• Barley Background
  • Farewell UK
  • Melbourne Magic
  • Restaurant Reviews
  • Guestbook

Anada

22/1/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
Celebrating the day after the birthday with a lunch and we chose to venture out to Fitzroy on this sunny Sunday and try out Anada.

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.

First to arrive were the oysters and Serrano Reserva Jamon 14 months La Barrica from Toledo, Spain. The oysters were creamy and plump and were pleasant enough. Having been privileged enough to sample Lease 65 shucked straight from the bay so nothing really lives up to those standards!

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.

Another long wait ensued before two little rabbit empanadillas arrived. Reminiscent of a pasty or a curry puff these were delicious. Crunch on the outside with a tender paprika sweetened rabbit filling with a slight chilli heat running through. Faith restored following the not so great gazpacho and not that exciting calamari.

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 Otway Rangers (Vic) pork belly with fennel seed & smoky aubergine was a great piece of meat. The fat had rendered right down to add juiciness to the meat with no great big globules of fat. The crackling skin deserves a welcome having the best snap to crackling we've ever had. The smoky aubergine had a sharp tone to it which wasn't our favourite but the pork made up for this.

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.
_For dessert we had a sharing plate consisting churros with chocolate, pomegranate & orange blossom sorbet with sugared pistachios, Pedro Ximenez & muscatel ice cream, lemon & yoghurt cake with pistachio crumb.

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.

AƱada on Urbanspoon
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Fine Print

    For those that know us, this section will probably come with no surprise! Steve and I love eating out so this is our record of our time in Australia.

    This is a blog that is 100% written and edited by Steve and I. All opinions expressed are our own and are not influenced by any third party.

    Any sponsored posts are easily identified as such.

    Thanks for reading barleyblog.

    Follow @mindabarley
    View my food journey on Zomato!

    Archives

    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010

    Categories

    All
    Albert Park
    American
    Argentinian
    Armadale
    Armenian
    Beaconsfield
    Beechworth
    Birragurra
    Box Hill
    Breakfast
    Bright
    Brighton
    British
    Brunswick
    Buffet
    Burgers And Pub Grub
    Burmese
    Busselton
    Camberwell
    Canberra
    Carlton
    Cbd
    Chinese
    Collingwood
    Daylesford
    Dessert
    Docklands
    Doncaster
    Elsternwick
    Eltham
    Elwood
    Ethiopian
    European
    Filipino
    Fitzroy
    Flemington
    Flinders
    Footscray
    Fremantle
    French
    Fusion
    Geelong
    German
    Glen Waverley
    Greek
    Hawthorn
    Hobart
    Indian
    Indonesian
    Italian
    Japanese
    Kew
    Korean
    Kyneton
    Launceston
    Malaysian
    Margaret River
    Mexican
    Middle Eastern
    Mildura
    Modern Australian
    Mornington Peninsula
    Northcote
    North Melbourne
    Port Fairy
    Port Melbourne
    Prahran
    Richmond
    Ripponlea
    Rutherglen
    Southbank
    South Melbourne
    South Yarra
    Spanish
    Steakhouse
    St Kilda
    Sydney
    Thai
    Thornbury
    Toorak
    Torquay
    Vietnamese
    Werribee
    Williamstown
    Windsor
    Yarra Valley
    Yum Cha

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.