La Cabane Restaurant, Quarteira, Portugal
As I mentioned in my last post, it was Frank's 60th birthday on Valentine's Day and he very kindly invited us, Anja and Micha, and his lovely partner, Conny, for dinner at the La Cabane Restaurant. I think it's super to have your birthday on such a special day – everyone is in love and happy and the restaurants put on special menus just for you...
We spent the afternoon celebrating together, eating lovely nibbles (see last post http://www.acookonthefunnyside.com/content/franks-birthday ) made by Frank, a deelicious birthday cake made by Anja (recipe to follow shortly), and raising a glass or 10 to the birthday boy. This is one of the reasons the restaurant was chosen as they have a taxi service to and from the restaurant, so enabling lots of celebrations.
We were duly picked up at the agreed spot – the unknown beach we were all parked at was unknown (duh) and we all wanted to walk anyway. The fact that we had to risk life and limb (or perhaps more accurately, wet shoes) to get across a raging river (okay, a tidal inlet) was all just part of the fun. The driver was deelightful and we enjoyed the trip.
The restaurant is very nice inside and it was also tastefully decorated with cute hearts on the table for Valentine's Day / Frank's birthday, depending on your perspective! We all chose the €20 Valentine's Menu which came with a standard house wine. There were sweet little heart toasts and a glass of bubbly as an aperitif. There was a choice of Melon and Port wine or Spicy Prawns as a starter. The prawns were slightly overcooked and the melon dish very standard. Both were okay, but the slightly spicy sauce the prawns were in was excellent.
The choices for the main course were either Chicken, lime and balsamic rice (a sweet translation error that should have read Basmati rice!) or Salmon steak with honey cherry tomatoes. The Cherry tomatoes had been braised with thyme and were deelicious, but the rest was mediocre at best. The salmon was overcooked and dry. Salmon is one fish that can stand overcooking, but I think a restaurant should be able to get it right. The chicken was bland with the lime and ginger being well hidden.
For dessert, the choices were Chocolate cake or Ice cream “rum and coconut milk”. Both were very good and deserve no complaints. The service was also excellent and the owner and staff were all friendly and professional. Anja went into the kitchen and it was spotless – always a good sign!
Unfortunately, I can't say that I would recommend this restaurant. Maybe we were just unfortunate and normally the food is better, but I can't judge this. Should you have visited this restaurant and had a super meal, please post a comment so that others know whether to give it a chance or not.
We had a super evening and can only say “THANKS Frank for sharing your birthday with us”.