Añada

From the disappointment of today's earlier encounter at the Newmarket Hotel comes the absolute awesomeness that is Añada.  Cheap Spanish food is an oxymoron anywhere outside of Spain but Añada's menu, specifically the tasting menu is a damn pretty good deal.

Spu, Tina, Glenda and I were adamant that we were living life to the full and decided that we wanted the $70 tasting menu.  This came with not seven, not eight, not even ten tapas/raciones but the more hearty number of 12 tapas/raciones.  Yes.  Twelve.  Ok so they were to present the 12 plates as a course of five but still... 12 plates people!

My new motto - A meal without wine is like a day without sunshine.  We enjoyed a bottle of tempranillo.  

(L-R) Coffin Bay oysters with lemon.  Celeriac soup with black salt.  Joselito Jamon Iberico.  All yum and nice way to start the dinner, although they could have been a bit more generous with the jamon. 

(L-R) Rabbit empanadilla.  Charcoal grilled quail with pomegranate and freekeh.  Stuffed squid with sumac. Nice, nice, keep it coming!  The quail reminded me of that served at Barrafina.

Up to this point, we were all still a bit hungry.  However, we were about to reach the turning point. 

(L-R) Otway Ranges pork belly with fennel seed & smoky aubergine.  Gem lettuce & chervil cress with crispy garlic, barberries & 12 year old Andalusian white balsamic.  Grilled prawns with soft egg.

Mmmmmm the pork belly was simply superb and the crackling just.. crackly.  Not fatty either!  The prawns and egg went surprisingly well together.  By now, we were pretty stuffed but there was more to come.  

(L-R) Savoy cabbage and caper berry salad with walnuts and sumac.  Slow roasted beef cheeks in Oloroso with fava bean puree.  Mmmm yum but we couldn't appreciate it as much as we should have on our full stomachs.  

We were pretty glad to realise that the dessert tasting plate would be our final dish.  

(L-R) The "Dessert Tasting Plate".  This was not a tasting plate.  These were full sized!  Churros with chocolate.  Moscatel and pomegranate sorbet.  Crema Catalana.  Lemon & yoghurt sponge cake with pistachio crumb.

We really couldn't give the desserts the enjoyment they deserved but we did a pretty good job at polishing them off, leaving only the sponge unfinished.  Great value though as these desserts are usually $12 each. 

When comparing similarly-sized menus, Añada's 12 dishes for $70 comes out on top of my earlier visit to Wabi Sabi which offered eight dishes for $80 (and no bowel runs either!)  The food was all tasty without any low points.  Our waiter was awesome too and seemed to genuinely revel in our enjoyment of the meal.  The restaurant itself is fairly small but it wasn't difficult for us to get a reservation within a week's notice.  So, get to this place peeps and book a table.  My suggestion?  Starve yourself before committing to the 12 course tasting menu.