Alta

So all 3 of us (sorry Sha!) went to Alta and had "the whole shebang" (everything on the menu, all 42 tapas dishes, for $345) for H's birthday, but none of us have blogged about it. Shame!

It was quite the experience. I was stuffed to exploding, as I'm sure everyone else at the table was too. We had 7 pple, I think 8-10 would have been a better number, to even it out.

The restaurant didn't have the pacing right, and so for the first 15minutes we were inundated with small plates. Plate after plate after plate after plate, more time was spent trying to juggle things around to fit everything on the table rather than eating. I think about 15 of the 42 dishes arrived within those first 15 minutes. They only backed down when J pleaded with the busboy to slow down.

Some highlights (for me) were:
- watermelon salad, a dish that has pleasantly surprised me several times this summer)
- trumpet mushrooms
- bacon wrapped dates and olives. i don't usually like dates and olives, but this is testimony to the fact that bacon makes everything taste better.
- the pasta noodles, those were really good and al dente
- goat cheese with lavender honey, one of my favourites here
- smoked mozzarella in shredded filo
- beef carpaccio, somehow it hit the spot for me that day (sorry, inside joke)

But then the most terrible thing happened, they ran out of the brussel sprouts, which is mine and J's favourite tapas dish there. =( The restaurant made up for it with free dessert, but still! Brussel Sprouts!

No pictures from me unfortunately, I was too busy shuffling plates around and eating, and I was trusting that J and/or B, who are more camera-crazy would get at least some documentation. Maybe one of them will post something, but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.

I would say that now that we have indeed tried everything on the menu, we can move on to other restaurants, but then the whole brussel sprout issue throws a spanner in the works. We might just have to go back for the brussel sprouts. I swear, they are life-changing, you will never look at the little green globules in the same way ever again.