Our friends who live in the area picked Buenaventura for our NYE meal. I was quite glad they did…read moreas it kept popping up on all my foodie guides as a must check out, and the pictures looked fabulous. Let's be honest from the get go, this was a NYE pre-set menu, which means there's going to be some hiccups, some things may not be as good as they would be on a regular night etc, but overall I was extremely impressed!
The outdoor courtyard seating looked fabulous, but I guess due to the slightly chilly winter season they were not utilizing it. Instead we were shown to our corner table to accommodate our group of 10.
Service started immediately and there were some issues here, mostly with many of the wine options not being available (a bit annoying when they are using an easy to change iPad for their wine list) so most of use felt pretty pressured into getting the wine pairing option with dinner, which sadly wasn't a great pairing in my opinion, but alas we found some decent bottles to wash down the pairings with.
Dinner started with some light bites and champagne. And oyster "shooter" over frozen tomato puree, a consume, some caviar, some ceviche etc. Most of which was quite good and served beautifully.
The first real course was a prawn tartare which was really outstanding, and luckily for me some of the group refused to eat, which meant I got extra! That course was followed by a Foie Gras soup which I found a hair too earthy, but overall was still outstanding and well executed.
Our first larger main was a piece of cooked Red Tuna, which was absolutely amazing, and that's coming from a girl who hates cooked tuna. Paired with some sort of nut butter/cream, I'm starting to think is the key to cooked tuna. The mains were rounded out by a piece of steak which appeared slightly overcooked, but was still tender and tasty.
Dinner was finalized by two dessert courses, none of which overwhelmed me, but honestly I was a bit full at this point.
We did plan to head to the main square after dinner, but found the square right outside the restaurant to be jammed with people in quite the party mood so we stayed there instead, which was helpful as we could then use the bathroom at this restaurant.
I will note, the other issue I had was the tiny bathroom whose door didn't lock, which made for an eventful evening with a packed restaurant.