Il Cane Rosso

Il Cane Rosso is a casual restaurant, located inside the Ferry Building.  I remember when they first opened in 2009, as I was excited to have a casual place in the neighborhood, particularly one that served fairly healthy cuisine.

The format has changed a bit over the years, but the focus on local sourcing and fresh, seasonal ingredients has been a constant.  They always list their producers on the menu, from the name of the lettuce farmer, to the bakery they get the bread from (obviously, Acme, just down the hall in the Ferry Building).  Most of their produce comes from the same farms I see at the Ferry Plaza farmer's market.  The current incarnation serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily.  The menu changes slightly every day, but lunch and dinner are the same menu, consisting of soups, sandwiches, salads, and rotisserie chicken.

When Il Cane Rosso first opened, breakfast and lunch were the same as they are now, but dinner was a totally different format.  It was only a 3 course menu that changed daily, usually beginning with a vegetarian starter showcasing stunning seasonal product, followed by your choice of either vegetarian or meat entree, and then dessert, for only $25 per person.  It was a sit down affair, with table service, although still extremely casual.  Often, the chef herself would walk a dish out to your table.  It was a fantastic deal, and we went whenever the daily menu sounded great, probably even once a week for a while.

I loved having a place that served good food, at a great price, using high quality ingredients, in a casual environment, so I didn't need to make reservations nor get dressed up.

I also used to visit for brunch on weekends, but never for lunch, since sandwiches, soups, and salads are just not my thing.  When the dinner format changed to match lunch, I stopped going, until recently.  The chef/owner is Lauren Kiino, who also opened a few new places in the neighborhood in the past year (Fearless Coffee and Red Dog Restaurant), and when I discovered those new places, I remembered Il Cane Rosso and decided to return see if it was still as tasty as I remembered.

Outdoor seating right along the bay.

The seating is fairly unique, with a few tables in the hall inside the Ferry Building, and then the prime tables outside on the sidewalk overlooking the bay.  On a busy day, all tables are constantly full.

Ordering is done at the register, you receive a number, and your food is brought to you when it is ready.  It usually takes less than 10 minutes, even though all prepared to order, pretty much the definition of fast casual.

Breakfast

Breakfast is served on weekdays and weekends, although the menu is expanded on weekends.  The menu is not extensive, but it does seem to have something for everyone.

When I used to visit regularly on weekend mornings, there were 3 breakfast items that I was crazy about.  The first is their version of an egg and cheese sandwich, comprised of two fried eggs, Boccalone pancetta, aged provolone, and sweet onion butter on an Acme pan de mie bun.  Several of my friends have described this as the best egg sandwich they've ever had.  I always tried to get Ojan to split one with me, since they are large, but he refused to share.  And somehow, I always managed to finish my own.  They have the perfect combination of a fluffy, slightly sweet bun, salty delicious pancetta, perfectly melted cheese, and eggs that ooze out perfectly.  Seriously, best egg sandwich ever.

The other stunning egg dish is the slow scramble, with crescenza cheese and chives, served with Acme garlic crostini.  Available only on the weekends.  Yes, they are *just* scrambled eggs, but these are the most magical, creamy scrambled eggs I've ever had.  The egg sandwich usually won out for me, but, these eggs were always a close second.

The daily breakfast menu also includes housemade yogurt with granola and toast with housemade preserves, and a frittata on weekends, but I never tried those.

The final breakfast item is one that I went crazy about for a while: broken farro porridge.

Broken Farro Porridge: raisins, brown sugar, toasted almonds.  $7.

Years ago, I adored this porridge.  I was in a overly health conscious phase of life, having discovered all sorts of new whole grains after moving to the Bay Area.  Farro was one of my favorites, and I loved making farro based salads.  Breakfast porridges were also an obsession, particularly all styles of overnight oats, which I experimented with constantly.  Some of my closest friends were vegans, or at least vegetarians, and their lifestyles rubbed off on me.

Back then, Il Cane Rosso's breakfast porridge was the ultimate breakfast: it was so healthy, would fuel me up for hours, etc, etc.  It was creamy and comforting.  I adored it.  I recommended it to a friend, saying "this dish is perfect in every way. I love oatmeal/9 grain cereal a lot, but their broken farro porridge takes that whole concept and elevates it to another level. I'm sure it has something to do with the cream I think it is cooked in. The flavors, the textures, they are all just fabulous if you like warm porridge-y things."

But in the past few years, I can tell you exactly how many times I have eaten any sort of porridge, oatmeal, or even cereal for breakfast: 0.  Why on earth would I pick that, when I can have pancakes or french toast?  Um yeah, I've changed.  I can also tell you exactly how many times I've ordered farro, or other whole grains, as any sort of side dish, hot or cold: 0.  Again, why pick these things?

Nostalgia set in while I was walking past Il Cane Rosso one morning, and I saw that they still had the farro porridge on the menu.  If it has been on the menu for so long, it must still be amazing, right?

So I got it, almost as excited for it as I was for my decadent french toast the day before.

But ... it turns out, I really just don't care for porridge anymore.  I still liked the texture of the broken farro, a little bit chewy, far more interesting than oats.  It wasn't all chew though, as it was very creamy.  It was hot.  It was comforting.  But ... totally, completely boring to me.  There were plump golden raisins throughout, which I did like.  The top was loaded with almonds.  I actually really did not like the almonds, most were whole, the rest were crumbs, and they tasted burnt, although they didn't look it.  I'm glad they weren't mixed in, as I was able to push them aside.  Even if I had liked the taste, I would have wanted these slivered, not whole.

I was pretty saddened by this experience, not because I think it was bad, I'm sure it was just the same as back when I loved it, but, because I've clearly changed.  All I could think about was how I wanted to drizzle it with maple syrup, even though it had brown sugar in it for sweetness already.  And how it needed more spice, and I even considered going next door to the coffee shop to use their cinnamon shaker to top it off.  I also wanted to run out to the farmer's market to get some strawberries to slice on top.  Even though it had raisins and almonds, it was just too plain for me.

$7 price for a large breakfast porridge was fine, but sadly, until I have my next change of heart, this isn't going to be something I return for.

Lunch

The daily lunch/dinner menu consists of two soups, two salads (featuring seasonal, local produce), two meat sandwiches, two vegetarian sandwiches (one of which is always their egg salad), plus rotisserie chicken and a few sides.  You can make a soup/sandwich/salad combo meal featuring half portions as desired.

Since I don't like soup or sandwiches, even when I regularly ate at Il Cane Rosso, it was never for lunch.  Of course, I tried their signature egg salad a few times, but it wasn't ever my thing.  It is rather amazing that it is still on the menu, every day, and has been since they opened.  Granted, it is a very unique egg salad sandwich: served warm, open faced, with melted provolone on top.

Kale Caesar Salad, half size, $5.

A few days ago, I had a fantastic kale salad (in the Centurion Lounge at the Las Vegas airport of all places).  I've been dreaming about another since.

So even though I rarely gravitate towards salads, I was excited to see kale salad on the menu, described as "Country Line Farm's Kale & Avocado Caesar Salad: croutons, parmesan, lemon-anchovy vinaigrette".  Except ... I'm allergic to avocado.  I asked to have the avocado left out, and then suggested subbing in peaches from the other salad, just so I'd have something a bit more interesting than just kale.  No problem.

The kale was crisp and very fresh, the salad tossed to order.  The dressing wasn't a super creamy, heavy caesar style, and clearly had some tang from the addition of lemon.  The salad, and particularly the croutons, were well dressed.  I adored the croutons, presumably made from Acme bread, since Acme supplies all of the bread for the sandwiches and breakfast items.  They were crazy crunchy and flavorful.  There were tons of them, perhaps the ratio was a bit off, but, since I loved them so much, I didn't care.  Classic shredded parmesan cheese completed the salad (along with the peaches I added of course).

Overall, it was fresh and a well executed salad, but wasn't quite as good as the one I had in the lounge.  I still can't get over that salad.

The price for a half salad was listed at $4.50, but I was charged $5.  Since a full salad is $10, this seemed reasonable to me anyway.  I probably wouldn't get this salad again, but, I'm interested in exploring more of their salads, since they are so clearly made with high quality ingredients.

House Pickled Market Vegetables.  $4.

I adore pickles.  You've probably heard me mention this before.  I like it even more when people pickle things besides cucumbers.

A few days ago, Il Cane Rosso posted a photo of all of the beautiful vegetables they were pickling, so I had to try them.  Available by the jar, or, as I had, just a side.

The mix was mostly cauliflower (white and purple), onions, and turnips, although I did have a lone carrot and a large clove of garlic as well.  The garlic permeated everything, but the overwhelming flavor was vinegar.  The vinegar was stronger than I like.

The vegetables were all fresh and crisp, but, just not my style.  I wouldn't get these again.

Dessert

The only dessert offering is cookies, and the variety changes daily.  You know I'm a dessert girl, but rarely does a cookie satisfy me.

Ginger Molasses Golden Raisin Cookie.  $2.

And, of all cookies, ginger-molasses-raisin didn't sound particularly interesting.  But, it was the only choice, so I got one.

It was clearly a homemade cookie, but it was crispy style, my least favorite type of cookie.  It had ok ginger and molasses flavor, but, still, just a crispy ginger cookie.  I think mine had a sole raisin in it.  I tried a few bites, and brought it home to Ojan, who does like cookies, although, I don't think ginger molasses would ever be his first pick either.

$2 is a standard price for a large homemade cookie.

Dinner

This is an old review, of dinner from May 2011.  This was long before I wrote a blog, but, somehow, I still have photos and some brief notes.

As I said, they changed the format of dinner so dinner and lunch menus are identical, but, back in the day, it was a 3 course affair for only $25.  They would publish the menu mid-day, and it was always totally different.  I remember regularly checking the website to see the menu, and I'd eagerly send Ojan an IM when the menu came out.  My chat history is full of "OMG, Cane Rosso has a great sounding menu tonight!", encouraging him to join me.

Starter: Yerena Farm strawberry salad with pickled buddha’s hand, toasted almonds, & yogurt-mint-dill vinaigrette 

There were so many different micro greens in this that I'd never had before.  And you can't go wrong with strawberries at this time of year!  A nice fresh start to the meal.

Acme Garlic Bread.

Perfectly garlicky!

Vegetarian Main: Spring vegetable pasta with cheddar cheese & agretti salad.

I went for the vegetarian choice, spring vegetable pasta, which doesn't sound all that exciting, but was totally amazing.

This was seriously some of the best "mac and cheese" I'd ever had. The big noodles were perfect conduits for sauce and were filled up full of it, the sauce was ridiculously creamy and delicious due to half and half and several types of cheese.  The veggies mixed in, including caramelized onions and kale, really kicked it up a notch!

So ridiculously tasty, and I devoured this.

Meat Main: : Pork sugo baked pasta with tomato, chili & parmesan. 

The meat option was pork sugo pasta, which Ojan got.

I only had a few bites, but this was quite delicious too, featuring the same noodles, and really flavorful sauce.

[ No Photo ]

Dessert: Chocolate pudding with espresso whipped cream.

And ... dessert.

ZOMG. Decedent, chocolaty, and the espresso whipped cream gave a nice bitter contrast.  How do I always manage to forget to take photos of dessert?  I'm incapable of resisting digging in the moment they arrive!

Cane Rosso's $25 dinner prix-fixe continues to be one of the best deals around town!  

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Noodles & Company

A few months ago, I was walking by the Metreon and saw a new casual dining establishment about to open: Noodles & Company.  Perhaps Noodles & Company is not novel to you, as they apparently exist all over the US (400+ locations), but, it was new to me.  The Metreon location was their first San Francisco branch.  I kept meaning to swing by after they opened to learn more, but, I uh, tend to avoid that area, and totally forgot about it.  But a few months later, I saw that they were opening a second location, just a few blocks away on Market Street, only a few months later.  Strange to put both locations so close to each other, but, the second one is in a much nicer location for those of us who don't want to get trampled my conference-goers.

As you may have guessed, the menu features noodles, from all over the world.  The menu ranges from standard "American" noodle dishes such as Mac & Cheese, Spaghetti & Meatballs, and Steak Stroganoff to Italian inspired dishes like Penne Rosa, Pesto Cavatappi, and Alfredo, to Asian dishes like Pad Thai, Bangkok Curry, and Japanese Pan Noodles.  The options don't stop there however, for every dish, you can add a protein option, from a selection including tofu, pork, chicken breast (parmesan-crusted or grilled), steak, shrimp, or meatballs.  Suggestions for the best pairing are given on the menu, but really, you can do whatever you want; if you want meatballs on your pad thai, no one will stop you.  You can customize your dish further as much as you want, removing the normally included vegetables, swapping out the pasta shape (or opting for gluten-free pasta), etc.  If noodles aren't your thing, the menu also includes soups, salads, sandwiches, and flatbreads.

The style is the ever trendy fast-casual: order at a register and get a number to bring back to a table.  Not too long after (about 5 minutes is what they claim), your meal is delivered directly to you by servers, who also swing by along the way and pick up dirty plates.  The format reminded me a lot of Rubio's, which I've reviewed many times, in that it had quasi-table service, food somewhat cooked to order, and is easily customizable.  However, Noodles & Company goes a few steps past Rubio's and provides real silverware, ceramic bowls, and real glasses.  It may be fast-casual, but using real tableware really does change the feel.

Overall, I was fairly surprised, and not just by the real dinnerware.  The food was much higher quality than I expected given the price point and the casual nature, and in particular, the ingredients really did seem fresh, and care was even given to the plating of the dishes.  The staff were all incredibly friendly on my visit, very eager to explain all the options.

I didn't actually like my dish, but I'd like to return to try one of their other selections, perhaps one of the Italian pastas, or the spinach and fruit salad (I know, this sounds crazy, but it has bacon, pecans, blue cheese, and it looked really, really good!)

Inside Seating.

The main dining area has regular tables with chairs and an area with slightly taller communal tables with stools.

Inside-Outside Seating. 

There is also a rather strange hybrid indoor-outdoor area, which is where I ended up sitting.  It is furnished as if outside, with patio tables and umbrellas, except it is completely indoors.  Yes, there are glass walls on 3 sides, so it gets plenty of light, but there is a regular ceiling above.  Certainly a strange design decision, but, it did almost sorta make me feel like I was eating on a patio somewhere, and most of the time, I wouldn't actually want to be on the San Francisco sidewalk anyway.

Cola-Cola Freestyle Soft Drink Machine.

The soft drink machine was particularly notable, a Coca-Cola Freestyle, which I'd heard about, but never encountered before.  I couldn't even tell you how many options it had, all Coca-Cola brand, but not just including soda.  I was thrilled to discover that it had Dasani Sensations (flavored sparkling water).   It uses a touch screen, and you drill down by categories to select your flavor of choice.  Or mix and match as you please.  I ended up trying a few different flavors, and was quite thrilled by my drink experience.

When dining in, you are provided with a real glass.  Not plastic, but actual glass.  I realized that I'm pretty sure I've never used a soda fountain with a real glass, always a standard fast food paper one, or perhaps a plastic one, but never glass.  This was also novel to me.

Next to the soft drink machine is condiments (soy sauce, sriracha), along with napkins (thicker and higher quality than is standard at fast food restaurants), chopsticks (NOT the cheap kind you need to break apart, rather, round wooden ones, still disposable, but far higher quality than I was expecting), and, togo boxes.  I loved the fact that they just had boxes available to pack up your own leftovers.

Pad Thai + Brocoli. $5.99.

"Rice noodle stir-fry with scrambled egg, carrots, cabbage, sweet chili, citrus, peanuts, Asian sprouts and cilantro."

I was incredibly indecisive about what dish to get (I know, imagine that).  Of the Italian options, the Penne Rosa was the top contender, with a creamy tomato sauce plus mushrooms and spinach.  But so was the spicy Indonesian Peanut Sauté from the Asian section.  And strangely, I also wanted the Spinach & Fresh Fruit Salad (come on, it has bacon and blue cheese!).  While I was waiting in line, I asked an employee what her favorite was, and she told me the pad thai, and warned against the Indonesian Peanut Sauté, saying it was really spicy.

So, I took her recommendation, as I do like pad thai, and it had been a long time since I had any.  None of the protein options sounded appealing though, besides meatballs, but um, I knew meatballs didn't go with pad thai.  I wanted to add a little something to my pad thai though, so I asked if I could have broccoli added.  I know broccoli doesn't normally go in pad thai, but they have it for other dishes, and I thought it would soak up the sauce nicely.  It was no problem to customize in this way.

After about 8 minutes, my dish was delivered to my table, piping hot, along with real silverware.  Seriously, seriously hot.  Every time I dug back in, steam would come out.  They clearly do prepare dishes fresh to order and serve them immediately.  Points for that.

Points also for the presentation, served in a modern style bowl.  I wasn't expecting, at this price point, to have a dish plated so well.  My noodles were garnished with crushed peanuts, sprigs of fresh cilantro, crispy bean sprouts, and a lime wedge to squeeze over the dish.  The toppings in particular all seemed higher quality than I expected, the cilantro wasn't limp or wilted, the bean sprouts still crispy.

I dug in further.

Mixed with the rice noodles were julienned carrots, that were actually cooked really well.  They were not mushy, as happens so often with carrots, but they also weren't undercooked.  Just a bit al dente, how I like them.  The noodles were unremarkable, but not mushy, not stuck together.  There was a good amount of scrambled egg too, which I appreciated since I didn't add other protein.  The egg wasn't rubbery or tough.  The broccoli I added did indeed soak up some sauce, as I was hoping.

This all sounds successful, right?  Except ... I really didn't like the sauce.  It was sweet and very one-dimensional.  The amount of sauce was correct, it wasn't overdressed or anything, but, I just really didn't like the flavor, so it ruined the dish for me.

So, I didn't like my pad thai.  But, I really did appreciate how well done it was, and my experience makes me curious to try their other dishes.  The quality was much higher than I was expecting.  Did I mention that this entire giant bowl was only $5.99?

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Gantry Bar and Lounge, Sydney

Last week, you read about how I visited the recently opened Gantry Restaurant in Sydney.  We had a great meal featuring fresh seafood and interesting cocktails.  I added Gantry to my list of places that I'd gladly return to, expecting that to mean on a next visit to Sydney, since I still had many other places I wanted to visit on this trip.

But, a few nights later, we had a VERY large group (at least 15, I think 20?) that wanted food, and, more importantly, drinks.  I racked my brain.  Where on earth could we seat 20 people, with no reservation, that would have decent food and drinks?

Then I remembered the lounge and bar area leading to The Gantry Restaurant.  I knew it used the same kitchen as the restaurant, but served more casual bar food.  And we found the cocktail menu really intriguing when we went for dinner, so I knew the drinkers would be happy.  And, it didn't seem that crowded when we were there before, so I hoped that possibly we'd be able to walk in with our swarm of people and be accommodated.

The Bar ... before we showed up!

We sent Emil ahead of the large group to scope it out and prepare the staff for our arrival, which he happily did.  When we arrived, it was just as we hoped: the entire bar was open, as were many of the adjacent casual seating areas.  Emil had a drink in hand, and vouched for its deliciousness.  Things looked good.

However, the staff were clearly not pleased with our huge group.  They were really were not happy that we wanted food in addition to drinks.  I wouldn't say that they were impolite exactly, but, they certainly didn't make us feel welcome.

The quality from the bartenders varied widely.  One bartender put a lot of care and attention into his drinks, such precision, and came out with great creations.  The other seemed to care less that we were there, and was quite sloppy.

After everyone ordered their drinks at the bar, we moved off into the casual seating space so as not to take over the entire bar.

Casual Seating.

The other seating areas were in pods of a few chairs around little cocktail tables, with assorted types of seating.  We broke up into several groups and were intending to order food for each set of people, based on what those individuals wanted.  However, they required that we do a single food order, so I just ordered for the group.

The service wasn't very good, probably due to our group size.

As the food came out of the kitchen, it got randomly distributed amongst our groups.  Even if we had 3 orders of the same dish, they just brought them all to one table ,and then brought nothing to the next table.  We had to distribute the dishes ourselves.

They also only brought out perhaps 3 sets of cutlery for our group of 17.  We asked for more cutlery, and they eventually brought a couple more, but not enough for everyone.  We were provided no share plates.   When we asked for share plates, again, just a few were brought.

Again, they did accommodate us, but, were clearly annoyed.  Our large group of jeans and t-shirt clad engineers was not the right demographic for their swanky hotel bar, and I don't really recommend you follow my lead here.  A small group of well dressed folks would fit in much better.

The food was fine, but not nearly as good as the meal we had in the full restaurant.  It was better than standard bar food, but it was also quite pricey compared to regular bar food.  I wouldn't return to teh bar and lounge for food, but perhaps if I just wanted a drink I'd swing by, as the cocktails were all interesting and tasty.

Drinks

The drinks were certainly the highlight of the evening.  All were unique and decently made (if you got the right bartender).

El Gantry. $19.

"Altos Blanco tequila swizzled with blueberry and native herbs."

I started with El Gantry.  Like the cocktail I had in the restaurant, it had a ton of crushed ice, but unlike the one at the restaurant, it was nicely balanced from the start.  I didn't really pick up much blueberry nor tequila though, and wanted to taste at least one of those elements more, hence the reason I picked the drink.

The garnish of some sort of fresh native herb was interesting, and added a strong whiff of herbs with every sip, not what I'm accustomed to while consuming a cocktail.

Overall, I enjoyed it, but was ready to move on.

So I moved on to a drink that Emil ordered, and quickly discarded.  Why?  It was sweet, and if you recall, Emil simply doesn't do sweet.  I'm amused that he even ordered it.  I don't understand.  It was The Grape Escape, described as "Hennessy VS and fresh grape juice shaken with orgeat and rhubarb bitters."  I guess he thought the Hennessy and bitters would counteract the grape juice?

I thought it was pretty good, although obviously quite sweet. The best part was the whole grapes submerged inside that soaked up all the booze, and were quite fun to eat at the end.  It was a drink that just kept on giving!

Throughout the night, everyone ordered a slew of cocktails, all interesting sounding and looking, and they all seemed to enjoy them.  On the cocktail front, we achieved success.

Port. ??

To end the night, I needed dessert, obviously.  The Gantry does serve desserts from the restaurant in the lounge, but that seemed too complicated with our group, so I opted for "liquid" dessert instead.

I opted for the port.  It was fine, but, just port.

Bar Snacks

As I mentioned, the bar and lounge menu is entirely different from the restaurant menu, which makes sense, given the space.  You can't eat beautifully composed plated seafood entrees while sitting in a low chair with only a side cocktail table, so the menu is adapted to the space.

The bar menu is broken up into two sections, dubbed "bar snacks" and "substantials", but all are designed to be share plates enjoyed at the bar or in the lounge.

To start, we ordered several of each and every bar snack.

 Beetroot Homefries / Dill Aioli. $9.

We started with the beetroot homefries that we had a the restaurant a few days earlier.  I skipped them this time around since I didn't really care for them at the restaurant, but everyone else gobbled them up, again a crowd pleaser.

We also got the chicken wings with tamarind glaze ($16), which, given my dislike of chicken, I obviously skipped (and missed a photo of entirely, amidst all the drama of food randomly showing up at tables, whoops!).  These went unfinished, which I'll use as an indication that they weren't great.

We also had the parmesan fries with Gantry's signature seasoning ($9), served in a huge pot.  I really thought I got a photo of this dish, but, alas, I didn't.  As I said, it was chaos, and it was quite hard to capture even the shots I did.

The fries were super thin, really crispy, nicely seasoned.  They weren't served with any dipping sauce, but since basically every other dish we ordered came with a pot of aioli, I was easily able to find some to dip them in.  They were good, but not particularly notable.

Szechuan Salt & Pepper Squid / Tartare Sauce.  $16.

Next was a serving of the s&p squid, always a fun bar classic, and the one I was most looking forward to.  The squid was decently crispy on the outside, not chewy nor rubbery, not too oily.  I appreciated the lemon wedge on the side, but with a huge group, we weren't really able to share the lemon.  Did I want other people's dirty hands on the lemon that was touching my food?  And were we supposed to pass it around?

Of course I liked the tartare sauce, but it seemed identical to the dill aioli with the beetroot homefries.

My favorite of the bar snacks.

Cumberland Sausage Rolls / Housemade Smoked Ketchup. $16.

The final "bar snack" were mini sausage rolls.  The pastry on the outside had a lovely gloss to it, but, wasn't really interesting, not very flaky or buttery.  Inside was very moist sausage, decent enough.

The housemade smoked ketchup was my favorite element, super flavorful and tasty.  I used it with the fries as well, it even trumped the aioli, which, as someone who loves aioli, you realize is quite the testament.

Prices were high though, $16 for three mini sausage rolls?

Substantials

Next we moved on to the "substantials" portion of the menu, larger dishes, but not really entree style.

Australian Cheeses / Muscatels / Quince / Local Honeycomb / Crackers. $28.

First up was a cheese platter.  It had a few pieces of fruit, including not very ripe strawberries and figs that one diner dubbed the only thing she didn't like that night.  I tried one and agreed, it was strangely bitter.  Dried apricots and a smear of some kind of jam were the final accompaniments.

But where was the cheese?  Most of the cheeses were hidden under the crackers, a strange plating.  All of the cheeses were pretty unremarkable.  Not a single cheese stood out, but that was common in Sydney.  No wonder they all just eat "Tasty Cheese" in Australia.  I don't think cheese culture has really caught on.  The crackers were just thin crispy crackers.

We also got the meat platter: "Selection of Cured Meats / Housemade Pickles / Warm Housemade Foccacia", also $28.  Again, no standouts, although the meats were all thinly sliced and tasty enough.

Tiger Flathead / Murray's Brewing Beer Batter / Chips / Tartare. $26.

Since Gantry excels in seafood, for the more main-dish like items we skipped the meats, and moved right on to seafood.

First up was the fish and chips, a dish I eyed in the restaurant all night long, as it passed by to other diners on that visit..

Like the s&p squid, it was served with a lemon wedge and the same tartare sauce on the side.

The fish was fine, moist inside.  The batter was thick and tasty.  The pieces were a bit too oily however.

The chips were not the same as the thin parmesan fries we had earlier, instead, they were thick cut wedges, I think they may have also been lightly battered in the same way as the beetroot homefries.

The final dish we got was also the most pricy, at $39: "Bucket of King Prawns / Marie Rose Sauce / Housemade Focaccia".

The bread was grilled, and basically just all butter.  I liked the strong smoky level of the grill, but wow, this was literally just butter.

I didn't have the prawns after several people said they weren't good, and, indeed, the expensive bucket of prawns went unfinished.  People chose to order additional food instead of finishing them, they were that bad.  I believe they were just cooked and then served chilled on ice, nothing special.

But, the sauce that came with them ... now THAT was special.  Marie Rose sauce is basically cocktail sauce mixed with mayo.  Yup, more mayo based sauce.  This was the winner of the sauces, creamy and spicy and flavorful.  Once I discovered this sauce, I dunked absolutely everything else into it.  Including leftover crackers.  Just so I could eat more sauce.  But, overall, since no one liked the prawns, obviously not a winning dish.

So yeah, basically, my night was spent dunking fried potatoes and seafood of various types into pots of aioli.  I can't say this was was a healthy evening, but, it was bar food after all, and, when in Rome, right?

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Restaurante Jardín, Mallorca

I recently visited the island of Mallorca, off the coast of Barcelona, for a few days.  My primary goal there was simple: to relax.  And relax I did, staying in a gorgeous villa right on the beach with a group of co-workers and friends.

But of course, I am a foodie, and no trip is complete without some fabulous dining.  Mallorca actually has 5 restaurants each with a Michelin star, and it is no coincidence that we wound up staying just down the street from one of them, Jardín.

The Jardín restaurant group includes three establishments: the Michelin starred main restaurant, a more casual bistro located downstairs from the flagship restaurant called Bistró del Jardín, and a even more casual establishment, Danny's gastrobar, located next door. Bistró del Jardín serves some of the most famous dishes from Restaurante Jardín, while the gastrobar serves tapas and burgers.  If we had been on the island longer, I would have liked to check out the casual places too, but since we had a limited time, we went just for the main restaurant, for lunch, on our very first day.  Jardín serves traditional Mallorcan dishes, except, with a twist.

Because I was on vacation, I didn't have time to write up my review immediately, but of course took copious notes.  I apologize for brevity, as this will not be as thorough as usual.

The meal, 12 courses, took several hours, but it was the perfect way to slowly ease into our time on the island, and was quite a success.  Of the 9 savory courses, 7 of them I'd gladly eat again, and 5 of them I would really, really like to have again.  The top 5 were all absolutely incredible.  For a large tasting menu where I didn't get to pick any of the dishes, this is a very high success rate!

The entire meal was quite memorable, not only due to the incredible taste of the food and the unique ingredients we got to experience, but also for the stunning plating and presentation throughout, and the elements of surprise thrown in, as you'll see below.  I also really appreciated the education aspects of the meal, and getting to experience so many local products, yet in a highly refined way.

We arrived 15 minutes early for our 1:30 reservation, to discover that the restaurant does not actually open until 1:30pm, so we couldn't be seated early.  Instead, we were invited to sit inside the casual bistro area, to have a drink first.  Since Emil was on this trip, he started us off in style, with a bottle of champagne (Veuve Cliqquot-Ponsardin Tellow Label) to start.

Fried Cheese Balls.

A few minutes after our champagne was poured, we were presented with tapas: fried balls.  They were clearly ridiculously hot and fresh, direct from the frier.  We were told that they were filled with jamón (ham), but, we didn't really taste ham.  They sorta seemed like fried balls of gravy.

I appreciated the snack while we waited, and the freshness, but, since we were about to have a 12 course meal, I didn't feel compelled to have a second one.

At 1:30, our host came back to get us, and instructed us to get in the elevator.  We crammed ourselves in, our group of 7 completely filling it.  Perhaps we should have broken into two groups.  By the time we got up to the restaurant, our host was there waiting for us.  It was almost like a magic trick, and he laughed as we got out of the elevator and saw him in surprise.  He also had our champagne bottle waiting for us!

Getting led to our table.

We were lead through the restaurant to the back, a semi-private area.  We were seated at a big round table.  The decor was modern and swanky, with bold artwork on the walls.

Centerpiece.

The centerpiece was quite interesting, made from assorted silverware.  Classic table settings included a white tablecloth and cloth napkins.

The ladies were all given purse hooks with the Jardin logo on them to use during the meal, and then, at the end, they put them into little bags for us to take home.  Souvenirs!  The knives we'd receive throughout the meal also had the logo on them.

Service throughout was good, as you would expect at a starred establishment.  The ladies were always served first, in unison.  Crumbs were cleared off the table.  Silverware replaced between courses.

Menu and Wine List.

The wine list was housed in a beautiful cork binder, made from a slab of virgin cork.  I'm not all that knowledgeable about wine, but Emil says the list was as impressive as its cover.

Lo Cortinel.Lo, 2012, D.O. Pla i Llevant.

Rather than selecting our own wines, we agreed to let the sommelier just select bottles for us to pair with our meal, switching to a new bottle whenever appropriate. 

We started with this white wine, which I found quite refreshing, not too sweet nor too dry, a good start.

The "menu".

Jardin has only one option, a 12 course tasting menu, for 93.50€.

The menu was presented as a list of main ingredients, one for each course, on graph paper.  The paper was attached, via paperclip, to a booklet containing information about Mallorca.  We were told that we'd receive the full menu at the end.

Our menu read:

• Botifarró
• Prawn
• Sobrassada
• Dogfish
• Lobster
• Sea cucumber
• Red scorpionfish
• Rice
• Rabbit
• Orange blossom
• Cheese
• Strawberries

I of course looked up the "menu" in advance, so I had asked to substitute out the rabbit for myself, since, I've had many bunnies as pets, and I just can't bring myself to eat rabbit.

Final Menu.

At the end of the meal, as promised, we received printed copies of a slightly more informative menu, complete with our wine selections.  I'll include these details in the reviews below, but I didn't have this information at the time I was tasting the dishes.

Botifarró.

Botifarró is a pork sausage, specific to Mallorca.  But, what was this?  It clearly wasn't just a sausage.  Our final menu said "mahon cheese pa amb oli: typical pa amb oli with Mahon cheese and botifarró."  Pa amb oli is a very traditional Mallorcan dish, which literally means "bread with oil".

The bread here was two little pita breads, perched on top of a casserole dish, one topped with what was presumably the botifarró, one topped with Mahon cheese (a local cheese).

We had no idea what we were in for when it came to these.  I thought they were just pita with toppings.  I thought very, very wrong.

The pita was super crunchy, and the inside held a big surprise: tomato and olive oil!  One of my dining companions described the experience of biting into it as "an explosion of happiness".  I agreed, the filling was intensely flavorful, and totally delicious.  Another commented, "how do they even make that? It is like a magic trick!"

The cheese was salty and firm, and the botifarró, well sausage-y.

This was an amazing way to start the meal, with surprise and delight.  We all then eagerly opened the casserole, to find it empty, used only for plating.  This set the tone for the amazing plating throughout, including beautiful garnishing and interesting serving pieces.

Of the 9 savory dishes, this was very middle of the road for me, Emil and I both ranked it 5th, but it was still very, very good.  There were just better things coming!  Three of my dining companions ranked it their #2 dish, and the last ranked it #3, so we all scored it in the top half of the meal.

Prawn.

Next came this dish, with what looked like a meat based spread, and two crackers, served on a beautiful wooden board, with a knife for spreading.  Again, stunning presentation.

But the menu said "prawn", so we assumed that we had skipped ahead to the next dish listed, sobrasadda.  Sobrassada is a pork sausage, native to the Balearic Islands.

Then, the dish was described to us verbally as "sea sobrassada".  Surprise!  The final menu told us that this was "red and white prawn sobrassada pate with olive oil biscuits".  Aha!

The sea sobrassada certainly had the texture of a regular sausage, but contained no pork, rather, it was made from the two types of prawns.  I have a hard time describing what it tasted like, other than the fact that I really, really didn't like it.  Nor did anyone else in the group.

On the side were biscuits that looked fluffy, like bread, but instead were very crisp, another surprise.

I appreciated this dish for the surprise aspects, and the play on sobrassada, but I didn't really want more than a couple bites.

My least favorite of the savory courses.  Four others ranked it second to last, and the other two ranked it third least favorite, so clearly, not a winning dish for any of us.

Sobrassada.

We were also presented with 2 full sausages, laid out in the middle of the table, just so we could see the full form.

Sobbrasada Bread.

Next came the dish listed as sobrassada.  Of course, it didn't look anything like sausage, because instead it was a cake, "sobrassada sponge cake with Mahon cheese".  And again, the presentation was stunning, served on top of a slice of a tree trunk.

It was a very fluffy sponge cake, made with corn flour, and, yup, sobrassada.  It was topped with shaved Mahon cheese, you guessed it, a local cheese.

This dish was pretty amazing.  The cake was incredibly light and fluffy, yet, intensely sausage-y at the same time.  The sausage inside was quite spicy.  The cheese on top was salty and delicate.  So much unexpected flavor in here.

I loved the play between this dish and the previous one.  The previous one looked like sobbrasda, yet tasted nothing like it.  This one, didn't look anything like it, yet the flavor was unmistakable.  Such a fun dish, and, unlike the previous, quite tasty!

This dish had very mixed reviews.  Both Emil and I ranked it our third pick, and one person ranked it number two, but another ranked it 4th, another 5th, and two others had it in their bottom three.

Dido Blanc 2001, D.O. Montsant.

My notes only read one thing about our next wine, that it was "bold", as in, very bold for a white wine.  I know we all seemed to enjoy it though.

Dogfish in Oil.

The final starter was a first for us all: dogfish.  We had no idea what dogfish was, nor what to expect.  Of course, at this point, we had learned not to expect anything.  As it was placed in front of us, were were told it was "dogfish salad".  Except, as you can clearly see, it was not a salad, but rather, a soup.  Except, it really was a salad.  But, a soup.  Let me explain.

The soup base was liquified lettuce.  Yes, really.  Hence, the "salad" aspect of it.  The dogfish came in 3 chunks, cured.  It was very firm, but otherwise, unremarkable.  The dish was finished with olive oil, which imparted a pleasant nuttiness.  Topped with slivers of lettuce, adding to the "salad" aspect.

This was a very fun dish, quite playful.  More places should make soup-salads!  It was also the first dish actually served on normal dishware.

This dish also received very mixed reviews.  No one disliked it, but it wasn't particularly amazing, besides the whole soup-salad aspect.  One person ranked it 3rd, it was Emil's and one other's 4th pick, two other's 5th pick, and myself and one other deemed it our 6th pick,

Bread.

Next up came the bread course.  I'm not really a bread person, but I did appreciate that it was served warm, and was super crusty yet moist inside.  No butter or oil were provided on the side.

Lobster with Nuts.

Next, the lobster dish: "mediterranean lobster with nuts emulsion", also served in a regular bowl.

Now, I know everyone is always crazy about lobster.  Not me.  Not that I dislike it, but I find lobster very overrated.  I prefer crab most of the time.

This lobster however, was shockingly good.  They said it was blanched, but it had a smokiness to it that was incredible.  It was very nicely cooked.

Also in the dish were fresh peas, just bared cooked, super tender and flavor.  They tasted like spring ... you know, if spring had a taste.

Finally, it was served on top of a macadamia cream.  This was the only part of the dish that wasn't a success.  It was really viscous, stringy, and really quite odd to eat.  The flavor was fine, but, it was just really not enjoyable to consume.

It didn't matter that the macadamia cream was a failure though, the lobster was so incredibly good, and I loved the brightness from the peas.

One of my dining companions rated this his favorite dish of the night, Emil and I both said it was our second favorite of the night, while three others ranked it third, and the final person deemed it fifth.  In the top half of the meal for everyone.

Improntium 2009 D.O. Utiel-Requena.

I didn't take notes on the next wine, a sauvignon blanc, besides saying it was "ok".  I guess I was pretty distracted at this point in the meal by the incredible food, and of course, my company.

Sea Cucumber with Marrow.

Next up was the sea cucumber dish, "sea cucumber with roasted marrow and reduced jus".  Plating-wise, we were back to dishes served on wood.

I'm pretty sure I've had sea cucumber at least once before, but, I don't recall ever really thinking much of it.

This however was quite tasty.  The sea cucumber wasn't at all slimy, which I somewhat expected.  The texture was really nice.  Like the lobster, it had a beautiful smokiness to it.

The pieces of sea cucumber were flanked by a a chunk of turnip and a chunk of marrow, both roasted.  I don't love turnips, but marrow added a very nice richness.

There was also a light sauce, very salty.  I loved it, but I could imagine it being too salty for those without a "chef's palette".  Garnished with pretty little chive blossoms.

This was the highest overall rated dish of the meal, hands down.  All 6 of us who did not rate the lobster as #1 had this as our top pick (the lobster lover ranked this his 4th pick).  While there were many memorable dishes from this meal, this is one we all kept talking about later, specifically for its incredible taste.

Ibizan Red Scorpionfish Stew.

Our final seafood offering was scorpionfish, which I'm pretty sure I've never had before.  Described as "steamed red scorpionfish with boiled potato in broth".

The fish was moist and meaty, not bad at all.

Served over what was a potato puree, but tasted fishy.  I kept trying it, trying to understand how my potatoes had such a strange flavor.  It turns out, they were infused with a broth made from an upcoming dish, a shrimp paella.  Another surprise.

Perched atop the scorpionfish was a tiny piece of crispy skin.  It was insanely crispy.  I've had crispy skin before, but never anything like this.  We all loved the crunchy skin, better than any chip you'll ever find!

There was nothing wrong with this dish, but we were all coming down off our high from the sea cucumber and lobster, and, besides the crispy skin, this seemed fairly boring in comparison.  It was Emil and two other's 6th pick, my and two other's 7th pick, and the final member ranked it second to last.  While in my bottom 3, this was still fine, and I'd eat it again, it just wasn't a top pick.

Ramiro's Vino de la Tierra de Castilla y Léon 2009.

At this point, we moved on to red wine to go with our upcoming meat entrees.  The sommelier selected a Tempranillo.  My notes are brief, but say that it was quite nice, light, and not too tanic.  It went well with the meal.

'A Banda' Rice.

To segue into the meat dishes, we had a rice dish, which was the second stage of the previous dish.  The menu read "abanda rice with squid cream and roasted garlic."

As I said, the potato puree was made with a shrimp broth, just like the upcoming paella.  This was the paella.  My research after the fact taught me that "a banda" or "abanda" means rice cooked in fish stock.  The rice itself was very well cooked, nicely al dente.  But it was cooked with the same fishy broth, like the sea sobrassada, that I really didn't like.

On top was a very confusing component.  It was an aioli, made from raw squid!   The texture reminded me of lobster, a bit stringy.  It was odd, for sure.  It reminded me of cheese.  I actually kinda liked it, but, the others really did not.

It was recommended that we mix the aioli into the rice, but since I only liked the aioli, I just ate that part alone.

Everyone but me really didn't like this.  Three of my companions ranked this last, another second to last, another third last, another 6th.  But I ranked it 4th, because I really, really liked the crazy squid aioli.

Rabbit with Onion.

The main dish was rabbit, which, given my history of owning bunnies, I skipped.  The menu described it as "Rabbit: rabbit cooked at low temperature with caramelized onion cream".

Everyone else had this dish, and reviews were varied: two people ranked it last, but one ranked it 4th, two ranked it 5th, and the final 6th.

Lamb.

Sadly, my replacement for the rabbit was lamb, which, I don't really like.  It had a really strange stringy texture.  And well, it was lamb.  I gladly gave it away to one of my dining companions.  Its not like I was hungry at this point, and we still had desserts to come!

It was served over caramelized shallots, which I really did love.  I mean, it is hard to go wrong with shallots, but these were really caramelized, perfectly salty, and in a delicious sauce.

It was also served with a totally crazy flip out knife.

My second to last pick of the meal, and I wouldn't want this again.

Spring.

Finally, time to start in on desserts.  Or, pre-desserts really.  First up, a dish that the first menu listed "orange blossom".  When it was delivered to us, we were told that it was "spring".  The menu said "orange blossom ice cream with lemon and tender almonds".

The primary component was orange blossom ice cream, which was quite complex, and not just sweet.  Served atop a orange biscuit crumble and a lemony foam, with shaved tender almonds and white blackberries on the side.  The white blackberries were fascinating, sweet, honey-like.

Overall there was a lot going on here.  Something cold and creamy, something foamy, something crunchy, something soft.

Along with our desserts, we also enjoyed a sweet, caramely port, Taylor's Quinta de Vargellas 1991.

Cheese.

Next, what Emil would call a proper dessert: the cheese course.  Another stunning serving dish, shaped like an artist's palette.

The selection was 4 local cheeses, each served in pairs, one raw milk cheese, but the rest were goat.  Even though I dislike goat cheese, I still tried the brie-like one, but it had a strange chalky texture that I did not care for.

The dots on the palette were apple compote, which tasted just like apple sauce to me.  I'm not really sure why I'd want apple sauce with my cheese, although, I guess cheese and apple pie can be a classic pairing.  The final component on the platter were little pieces of carob sponge cake, which were quite bitter.

Overall, certainly not a winning dish for me, mostly due to the cheese selection.

However, it was served with a very interesting component, which I don't have a photo of: a shot glass filled with a sweet infusion.  We were told to guess what it was.  We guessed honey.  Or honeysuckle.  It was impossible to know what it was.  In the end, after we exhausted all our guesses, we were told it was a date infusion.

Strawberries.

The last course was "strawberries", or, "wild strawberries with 'menjar blanc' cream, reduced milk ice cream, and meringue.

There were two frozen components, one more creamy than the other, one more icy.  I think the creamier one was the "menjar blanc" cream, a play on blancmange, and the icier one the reduced milk ice cream.  There were also little meringues.  And a random hard thing, that I couldn't identify.  And a strawberry gelee.  And, yes, the strawberries.

This was a really fun play on strawberries and cream.  I was incredibly stuffed at this point, yet cleared my plate, easily.  Even Emil ranked this above the cheese platter.  Unfortunately, I didn't really take further notes, as I was too busy enjoying it.  My favorite of the desserts.

Espresso.

To end the meal, we all opted for espresso.  I went for decaf.  Served with sugar, sugar cubes, and brown sugar cubes, with a cute little thin spoon.  I didn't use any of the sweeteners.  The decaf was fine, not remarkable.

Mignardises.

We really thought we were done, but of course, we couldn't forget the mignardises!  Yet another beautiful presentation.

We each were given 3 selections:

1. Apple financier, topped with a dollop of apple cream.  Better than most financiers, but, meh, just boring cake.
2.  "mine malda" is what my notes say, but I don't know what this was really called.  Two crispy squares, like phyllo dough, with cream inside, and quince paste on top.
3. Chocolate cookie, topped with a super creamy chocolate ganache.  My notes say "vodka", but I honestly don't recall what I was referring to.

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