant review: Copas y Tapas – revisit 2016

5 01 2016

Copas y Tapas is an independent family-owned business which serves Spanish food and wines with Finnish flavor. Restaurant is located at Fabianinkatu, close to Senate Square. Dining rooms are at two levels and both areas are usually crowded.

Copas y Tapas downstairs

Copas y Tapas upper dining room

Have visited Copas y Tapas several times before; earlier reviews can be found by using search. Previous visits have been successful, therefore expectations were again high. Usually it is difficult to get table in short notice but maybe 2nd January after New Year was not the most popular restaurant day.

Three course dinner costs 43-47 € including “tapas” plate as starter, main course which can be chosen from 4 alternatives and dessert. 5€ additional payment for meat dishes.

Of course you need some time to make a decision what to order and best way to speed up decision process is to order aperitif. Better to ask what waiters would serve. Asked for red wine and got L’Avi Arrufi from region Terra-Alta. Wine full of character and bouquet.

For tapas starters restaurant served Soup, Filled capsicum and Smoked pork. Soup was warm and tasty, enjoyed it first. Then finished capsicum, which had some delicious tuna filling. And last smoked pork, which was with add-on’s great experience. Compared to previous visit starters looked similar, but soup was different and capsicum was filled with shrimps not with tuna.

Tapas at Copas y Tapas - reijosfood.com

You can choose from four different main courses, which differ almost every day depending on fresh ingredients available. Today alternatives were Meat of the Day, Steak of the Day (5€ extra), Fish of the Day and Vegetarian.

Fish of the Day, Arctic char, was superb with roots and swamps. And fish was enough big, which is not the fact in all restaurants.

Arctic char at Copas y Tapas - reijosfood.com

Dessert was this time Pannacotta with sorbet. Extremely delicious, sweet bite.

Pannacotta at Copas y Tapas - reijosfood.com

And with desserts, waiter or could even say sommelier, chose Gra a Gra Pinot Noir wine from Gramona. Not too sweet wine is produced as limited editions. So, recommend to taste it, if you have a chance.

gra a gra at Copas y Tapas - reijosfood.com

For vegeterians Copas y Tapas is perfect place. Restaurant conjured 3 course vegeterian menu which was amazing. Main course was based on portobello mushrooms but tapas starter was masterpiece.

Copas y Tapas is excellent affordable fine dining bistro in Helsinki restaurant scene, especially if you want to have serious discussion about Spanish wines. Bottles are always brought to the table and usually you can choose from two alternatives, which waiter have pre-selected for you matching to the food.

Fusion cuisine blends brilliantly best parts of Spanish and Finnish food cultures. Food is more Finnish or Scandinavian but served like in Spanish restaurant.

Service, really important part of experience, was excellent again.

REVIEW: FOOD 4,5/5 – SERVICE 5-/5 – OVERALL GRADE 4,5/5

Ruoka | Ravintola Copas y Tapas

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Tags: Copas y Tapas, copasytapas, Gramona, tapas, tapas bar, vegetarian
Categories : Food, Food and Wine, Helsinki, Restaurant, Restaurant review, Travel, Wine

Restaurant review: Copas y Tapas – revisit

24 03 2015

Cupatge d’honor from Pere Ventura

Copas y Tapas downstairs

Copas y Tapas upper dining room

Have visited Copas y Tapas several times before; earlier reviews can be found by using search. Previous visits have been successful, therefore expectations were again high.

Three course dinner costs 46€ including “tapas” plate as starter, main course which can be chosen from 4 alternatives and dessert. 5€ additional payment for meat dishes.

Recommend to choose Menu of the Day because if you choose dishes separately, you pay as much for starter and main course.

But of course you might need some time to make a decision and best way to speed up decision process is to taste some cava for aperitif. Chose Cupatge d’Honor from Pere Ventura. Wine is produced from xarel.lo and chardonnay (30%) grapes. Chardonnay gives some smoothnes and balance to this cava, which I can recommend, if you have chance to taste it.

This time restaurant served for starters Soup, Filled capsicum and Smoked pork.

Soup was warm and tasty, enjoyed it first. Then finished capsicum, which had some delicious shrimp filling. And last smoked pork, which was with add-on’s great experience.

You can choose from four different main courses, which differ almost every day depending on fresh ingredients available. Today alternatives were Duck, Marbled beef (5€ extra), Whitefish and Vegetarian. Chose meat, which was cooked on charcoal grill and whitefish.

With meat was served grilled scrumptious portobello mushrooms and some other enjoyable side dishes. And as you can see from the picture below, ripeness is perfect.

Whitefish was also superb with roots and swamps. And fish was enough big, which is not the fact in all restaurants.

Decided to share 5 pieces of cheese instead of sweet dessert. Only way to remember all tasted cheeses was to ask waiter to write the names down, which he did really quickly, see the list below. Best one was blue cheese type of piece on the right side of plate.

Delicious home-made crispbread should be available in supermarkets, because it was so tasty.

For wine ordered bottle of Torres Vina Sol, which is neutral and easy to drink.

But of course wine lovers must enjoy wines, which pair with food eaten and therefore had glass of Propiedad from Palacios Remondo with the meat. Excellent wine produced from garnacha grapes in the Rioja region.

And with cheeses waiter, or could even say sommelier, chose Nectaria riesling wine from Torres. Not too sweet wine is produced in Chile at Valle de Curico.

Fusion cuisine blends brilliantly best parts of Spanish and Finnish food cultures. Michelin guys should check it for Bib Gourmand label.

Service, really important part of experience, was excellent again. Owner of the restaurant came to shake hands with us after recognizing us, which added extra feeling of being welcomed.

REVIEW: FOOD 4,5/5 – SERVICE 5-/5 – OVERALL GRADE 4,5/5

Ruoka | Ravintola Copas y Tapas

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Tags: cava, Copas y Tapas, Finland, Pere Ventura, Restaurant Copas y Tapas, tapas, tapas bar
Categories : Food, Food and Wine, Helsinki, Restaurant, Restaurant review, Travel, Wine

Restaurant review: Kaarna – bar and kitchen

28 12 2014

Restaurant Kaarna is located in the Forum Shopping Center serving Finnish traditional food. Concept includes dining area and so called living room (bar) at the 2nd floor and small bar at the first floor.

Ask for window table and you can the follow passers-by at Mannerheim Street. If they say that restaurant is fully booked (phone or email) you might anyway get the table you requested.

The food itself:

From the Nordic Tapas plates we chose Kaarna fish plate Smoked vendace from Kitka, cold-smoked pike, pickled vegetables and rye malt breadcrumbs. This is THE starter you have to choose, if you like fish. Of course you can order same dishes as separate starters but one part of experience is setting of food pieces.

Tapas might mislead you, but word Nordic before it explains everything. They are small Finnish or Scandinavian dishes.

For main course we had Smoked salmon with pickled vegetables, shrimp mayonnaise and potato rösti and Fried whitefish with potato rösti, spinach and whitefish roe.

Unfortunately kitchen did not succeed with these portions. Salmon seemed to be smoked and fried, because it was so dry and even greasy. Pickled vegetables were the same as in starter.

Also whitefish was over-fried. We asked to replace spinach with someting else and best choise was salad. Also asked not to include onion but got plenty of it. Potato röstis in both portions were like fast food stuff.

Wine list is is short, Kaarna focuses more on beers. Had bottle of Albet i Noya Xarel·lo Classic from Spain. All white wines were organic like this one. Light and fruity wine paired well with starters and fishes.

Main courses dropped points a lot. Service was customer friendly and as restaurant was not so crowded, waiter and waitress had time to serve us. Maybe Boxing Day affected the level of food. On the other hand last time was not either succesful when it came to main courses.

Kaarna library bar is worth to visit, cozy couches and so on. You should also taste Nordic tapas but choose main course carefully. Meat dishes might be best choise.

REVIEW: FOOD 2+/5 – SERVICE 3,5/5 – OVERALL GRADE 3+/5

Ravintola Kaarna: Suomalaista ruokaa – suomalainen keittiö – forum.

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Tags: Finland, Finnish restaurant, Forum, Ravintola Kaarna, tapas
Categories : Food, Food and Wine, Helsinki, Restaurant, Restaurant review, Travel, Wine

Restaurant review: Copas y Tapas – Spanish cuisine by Finnish chef’s

5 10 2014

Copas y Tapas

Copas y Tapas is an independent family-owned business which serves Spanish food and wines with Finnish flavor. Restaurant or actually Tapas Bar is located at Fabianinkatu, close to Senate Square. Dining rooms are on two levels and both areas were booked-up on Saturday evening.

Have visited Copas y Tapas couple of times before; earlier reviews can be found by using search. Previous visits have been successful, therefore expectations were again high.

Actually our experience started 5 minutes after reservation, which was made via TableOnline one week before dinner. We have requested to avoid some ingredients and restaurant chef sent email asking some additional info. That was quick and definately customer friendly.

Three course dinner costs 46€ (not bad) including tapas as starters, main course which can be chosen from 4 alternatives and dessert. 4€ additional payment for one of the meat dishes. Dinner starts with assortment of three tapas. You do not know what you get because restaurant chooses what to offer. But of course you can influence a little bit on it.

This time restaurant served for starters Carrot soup, Filled capsicum and Smoked pork.

First we enjoyed soup which was flavoured with saffron. Very tasty! Next we ate capsicum filled with cream cheese and crayfish, excellent. Pork was accompanied with kohlrabi to lighten up greasiness.

You can choose from four different main courses, which differ almost every day depending on fresh ingredients available. Today alternatives were Duck, Rabbit (4€ extra), Pike- Perch and Vegetarian.

Both enjoyed portions were delicious and healthy, not ruined with potatoes. Rabbit was prepared with two ways, you get fillet and pressed meat. Two sauces, chioggia beet and tomatoes paired well with both meats.

With roasted pike-perch was also chioggia beet, small chanterelles and pear pieces. Correct degree of ripeness made the gusto perfect.

Decided to share 3 pieces of cheese before dessert. Delicious home-made crispbread should be available in supermarkets, because it was so tasty. Cava paired especially well with smelted cheese, no need for port or red wine or other “cheese drinks”. These cheeses were chosen to match with white wines.

For dessert restaurant served Pannacotta with black currant pyre.

Sweet, but not too sweet, dessert ended the dinner nicely. One portion included chocolate pieces and one pistache due to milk in chocolate.

For wine ordered bottle of cava Gramona III Lustros Gran Reserva Brut Nature 2006, which is produced from Xarel-lo (70%) and Macabeo (30%) grapes. Wine is also really dry as it includes only 2 g/l sugar. Must be one of the driest cavas.

Was going to order III Lustros in Malaga in May, but it was finished from the restaurant we visited. Had instead Gramona Imperial Gran Reserva Brut, which includes Chardonnay grapes. In Finland these wines cost at restaurant 40€ more than at restaurant in Malaga, believe or not, because of VAT.

Copas y Tapas is one of the most promising affordable fine dining bistros in Helsinki restaurant scene, especially if you want to have serious discussion about Spanish wines. Fusion cuisine blends brilliantly best parts of Spanish and Finnish food cultures. Michelin guys should check it for Bib Gourmand label.

And selection of Spanish brandies is wide. Tried Torres 20 which tastes more like cognac.

Service, really important part of experience, was excellent again.

REVIEW: FOOD 4+/5 – SERVICE 4+/5 – OVERALL GRADE 4,5/5

http://www.copasytapas.fi/

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Tags: cava, Copas y Tapas, Finland, Restaurant Copas y Tapas, tapas, tapas bar
Categories : Food, Food and Wine, Restaurant, Restaurant review, Travel, Wine

Restaurant review: El Meson de Cervantes – Malaga; Spain

17 09 2014

El Meson de Cervantes is located at the backyards of old town at Calle Alamos. It was established by the same chef, who owns El Tapeo de Cervantes just 50 meters away from Meson. The main difference with the restaurants is the dining room with normal tables and chairs, which Meson has but Tapeo does not have.

Visited El Meson de Cervantes 2nd time this year. Previous review can be found by using search.

Main allurement are tapas which you can order in three different sizes; tapas, 1/2 raciones or full raciones. You could also choose from restaurant menu different type of starters, main courses and desserts but menu is quite short. If you want to eat tapas at the dining room, you need to ask them in a polite way, although waiter might say that they are meant to eat at the bar.

Started the dinner with glass of cavas and tasty, salty green olives.

This time we ordered all dishes from restaurant menu. Actually most of the dishes are the same. Our dinner started with Warm salad of tuna, roasted peppers and green leaves and Pan seared small squids with spinach.

Tuna was perfectly fried as you can see in the picture below, not too well-done; therefore not too dry. This portion is not so typical for tapas restaurant, it is an example of the high quality level of el Meson de Cervantes.

Squids were best part of the dinner, perfect cooking on the pan and olive oil complemented nicely the flavor of two different squids. Recommend to order this starter, if you visit the restaurant.

First main courses were fishes, 1/2 portions of Salmon with herb butter, black rice and a chick pea pyre and Sea bream wrapped in aubergine, carrot pyre and juniper sauce.

Well prepared portions both of them. Salmon was maybe a little bit over cooked but side dish delicious. Sea bream paired nicely with aubergine and carrot pyre was scrumptious. If I would have to choose, would take Sea bream as big main course only.

For 2nd main courses we had 1/2 portions of Argentinian entrecote with fried potatoes, salad and chimichurri and Wild boar stew with sweet Malaga wine sauce and crispy rosti.

Entrecote was well-done as requested.

But stew was not the same at all as last time. Found no wine in the sauce and taste was more like standard brown sauce. See the difference, picture on the left was from May and on the right taken few days ago. If we would have been served similar stew, grade for food would have been 0,25 points more.

Dinner ended with Apple tart and vanilla ice-cream which was bull’s eye again. Difficult to beat warm, sweet and soft apple pie with cold ice-cream….

Also Fig flan of sweet Malaga wine was tasty, but maybe a little bit too sweet.

For wine we asked waitress to recommend some rose wine. There were actually three rose wines on wine list from which to choose, but after looking us, she brought us a bottle which was not on the list.

And good that she brought, because it was more full-bodied and darker than rose wines usually are. Wine was Barbazul from Huerta de Albalá, which is a recently created winery located in the province of Cadiz. As it is produced from Syrah grapes, quite dark red color is easily to be explained.

El Meson de Cervantes serves premium tapas and Spanish food in a relaxed athmosphere. If you decide to dine at restaurant, you can watch chef’s preparing portions in the open kitchen. You can also eat in more restful environment and enjoy to be served by professional waiters.

Tapas bar provides opportunity for close social interaction and eating at higher bar tables.

Restaurant is the place to visit out of hundreds of tapas bars and restaurants in Malaga, if you travel there. Hope the menu will be changed, because it was exactly the same as 4 months ago, as far as I remember. There are not so many dishes to choose from the menu.

REVIEW: FOOD 4/5 – SERVICE 4/5 – OVERALL GRADE 4+/5

http://www.elmesondecervantes.com/eng/index.html

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Tags: cava, El Meson de Cervantes, Malaga, restaurant review, rose wine, Spain, tapas, tapas restaurant, Wine
Categories : Bar, Food, Food and Wine, Restaurant, Restaurant review, Travel

Restaurant review: Vino Mio – Flamenco in Malaga, Spain

11 09 2014

Restaurante Vino Mío is famous for its Flamenco shows since 2003. The shows are performed by Andalucian Flamenco artists and can include audience participation.

Restaurant is located at a small plaza across from Teatro Cervantes and near pedestrian district.

Menu is not traditional Spanish, which you might expect from Flamenco restaurant. Asian flavors, wok’s and pasta come from other countries but mainly not from Spain.

There is Tapas menu available which has more Spanish type of apetizers, if you do not count humus and cous cous to them. However, tapas menu was not served during the show, but we managed to order one starter from it.

Aqua con gas was Perrier, not Spanish. Bread with olive tapenade was delicious, best part of the kitchen.

While watching flamenco with 4€ extra charge per person, we had for starters Bolsitas Crujientes (2) King prawns and vegetables wrapped up in a crispy filo parcel accompanied by tomato and oregano jam and from Tapas menu Surtido Cervantes Queso manchego, salchichon iberico y chorizo iberico.

As menu explained, ingredients were inside of filo parcel. Basically ok portion but required a little bit more flavor for instance by adding some chili.

Assortment of Spanish apetizers consisted of manchego cheese and two types of sausages. Basic and delicious pieces of Spanish cuisine. Chorizo pieces were soft which was pleasant surprise, because they can usually be quite thick and difficult to chew.

For main courses ordered Wok Bangok Chicken chunks stir fried with fresh vegetables and finished with Thai sweet & sour sauce served with rice and Sate Bali Indonesian marinated chicken breast served with rice, prawn crackers and a peanut sauce.

Not so typical names for portions at flamenco restaurant in Spain?

Chicken skewer in sate sauce was excellent, simple but tasty. Wok Bangok unfortunately did not meet expectations, vegetables dominated too much.

Flamenco show is presented at 20.00 – 21.30, which is quite early for locals. Most of the customers were tourists but Wednesday did not seemed to be busiest evening.

At the end of the show dancer picked few customers to join flamenco dance which was the funniest part of the show. Imagine yourself repeating the same steps and moves as professional dancer….

For wine we had L’Hereu cava from Raventos i Blanc in Penedes region. Main grape is Macabeu 45%, but also Xarel.lo and Parellada are used in production. Wineyard has produced wines since 1497, which is also mentioned on the label of the bottle.

If you would like to see Flamenco for the first time, Vino Mio is the right place. Athmosphere is relaxed, guitar is played well and flamenco shouts and screaming are creditable.

Main think is not the food, but anyone can find something from the menu.

REVIEW: FOOD 3+/5 – SERVICE 4-/5 – OVERALL GRADE 4-/5

Restaurant Vino Mio Malaga, Vino Mio Malaga, Malaga Restaurant, Flamenco Restaurant Malaga, Vino Mio Flamenco Restaurant Malaga, Bino Mio Malaga, Vino Mio Restaurant in Malaga Centre,

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Tags: cava, Flamenco, Flamenco restaurant, Malaga, Restaurante Vino Mio, Spain, tapas, Vino Mío, Wine
Categories : Food, Food and Wine, Restaurant, Restaurant review, Travel

Restaurant review: La Reserva 12 – Malaga, Spain

16 05 2014

La Reserva 12, located in the center of Malaga, next to the Larios Street, Constitution Square, the Picasso Museum and the Thyssen Museum, is qenuine Spanish restaurant.

Restaurant has terrace, which seemed to be always reserved during lunch and dinner times, stylish tapas bar and dining rooms at the 2nd floor. You can see after stepping in that you have entered into fish restaurant. That might be the reason why locals enjoyed the place. We did not see any tourists in this restaurant during our dinner neither at the terrace when we passed it by several times during our stay in Malaga.

First of all you must order cava, if you dine at Spanish restaurant. Actually we tried to order Gramona III Lustros, but it was finished. That dropped overall grade right away. Instead we had Gramona Imperial which was anyway good choice. You can buy that also from Alko stores in Finland, but it costs more than in this stylish restaurant (VAT….). Cava is made from Xarel.lo, Macabeo and Chardonnay grapes; Chardonnay makes the cava taste balanced and therefore extremely enjoyable.

For starters we ordered Spanish Potato Salad with Prawns – Ensaladilla Rusa con Langostinos and Baby Squid – Calamaritos.

Potato salad was excellent and it really included prawns. At restaurant reviewed in coming post we had totally different portion. For one person amount of mayonnaise would have been too much but as we shared starters, no problem with that.

Baby squids were hot, fresh, crisp and tasty; just as they should be. Some lemon drops on top of calmaritos and plate was quickly emptied. Excellent kick-off for the dinner.

For main course ordered two Grilled Sole – Lenguado a la Plancha portions which is always easier for the kitchen.

Fish was also delicious, perfectly fried and no sauce at all to ruin it. Side dishes were simple but as sole is also quite simple, and also easiest fish to get rid of fish bones, they paired well. Starters were quite big, so it was easy decision to focus on fish.

This time no dessert as it was quite late and starters made their job.

Our hotel (Molina Lario) was only few steps away from La Reserva 12. First we wondered, if restaurant just placed reserved signs on the table in order to bluff, but every day all tables were occupied by diners at lunch and dinner times. Also tapas bar seemed to be crowded, especially in the evenings.

Pictures are taken at times when dinner time has not yet started and after it. Finns usually eat a little bit earlier than rest of the Europe.

La Reserva 12 is right place if you are looking for genuine Spanish athmosphere and Spanish dishes. You will not see tourists like in almost every other restaurant or tapas bar near pedestrian precinct and old town.

Service was a little bit rigid but polite. I believe restaurant tried their best in the dining rooms also when it comes to interior; and as a matter in fact they managed quite well. Worth to visit, if you are in Malaga.

REVIEW: FOOD 4-/5 – SERVICE 4-/5 – OVERALL GRADE 4+/5

http://www.restaurantelareserva12.com/EN

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Tags: cava, La Reserva 12, Malaga, restaurant, sole, Spanish restaurant, tapas, tapas bar
Categories : Food, Food and Wine, Restaurant, Restaurant review

Restaurant review: El Meson de Cervantes – Malaga, Spain

8 05 2014

Tapeo Cervantes is already well-known for its traditional and new, creative tapas. Gabriel Spatz, founder of the original, a professional restaurateur from the Argentine, came to Malaga in 2008, decided to stay and opened El Tapeo de Cervantes at Calle Carcer 11 in the old quarter. El Meson de Cervantes was opened later at Calle Alamos 11 in order to meet the demand by customers. Location is at the backyards of old town, far away from tourist flows. Both restaurants are now on Tripadvisor top 3 list.

We ordered two 1/2 raciones from tapas menu and all the rest from restaurant menu. Actually most of the dishes are the same. Dinner started with Pimientos del Padron, Warm salad of tuna, roasted peppers and green leaves and Patatas bravas.

Small salted green peppers are good choice to compare the quality of restaurant. These were excellent and what is most important, not too salty.

Tuna was perfectly fried as you can see in the picture below, not too well-done; therefore not dry. This portion is not so typical for tapas restaurant, it is an example of the high quality level of el Meson de Cervantes.

When potatoes arrived I first thought that “what the heck”, ketchup! But the sauce was made in restaurant, looked like ketchup and maybe included some, but it was deliciosly spicy. Perfect sauce for patatas bravas.

For main courses we had 1/2 raciones of Argentinian entrecote with fried potatoes, salad and chimichurri, Wild boar stew with sweet Malaga wine sauce and crispy rosti and full portion of Racion del dia which was Dorada fish with fennel.

Entrecote was medium as requested, proof can be found in the picture below. Stew was excellent, some exotic spice made it one of the best dishes of the dinner. However, rosti was no so crisp but that did not bother.

Fish, in turn, was a slight dissappointment. It was prepared too early and fish skin was not anymore crisp.

After main course we tasted some Manchego cheese which was quite young. Maybe serving cheeses of different ages would have made the gusto inclusive.

Dinner ended with Apple tart and vanilla ice-cream which was bull’seye. Difficult to beat warm, sweet and soft apple pie with cold ice-cream….

And the red wine…excellent choice. Wineyard states: “Deep, intense red with notes of ripe red fruit, tobacco, cedar, and truffles on the nose: very clean, intense aromas. Good body on the palate, with fine tannins from careful barrel-ageing, and very well-balanced. Ample mouth-feel with light notes of liquorice and a long, silky and elegant finish”. Exactly what 200 Monges Reserva 2006 was. Tempranillo 85% made the softness, Graciano 10% and Garnacha 5% gave the character. If this was reserva, would definately like to taste gran reserva.

El Meson de Cervantes serves premium tapas and Spanish food in a relaxed athmosphere. If you decide to dine at restaurant you can watch chef’s preparing portions in the open kitchen. You can also eat in more restful environment and enjoy to be served by professional waiters. Tapas bar provides opportunity for close social interaction. It was so crowded with customers that it was hard to get through when leaving. Restaurant is the place to visit out of hundreds of tapas bars and restaurants in Malaga, if you travel there.

REVIEW: FOOD 4/5 – SERVICE 4/5 – OVERALL GRADE – 4+/5

http://www.elmesondecervantes.com/eng/index.html

http://www.vinicolareal.com/vinos.php?familia_vinos=31&id_vino=1

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Tags: 200 Monges Reserva 2006, El Meson de Cervantes, food, Malaga, restaurant review, tapas
Categories : Bar, Food, Food and Wine, Restaurant, Restaurant review, Travel

Restaurant review: Torero – Spanish whiff

23 04 2014

Torero is Spanish type of restaurant chain locating in 5 cities on the same premises as Sokos Hotels. Same Spanish concept is used in Sevilla restaurants in the capital area. We dined at Torero Joensuu during Eastern time.

Menu consists of pinchos, tapas, fish and meat from the grill and other delicious sounding food. You could even order paella, which is not the easiest one to prepare.

After ordering we were first served warm tomato-goat cheese soup with fresh bread. Quite nice gesture from the chain restaurant to serve actually quite delicious appetizer. Have you ever served real appetizer in chain restaurants?

As friends of tapas we decided to try them as starters. We ordered Tapas Penedes Piquillo peppers filled with cream cheese and chorizo groats, Tapas Las Palmas (what a name…) Chicken breast, celery salad, piquillo peppers and chorizo crumb and Pimiento de Padron Salted sweet green peppers.

Green peppers were as good as in most places in Spain, enough soft and not too much salted. Chicken breast was the weakest link, meat was already dry but celery salad compensated a little bit. Piquillo peppers were also excellent, maybe a little bit too much cream cheese but it did not bother.

For main courses we had 2 x Chicken breast, creamy sherry pepper sauce, Spanish vegetables and French fries and 2 x Grilled salmon, shellfish sauce, roasted beetroot, pak choi, roasted almonds and tortilla española.

Chicken portion was not so Spanish as it could be; why not includ Papas Arragudas instead of French fries? Did not either understand why vegetables were Spanish; standard oven vegetables. However, for chain restaurant, basic portion. Salmon was overcooked but beetroot was roasted perfectly. If you like Spanish omelette, you would have liked this one.

For wine we chose Chilean Tormenta from Viogner grapes from Torres, which paired well with all dishes. Grapes are organically grown which makes the purchase more sustainable.

Torero is good choice for hotel restaurant, if you like Spanish-style food. Suggest to focus on tapas and pinchos because they are delicious. Of course every dish is not made from the very beginning in the kitchen but you get full belly and mostly can enjoy the food.

REVIEW: FOOD 3+/5 – SERVICE 4-/5 – OVERALL GRADE 3,5/5

http://www.raflaamo.fi/torero

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Tags: restaurant review, Sokos Hotels, Spanish restaurant, tapas, Torero, Torres
Categories : Food, Food and Wine, Restaurant, Restaurant review

Restaurant review: GOCE Bar & Kitchen – “gourmet” tapas in Helsinki

16 01 2014

After vacation in Spain it was important to arrange smooth return to everyday life. Especially as winter arrived in Helsinki the same day. Therefore we decided to dine at new “gourmet” tapas place GOCE Bar & Kitchen.

Restaurant was re-opened in new premises in November 2013. We made reservation on 6th Jan and noticed couple of days later that a la carte list had shortened. Only two main courses and desserts. Reason why we decided to try a big bunch of tapas portions, which sounded delicious and were familiar from previous visits to Spain.

Chose 9 portions from the list. 10th, Grilled Secreto and Sofrito, was recommended by waitress. All portions looked well prepared when they arrived to the table.

First we got Pimientos de Padron, which were exactly as they should be. Warm, soft and not too salty.

Then arrived Gambas Plancha, see the burning flame in the middle of the plate! Delicious ones, but only three pieces.

Annoying events started at this point.

As we were early diners, in fact the first ones, after restaurant had opened at 5PM, kitchen decided to prepare everything at once. That might be typical for affordable tapas bars, but at GOCE‘s price level, you expect to be able to enjoy warm dishes warm.

Our gambas were still uneaten when we got Patatas Bravas and Beetroot to the table. Both were delicious especially beetroot but we were now confused; which portions to eat next?

We already had 4 dishes on the table and got 5th, Pulpo – Octopus. This one was not so successful as previous portions. It should have been more crisp or solid, but instead was too soft.

We managed to fill up our small plates in a hurry with mixed selection of 4 tapas portions but during we emptied plates came Boquerones, Chorizos, Iberico -pork and soon after that Green salad and Manchego cheese. It was easier to take a picture of all of them than to try photograph portions one by one.

Unfortunately we had to send back sausages and Iberico -pork because they were already cold when we started to focus to eat them. However, had tasted pork plate and did not want a replacement for that because meat pieces seemed to be mostly pigskin. Would not have done that, but waitress had encouraged us to order it.

Sausages were juicy as they should be and Manchego was ok. It could have been a little bit older compared to the price.

There was a pile of croutons on green salad which is odd, is it then green? As we were served fresh bread to start with, it would have been enough.

Restaurant and dining room are huge compared to any other bistros or tapas bars. Decoration is stylish, one of the most elegants in the city for concept GOCE has.

If we would have had enough time to enjoy tapas portions, GOCE Bar & Kitchen would have earned better scores for service. Waitress said that she tried to slow down the speed kitchen had. Therefore suggest to take couple of tapas to start with and then try main courses. Also would have appreciated if our plates would have been changed once or twice. We were asked if we want clean ones when we had only one piece of cheese left….

Would also hope that there would be more affordable choises for wines in the glass. At least found interesting basic tempranillo, Disco 2012, which paired well with all tapas portions.

REVIEW: FOOD 3+/5 – SERVICE 3/5 – OVERALL GRADE – 3,5/5

http://goce.fi/

Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: Boquerones, chorizo, Disco 2012 red wine, food, Gambas, Goce Bar & Kitchen, Helsinki, Manchego, Patatas Bravas, Pulpo, restaurant, Restaurant Goce Bar & Kitchen, restaurant review, tapas, Travel
Categories : Bar, Food, Helsinki, Restaurant, Restaurant review, Travel, Wine

Restaurant review: Grotesk Winebar – but not grotesque at all

11 10 2013

Name Grotesk for restaurant may sound odd especially in Swedish, but regarding reader’s votes in local wine magazine, Viinilehti, it has the best wine bar in Helsinki and 2nd best in Finland.
After this review we also have new reijosfood.com leader in Helsinki, rankings can be found on page “Restaurant reviews – rankings”.

Restaurant Grotesk is fine dining restaurant with affordable prices and relaxed athmosphere located in Ludviginkatu 10. Guide Michelin has granted Bib Gourmand -rating to Grotesk Meatbar as a proof of good value for money and it is partly owned by same the chef’s as Michelin star restaurant Demo.

Instead of Meatbar we visited Grotesk Winebar, which has 3 small dining rooms and enjoyed 8 tapas dishes with wines chosen by sommelier Pekka Koiranen. And what a fireworks; you seldom see so many rare prestige delights one after the other.

First two portions were served with semi-dry Chenin Blanc 2007 from Loire. Was a little bit skeptic about semi-dry white wine but it did not differ much from dry. Perfect choice for both two first portions.

Dinner started with Oyster with tapioca and pomegranate. Oyster was easy to eat and had enough citrus acidity. Then we were served Foie gras with briosse, beetroot pyre and mustard ice cream. If you happen to like foie gras (it is not everyones favourite for many reasons) you would like this combination. Mustard ice cream was excellent realization.

Next two portions were served with dry Riesling from Austria. Totally different sense of taste due to minerals and acidity but well chosen white wine for next dishes.

Smoked scallop with quinoa plate was brought in covered by smoking glass vase which was upside down. When the vase was lifted enjoyable smell of smoke surrounded plate. Pity that I was not prepared to take a photo. Whitefish with red pepper crumb smelted in mouth, it was like mince as it was so soft. Both portions were superb!

First red wine served was Pinot Noir; medium-bodied with light red color.

Next delicacy with Pinot Noir was Sweetbread with black trumpet mushroom and shiitake. Sweetbread was perfectly cooked and fungus paired nicely with it. After that came Pork belly with cabbage. Some at the restaurant really did eat the pork lard but we did not, otherwise portion was excellent.

Forth wine and second red wine was full-bodied andwell balanced Garnache from Spain. Again perfect choise to complement the taste of pleasure.

Quail legs were eaten with fingers. It would have been impossible to remove delicious and crisp meat with fork and knife. Tapas dinner was ended with Chicken liver which was yammy and well prepared. 8 tapas is not too much and they cost 44 €, affordable compared to quality and layout of portions.

Grotesk Winebar earns 5- for overall grade because of ambitious set of voluptuous portions with affordable prices. Portions are really small but give you a chance to taste eats which usually are available in Michelin star restaurants but at much more higher prices. Our dinner took 3,5 hours, so restaurant is not fast food place. You really have time to enjoy the food and the wines or the wines and the food depending how you want to stress your dinner.

REVIEW: FOOD 4+/5 – SERVICE 4+/5 – OVERALL GRADE 5-/5

http://www.grotesk.fi/en/winebar-2/

Comments : 7 Comments »
Tags: Bib Gourmand, Demo, food, Grotesk, Guide Michelin, Helsinki, Oyster, Pork belly, quail, Restaurant Grotesk, restaurant review, scallop, Sweetbread, tapas, Whitefish, Wine
Categories : Bar, Food, Helsinki, Restaurant, Restaurant review, Travel, Wine, Wine review

Restaurant review: BBQ House

11 04 2013

Restaurant BBQ House is situated in Kamppi shopping center. Restaurant has heated outdoor terrace, where we dined, which expands in the summer to a large bar and terrace area. BBQ House is specialised in steaks and meats, name should also tell it. When we visited restaurant there was Argentine weeks with special menus. If you decide to dine inside or terrace is full, you can watch how chefs manage to do they work in open kitchen.

As a S-Group co-op member you can get discount for some portions. This year you can enjoy bottle of champagne Nicolas Feuillatte at the the price of 39€. However this champagne can not be ranked in top ten, but if you can get bottle of champagne in restaurant for the price of mediocre wine, go for it! And this time it was colder compared to experience in Casa Largo.

For “Entrades – Appetizers” we chose Tapas dishes. From 5 alternatives we decided to taste Marinated vegetables and artichoke and Shrimp mousse and crostini. Both portions were quite OK. Combination of shrimps, mousse and crostini was clever, enough juicy and tasty.

From “Prato principal à sua escolha da nossa grelha de pedra vulcânica – Main course of your choice from our lava rock grill” ordered Corn-fed chicken. For these dishes you have to choose sauce from 6 alternatives and side dish from 4 alternatives. Decided to choose Portwine-balsamic sauce and BBQ House salad. Big salad portion compensated a little bit the small size of chicken. Otherwise quite delicious.

From “Pratos à maneira de bbq house – Meals à la BBQ House” ordered Entrecosto de porco bem cozido ao molho glacé BBQ Slow-cooked pork belly with BBQ glaze served with escabeche marinated vegetables and sweet potato fries. Pork was prepared well because meat came off easily. Sweet potato is welcomed ingredient for french fries. Easy to prepare at home also.

Sitting at the heated terrace is convenient although outside temperature is close to 0C degrees still in April. You can watch what happens at Kamppi Square and front of Tennispalatsi, biggest cinema complex in Finland. Terrace dining raises overall grade. Might have given 4- for service but one waiter poured champagne classes almost full and served main course first for male. Other waitresses were polite and helpful.

REVIEW: FOOD 3,5/5 – SERVICE 3,5/5 – OVERALL GRADE 4-/5

http://www.bbqhouse.fi/

Last year 2012 visited two times at the same restaurant, previous review available https://reijosfood.com/2012/03/10/latino-flavours-at-restaurant-bbq-house/

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Tags: BBQ House, Champagne, corn-fed chicken, HOK-Elanto, Kamppi, latin food, lava rock grill, Portuguese, tapas, terrace
Categories : Food, Helsinki, Restaurant, Restaurant review, Travel, Wine

Review of Stockmann Herkku dining spots

6 04 2013

Stockmann Aleksi in Helsinki is the biggest department store in the Nordics. Stockmann has several locations in Finland but is also growing in Russia.

Stockmann Herkku (Delikatessen) sells food products and groceries in each Stockmann department store. In other foreign countries where Stockmann operates, Herkku is called Delikatess (Estonia), Delikatese (Latvia) sekä Gastronome (Russia).

Biggest Stockmann Herkku is in the flagship store in the center of Helsinki. It also has couple of nice dining spots which we have planned to try quite long.

First spot was Meals Bar where we had few tapas and some fruit salad.

Three different tapas were Parma ham, Chevre and Cold smoked salmon on rye bread. To be honest they were dissappointing goodies. Rye bread and Parma ham does not fit together. Chevre was too cold because all tapas were in cold place. Cold smoked salmon was a little bit dry. Fortunately fruit salad was fresh. You can choose from 2 white and 2 red wines, one cava and one champagne to pair your food.

After tapas visited Coffee Bar serving different coffees, teas and some fondants but also some dessert beverages like grappa, cognac etc…Decided to order espresso, simmered green tea, grappa and few chocolate fondants. Must say these fondants were better than usually Petit fours are for dessert. Can recommend!

Tapas selection at Stockmann Herkku varies day by day, so another day might provide better experience at Meals Bar. Believe fondants are always as good as they were this time.

Comments : 4 Comments »
Tags: chocolate fondant, food, Fruit salad, Helsinki, herkku, review, Stockmann, Stockmann Herkku, tapas, Wine
Categories : Food, Helsinki, Restaurant review, Travel, Wine

Restaurant review: Casa Largo

16 02 2013

Restaurant Casa Largo on the ground floor of Sokos department store is a modern “Spanish” restaurant with a bar, tapas bar and restaurant as well as wine bar. Main dining room is on 1st floor opposite of Railway Station and tapas bar is on 2nd floor. You can see hotel Vaakuna reception from so called 2nd floor wine bar which is behind tapas bar. Functionalist style, which was popular during Helsinki Olympic games 1952 including Glass Palace (Lasipalatsi) being opposite the hotel Vaakuna, has been maintained. Picture below is from the hotel lobby taken from the Casa Largo wine bar.

All HOK-Elanto restaurants have Champagne offer for the whole year 2013. You can get bottle of Nicolas Feuillatte Brut for 39€, which costs the same as wines at the restaurant. Had to taste it instead of Cava although we were in the “Spanish” restaurant. BUT, it was served too warm which made the tasting useless. Pity for champagne,,,,Hopefully champagne is not wasted in other HOK-Elanto restaurants.

Started dinner with Tapas frias & calientes: TOSTADAS manchego, piquillo peppers and aioli on toast and several times POLLO AL AJILLO garlic seasoned chicken, Really delicious and well prepared dishes. Also had Tapas frias: QUESO MANCHEGO Manchego cheese and rosemary honey and CHORIZO Chorizo sausage. To be honest tapas were best part of dinner. Recommend to order 4 tapas dishes for main course and you are there. Chicken has been always delicious and seldom Manchego lets you down. TORTILLA ESPAÑOLA potato omelette was OK but original ones in Spain beat this one.

For main courses had 2 times DORADA A LA PARRILLA whole gilthead bream, grilled and stuffed with garlic butter and herbs, served with escalivada vegetables and herbs. Because Solomillo is usually good test for quality of kitchen compared to original Spanish kitchen, also ordered SOLOMILLO A LA PIMIENTA grilled fillet of beef (200g) with creamy peppersauce. Guilthead was basically ok but it was over cooked. Meat was best part of main course, really tender and soft, to be honest better than same dishes in Spain. Also ordered POLLO ASADO CON CREMA ESPINACAS corn fed chicken breast with creamy spinach and sherry sauce. Unfortunately chicken was too dry.

You have to order side dish from separate list (no additional cost); alternatives were TORTILLA ESPAÑOLA potato omelette, ARROZ rice with saffron, PATATAS BRAVAS fried potatoes with salsa brava and aioli and ENSALADA salad. You could order Patatas Bravas as one of the tapas starters but it suited well with Solomillo, this was bull’s eye pairing!

For desserts ordered famous Spanish “Churros”. Unfortunately you should stick to original churros because this version was not enough baked. Churros are perfect if prepared well and sorbet is always eatable, if prepared at the restaurant. Do not know if it was, because of the chewyness.

Unfortunately service had not improved. We had to ask several times for service but requestd were forgotten. Also paying was problem, had to go to cashier as mobile system did not work.
Casa Largo is really popular restaurant because of location. Remember to book table beforehand but be careful your wishes are conveyd to restaurant, ours were not.

REVIEW: FOOD 3+/5 – SERVICE 2/5 – OVERALL GRADE 3/5

http://www.casalargo.fi/

Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Casa Largo, Champagne, dorada, Helsinki, Manchego, Nicolas Feuillatte, pollo, Sokos, solomillo, tapas, Vaakuna
Categories : Food, Helsinki, Hotel, Restaurant, Restaurant review, Travel, Wine

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Restaurant review: Grotesk Winebar – but not grotesque at all

Restaurant review: BBQ House

Review of Stockmann Herkku dining spots

Restaurant review: Casa Largo

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