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| The pasta that I made today |
One of the reasons why I usually decline restaurant review invites is the amount of food that gets wasted. There’s only so much that one can eat.
Then there are issues of it being an artificially simulated experience, with the kitchen and service staff being more alert than normal. Plus these meals often drag on and on! Moreover I have made an effort to cut down on meals had outside.
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| Scallops in corn purée |
On the plus side, one gets to try a larger number dishes when invited and can get a better sense of the place. What’s paramount is to mention that one was hosted/hired as the case might be when writing about the experience.
I found a way of bypassing the problem of wastage when I was hosted by Lyla at BKC for lunch yesterday. I told the waiter at the start that I’d eat small portions of each dish and pack the rest. That way I could control the amount I ate.
I brought back half a lobster brioche and half the ‘Hollywood salad.’ K had it in between work calls and declared that they were ‘excellent.’
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| Gambas al ajillo |
I used the prawns and chilli garlic seasoned olive oil leftover from yesterday’s gambas al ajillo, along with some red pepper and @barilla wholewheat spaghetti, to make a fabulous prawn aglio olio lunch.
My impression from the dishes that I tried in this ‘Southern California meets Mexican’ restaurant yesterday is that chef Beena and her team know their seafood well. Be it the prawns in the al ajillo that stayed juicy even today, the jiggly scallops topped with chilli garlic oil in a corn purée which were the star of yesterday’s lunch and the generous portions of plump poached lobster, which stood proud like the Queen’s Royal Guard on the lobster roll, the cooking and seasoning of each was spot on.
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| Lobster roll |
And their monstruo churros dessert should be declared illegal. I mean this wryly. The supremely crunchy gigantic churro on a bed of hot chocolate, the sea salt caramel ice cream made in house and thankfully not excessively sweet and toasted hazelnuts, broke my resolve. I thought I’d just take a polite and judicious nibble of it. I ended up having 4/5th of it!
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| Monstruo churros |
That’s another reason I don’t go to reviews. The food is often too darn good to resist.
