Tuesday, September 8, 2009

The New Boqueria

The Boqueria had been closed for quite some time due to renovations. I loved the old style of the Boqueria, dark, comfy and stylish without being to upmarket. How does it look now??? Someone used the colour blue...an ugly shade of blue by all means. If they had chosen a darker shade it might have worked. The tables in the front are round - very handy if 2 people sit together as we were quite uncomfortable eating our food. I didn't go to the back of the room.

The wine list has been cut back to almost nothing. 2 house wines (Cote du Rhone Blanc & Bordeaux Rouge), 5 reds, 7 whites, 1 rose and 1 cava.....Linda had a bottle of Vina Hermosa Rioja which was lovely and I had a glass of Les Pas de la Beaume (I had to drive).

The French waiter -all smiley - told us that the menu will be changed soon and therefore half the items were not available (Fried Whitebait being one of the items not available - a pity really). So we ordered the Irish Farmhouse Cheese. A really big plate with 4 smallish cheeses, a few crackers and 4 slices of toasted rye bread. No chutney and nothing...for €12 not impressive (El Vino at the Elysian has a lot more to offer for only €15). The potato croquettes with Aioli was nice but not enough of Aioli for the amount of potatoes. Linda ordered Liver pate which was lovely.

The old staff seems to be gone as the 2 waiters were new. The service was dead slow - considering that there were only a few people present. Did I like the new Boqueria??? No, I didn't. But it was a Monday night and it was quite. So I might pay them another visit on a Saturday night

7 comments:

Kevin said...

Hi Elke,

Wow €12 for a small cheeseplate, seems a bit steep. Shame about the winelist being cut back, an extensive winelist is what usually attracts me to Tapas/Wine Bar.
Possibly they might need more time to settle in, but it dosn't sound great.
I don't like the new paint job either.

Anonymous said...

This another example of how bad we are in this country with regards to the small things when eating out-this and crap coffee but dont get me started on that one. No chutney, scabby bits of cheese-I am not suprised, so few places do a decent cheeseboard here. Another bad experience I recently had was being charged 1.45 for A slice of bread in Nash. Nice staff there, nice food but that amount for one slice of bread-it has put me off. In places like Italy, France and Spain items like bread, cheese and salamis are so cheap you want to stay longer in bars and cafes and spend your money. Will we ever learn.

Elke said...

Hi Kevin, yeah, I found it steep as well. At least they have done a bit with the menu but the interesting stuff wasn't even available. A pity. Hope the wine list improves soon.

Anonymous, you are dead right here. We do have a lot to learn but for some reason, people don't complain here. And so there is no reason for bars/restaurants to change - big mistake

Anonymous said...

I went there in late October and they were serving the new menu - it was DELICIOUS! We had recently spent time in Barcelona and were really, really impressed with menu. It was pricey but that's Ireland for ya!

Anonymous said...

I had a Vina Hermosa Crianza too last week and it was great too. Great winery i think, do you??

Elke said...

Hey there, yes, I agree its a great (even quite small) vineyard. The 2004 wine won a silver medal as well....

Elke

Abel said...

Hi everybody!. I´m Mexican and i tried Vina Hermosa Reserva 04 last weekend. Wonderful!! I´ll repeat soon.