
After our positive experience at The Aylesbury we thought we'd follow it right up with Anada.
We liked the decor and the light and airy space. We had a little table near the bar and sat atop the high stools. We were almost the first to arrive for lunch service but the place filled up pretty quickly.
The tasting menu was explained to us - 10 tapas and / or raciones and a dessert plate. The only thing on the menu I didn't want was the heirloom carrots with ajo blanco as I don't like carrots and when the waitress talked us through the dishes, there was no mention of the carrots so we decided to go with it.
Drinks wise, Steve tried a few different Spanish beers and we also enjoyed a couple of glasses of a Spanish Albarino which was pretty tasty.
Having said that the Serrana jamon was just simply amazing. Served at room temperature so the fat is just beginning to soften round the ages, the shards of meat are deliciously salty and a long and lingering finish. Totally yum.
We then have to wait a while for our next sampling of food. In fact the whole meal is drawn out and our lunch didn't finish until 3:30pm when we started at 1pm. I know good food takes time to cook but this did make the whole thing a touch tedious and those high stools aren't the comfiest for 2 and a half hours. I think if we'd known how long this lunch would take we'd have opted for somewhere else just because we were in the mood for something a little faster. Don't get me wrong; long lunches have their place but this sunny Sunday we wanted to be back outside.
Whilst I'm griping away I should also mention the restaurant got very hot as lunch progressed so that coupled with uncomfy chairs didn't make it the most comfortable of environments for such a long lunch...maybe it would have been better if we were at a table rather than bar table.
Anyway let's get back to the food. Next came the green gazpacho with olive oil and black salt and it came out at the same time as suffed calamari with sumac. Both Steve and I found the green gazpacho too sharp and yoghurty and didn't really enjoy it too much. The stuffed calamari fared slightly better and was tender enough but wasn't quite stellar.
Charcoal grilled Shark Bay (WA) king prawns with salmorejo & crispy pancetta arrived shortly and we enjoyed the sweet prawns with a tomatoey and creamy sauce and chunks of softly boiled egg. Unusual combination we thought but the egg seemed to ground the dish.
One of the dishes I really wanted to try this visit was the charcoal grilled quail with freekeh and pomegranate. Absoluely divine flavours intermingled with the ocasional sharp hit from the pomegranate.
The slow roasted beef cheeks in Oloroso with fava bean puree was a lighter dish than it looked and the beef cheeks were tender and so soft.
Sadly the carrots we'd wanted to avoid arrived in spite of the fact that the waitress did not mention this dish when giving us a run down of the menu. However the place was now so busy and the food had taken that long that we didn't flag this to anyone and Steve had this dish to himself.
The churros came out hot and fluffy and the chocolate dip had hints os cinammon. I als enjoyed the orange blossom sobet which was light and refreshing. The lemon yoghurt cake was zingy and fresh. The Pedro Ximenez & muscatel ice cream was a little too rum and raisin for my tastes but interestingly enough, Steve and I cleaned this plate up pretty quickly.
Quality of the food here is certainly high bit watch out for the lenth of time it can take to fill the belly.