For my birthday dinner, we enjoyed one of the best meals we've ever had in Newcastle. The food was truly exceptional, and we'd wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone. The restaurant is small and beautiful - definitely make a reservation - and the atmosphere is romantic.
The menu apparently changes often, and bear in mind that if you love any particular thing you eat, it may well be available to buy and take home with you! Apparently they sell their divine black pudding, various meats and cheeses, and their house olive oil (which we took home with us for a great price).
I don't know if some of the things we ate are gone from the menu now, but we had their "rice of the week" (black rice with seafood), tuna tartare with avocado, black pudding with some kind of apple sauce, a meat and cheese plate, and.... I know we had more, but the menu isn't online anymore so I can't recall! I think we had some kind of squid in a parsley pesto sauce too that was light and fresh. I will say everything was absolutely exceptional - the black pudding was the best I've ever had, and the tuna/avocado dish was impossibly fresh. The plates are beautifully presented and the flavors are outstanding. Clearly, they know what they are doing in the kitchen.
We thought the food was 5-star quality, no doubt, but the service could have really used some improvement. My husband would ask for another beer and then it would seem to be forgotten, as would my water. We asked several times for the bread we ordered, not wanting to eat the charcuterie without it, but it seemed to take ages. The servers were certainly friendly (and served me a glass of cava without judging my pregnant self), but we often found ourselves waiting a long time for whatever it was we had asked for. It did interfere significantly with our enjoyment of the evening, which was too bad since the food was exceptional and the prices were actually quite good for a meal of this quality.
Still, it wasn't enough to deter us from recommending it to everyone. We will certainly be back, and hope our next visit is even better. read more