ceno español - spanish dinner
Hola….Spanish is still on my list for this holiday. It’s time for tasting various Spanish food. So, the class went to a Spanish restaurant in Esplanade, called "Via Mar". Marijo, our profesora also joined us for the dinner.
The restaurant has a nice atmosphere. Hay muchos cuandos españoles sobre el pared. Kim Seah, who arranged everything =), told us that everything there is from Spain except the chef. But don’t worry, they also have exchange program for the chef. So, at least he has the experience. So now, let’s try the food….Cenamos muchas comida…
For start, we had a lot of kinds of tapas, means snacks. We ate Calamares Fritos, si, it’s fried squid ring in spanish style. It’s actually like other normal squid so i love it.. Queso Frito, golden final cheese, deep-fried breaded cheese. It’s good, the cheese really melts. Still, nothing special yet, it’s just like chicken cheesestick from Burger King with more cheese.Next, Albondigas, meatballs in bean paste sauce. It looks like normal meatballs though.
This is what sounds spanish: Tortila a la Espanola- Spanish omelette fried with mashed potato. It’s one of the favorites and it does taste good. Did i tell you that i dreamed of eating potato skin like one in Sizzler…. Finally i can ate something similar, Patatas Fritas en Salsa. Fried potato skin, baked with cheese over salsa sauce does taste good and is recommended by the chef. Last for tapas, Croquetas de Championes. Simple croquette with spinach and mushroom, it tastes nice when it’s served hot.. Yummy..
European style, we had soups as well. The first one, Caldo Gallego, is soup of vegetables and pork which more or less looks like oxtail soup. It comes from Galicia, where Marijo comes from. The next one is from Andalusia, southern Spain. Gazpacho, a cold soup in tomato puree base which is placed in a glass. Often called as liquid salad, the Spanish really drinks that in summer. And they just can take that alone for dinner. For me, i and my face can’t pretend that i could stand it. Uhk…. I prefer the tomato juice alone which actually I don’t like either.
Then we came to the main dishes. Yup, you’re right.. we had the famous Paella. We ordered Paella de Mariscos (with seafood), and Paella de Pollo (with the chicken). Even though the first is Chef’s recommendation, the later is more favorite among us. I, myself, am very satisfied with the seafood. It really reminds me of Bakmi Gajah Mada. The smell and the final taste of this garlic, peppers and chorizois assortment is really similar.
I am still going to continue with dessert.. which finally make all of us full! Recommended by the chef again, Crema Catalana, is a cup of
catalan custard with burn sugar topping. It really looks like Creme Brulé, the French dessert. But it’s less sweet and better, but it’s still too sweet though.. The favorite, Leche Frito, which should be written as Leche frita according to Marijo, is also sweet. But it taste better. It just made us wonder how did they fry the milk? Made me want to say to the world, see…. i’m not the only one who cooks with milk. It’s normal… And yet it tastes good.
I love Via Mar Churros, fried golden dough served with chocolate-cocoa dip. Love it…! It is a good choice for breakfast in winter, with a cup of chocolate which you dip and drink..Yummy yummy… And last thing on the list, is Turron! It’s a typical Christmas snacks that Marijo specially brought us from Spain. IT’S REALLY GOOD….. It’s a mix of almond and nougat formed into a bar which will melt in your mouth between your teeth…You can imagine it like a white toblerone chocolate, but i can tell you that it’s much much better. Trust me.
It’s a night full of food, of course. I was full of water at the same time. Even the waiter can’t cover her smile every time i ask for more water. And tired of it after 6 times filling my glass, she finally brought me another bigger glass full of water. Then that’s it. It’s the last. >_<.
It’s like a continuous lesson of LS80- trying Spanish culture-the food. Marijo told us about history of tapas and other customs that Spanish had. And how the food is served differently between in Spain and that restaurant. Besides, I learnt my lesson of the night, spanish food is less tasty and spicy than Indonesian. Pssst, i love Indonesian more.=)
