SyndicationSep152008
03:23:31 pm
03:23:31 pm
Restaurant El Lago - Marbella - Saturday 13th September
'I want to take you for a nice meal tonight' The Buik announced on Saturday afternoon. At the time, I was welded to a sun lounger, knee deep in cava, attempting to get my legs, aka 'Stumps' a shade darker than milk bottle white. I eyed him suspiciously. The Buik gave up on 'taking me out for a nice dinner' years ago. I was wondering why today was any different. Had I forgotten his birthday? Hell, had I forgotten my birthday? Was it my wedding anniversary? Nope! The Buik just wanted to eat some decent food. To be honest, I was grateful for the change. As much as I love BBQ food, 8 days of eating The Buik's fabulous BBQ ribs and various other animal parts, was starting to bore me. My credit card had not been on any Nikki Beach jaunts this week either so we had a bit of spare cash.
I was put in charge of selecting somewhere that was 'close' and served 'light food' so I thought I'd give El Lago a go. Only 5 minutes drive from our house and Michelin starred, we were off there quicker than a rat up a drainpipe.
After getting hopelessly lost, we eventually happened upon El Lago and was shown to a table that could seat 6. That will teach me not to reserve ahead of time. It wasnt gezellig, but hey, at least we managed to get a table. The service was brisk and we had an aperitif of a Kir Royale (which was dangerously gluggable) and a Campari Soda for The Buik. Bread and 3 types of olive oil were presented along with some pink salt. That was seriously some of the best salt I've tasted in my life.
Amuse bouche followed quickly of short sepia nero spaghetti with a cod fritter on top. My first venture into squid ink spaghetti and I found it rich and wouldnt be able to eat a whole portion. Which is rather unlike me and not something you'll here me say very often.
Then the meal went somewhat downhill. Well it did for me anyway. I had taken temporary leave of my senses and ordered 'Grilled vegetables with a cauliflower puree'. That is exactly what I got. Baby carrots, courgettes, white asparagus, corn, shitake mushrooms all lolloped on the plate with a decidely dodgy cauliflower void puree. Woefully underseasoned and blander than a bland thing. The Buik didnt fare much better with 'Cuttlefish salad with truffle mayonnaise'. The Chef had decided to cut up the cuttlefish into same size pieces as the mushrooms in the salad, making it impossible to tell the fish from the other parts of the salad. The Buik concluded that he had probably eaten just 1cm worth of cuttlefish.
God had it in for me for my main course though. I dont know what I had done in my previous life to deserve raw monkfish loin, but that is what I got. A third of it was raw and as soon as I spotted the offending portion, my appetite disappeared. The cream sauce it came with was underseasoned and the whole dish met with a distinct 'bleurgh'. Bland, bland, bland. It's like the Chef was making food for people with no tastebuds or teeth.
The Buik took goat but he concluded that it wasnt up to much. He had eaten the mother of all goats in Barcelona in July and any subsequent goat eating activity would measure up to this one.
We both took desserts, me 'Fried chocolate cake' and him 'Porridge' with some sort of yoghurt. I ended up with mini profiteroles filled with some extraordinarily cheap and nasty chocolate mixture. I think someone had buggered up there with the translation. The Buik's dessert was better but really nothing that really wowed us.
The Buik took a grappa and an Espresso and I stropped around a bit. The bill came shortly after and we scooted.
Personally, I think I chose badly that Saturday, the rest of the menu cant be as bad as what I ate but I wont be spending another 150 Euros to prove myself wrong. It's a shame because the setting is nice and the service is quite good. The wine isnt extortionate and we drank a fabulous white wine (Spanish no less) for 25 Euros. And I didnt want to spit it out or cringe at the tackiness of it. But I think it will be a long, long, long time before The Buik mutters those fateful words again of 'I want to take you out for dinner tonight'.
Oh well. Better luck next time :)
'I want to take you for a nice meal tonight' The Buik announced on Saturday afternoon. At the time, I was welded to a sun lounger, knee deep in cava, attempting to get my legs, aka 'Stumps' a shade darker than milk bottle white. I eyed him suspiciously. The Buik gave up on 'taking me out for a nice dinner' years ago. I was wondering why today was any different. Had I forgotten his birthday? Hell, had I forgotten my birthday? Was it my wedding anniversary? Nope! The Buik just wanted to eat some decent food. To be honest, I was grateful for the change. As much as I love BBQ food, 8 days of eating The Buik's fabulous BBQ ribs and various other animal parts, was starting to bore me. My credit card had not been on any Nikki Beach jaunts this week either so we had a bit of spare cash. I was put in charge of selecting somewhere that was 'close' and served 'light food' so I thought I'd give El Lago a go. Only 5 minutes drive from our house and Michelin starred, we were off there quicker than a rat up a drainpipe.
After getting hopelessly lost, we eventually happened upon El Lago and was shown to a table that could seat 6. That will teach me not to reserve ahead of time. It wasnt gezellig, but hey, at least we managed to get a table. The service was brisk and we had an aperitif of a Kir Royale (which was dangerously gluggable) and a Campari Soda for The Buik. Bread and 3 types of olive oil were presented along with some pink salt. That was seriously some of the best salt I've tasted in my life.
Amuse bouche followed quickly of short sepia nero spaghetti with a cod fritter on top. My first venture into squid ink spaghetti and I found it rich and wouldnt be able to eat a whole portion. Which is rather unlike me and not something you'll here me say very often.
Then the meal went somewhat downhill. Well it did for me anyway. I had taken temporary leave of my senses and ordered 'Grilled vegetables with a cauliflower puree'. That is exactly what I got. Baby carrots, courgettes, white asparagus, corn, shitake mushrooms all lolloped on the plate with a decidely dodgy cauliflower void puree. Woefully underseasoned and blander than a bland thing. The Buik didnt fare much better with 'Cuttlefish salad with truffle mayonnaise'. The Chef had decided to cut up the cuttlefish into same size pieces as the mushrooms in the salad, making it impossible to tell the fish from the other parts of the salad. The Buik concluded that he had probably eaten just 1cm worth of cuttlefish.
God had it in for me for my main course though. I dont know what I had done in my previous life to deserve raw monkfish loin, but that is what I got. A third of it was raw and as soon as I spotted the offending portion, my appetite disappeared. The cream sauce it came with was underseasoned and the whole dish met with a distinct 'bleurgh'. Bland, bland, bland. It's like the Chef was making food for people with no tastebuds or teeth.
The Buik took goat but he concluded that it wasnt up to much. He had eaten the mother of all goats in Barcelona in July and any subsequent goat eating activity would measure up to this one.
We both took desserts, me 'Fried chocolate cake' and him 'Porridge' with some sort of yoghurt. I ended up with mini profiteroles filled with some extraordinarily cheap and nasty chocolate mixture. I think someone had buggered up there with the translation. The Buik's dessert was better but really nothing that really wowed us.
The Buik took a grappa and an Espresso and I stropped around a bit. The bill came shortly after and we scooted.
Personally, I think I chose badly that Saturday, the rest of the menu cant be as bad as what I ate but I wont be spending another 150 Euros to prove myself wrong. It's a shame because the setting is nice and the service is quite good. The wine isnt extortionate and we drank a fabulous white wine (Spanish no less) for 25 Euros. And I didnt want to spit it out or cringe at the tackiness of it. But I think it will be a long, long, long time before The Buik mutters those fateful words again of 'I want to take you out for dinner tonight'.
Oh well. Better luck next time :)