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gemfyreI decided yesterday that I'd like to go out to dinner tonight and only managed to let Matt know this this morning as he left for work. When I got home he, of course, hadn't even started to consider where to go. So the voucher book came out and we decided to go to La Vela restaurant on Scarborough Beach road. Barely a 5 minute drive away. It's among a few roadside shops and beside a service station. One of those poky restaurants that most people wouldn't even notice as they roared by. According to the voucher La Vela was a "steak, seafood and pasta" restaurant. Seeing as I'd decided to have a steak wherever we went (having recently gained quite a knowledge of steaks at my current job), it sounded like a good bet.
The place was small, with bad acoustics and too loud background music. Everyone was talking over the music and it was quite noisy. The decor was quite plain also, the tablecloth was covered with a sheet of white paper. I wish I'd had my crayons.
We were immediately given a bottle of water for the table - a rare thing these days. It seems more and more often you ask for a bottle of the water and they slug you $2 for the privelige. We were also given two small rice balls, which were quite tasty. I'm guessing they were a smaller version of the arancini on the menu.
Surprisingly for me, I quickly decided what I would have. Sure, it was one of the most expensive dishes, but it WAS a steak served with prawns. A sirloin (or portehouse to be exact). I requested it cooked medium-rare, figuring if the chef stuffed up at least it would only be medium. Matt ordered a similar meal involving veal stuffed with prawns. We were offered either salad and veggies to go with it and both of us chose veggies. Now, choosing veggies is a hit or miss affair. Salad is generally a garden salad, which may or may not be edible, and a pile of chips, which are always edible but frankly, boring. Veggies, more often than not, are a small pile of steamed cauliflower, carrot and beans sitting on the side of the plate rapidly getting cold. But sometimes they are interesting veggies, cooked well and served interestingly. We also ordered the garlic bread. The bread platter sounded very nice as well, but would have been too much for us.
It took a while for the meal to arrive, but not overly long. Our meals arrived and we still hadn't recieved our garlic bread. But upon reminding the waitress garlic bread arrived within seconds with an apology.
Our meals looked very similar. Meat and veggies smothered in a creamy sauce full of sliced mushrooms, with a few prawns scattered about for good measure. The veggies this time were a hit. The potatoes were roasted and crispy. There was also cauliflower, baby carrots, beans, cabbage and snow peas, which probably had been simply steamed, but as they were around and under the meat they also were covered in sauce and were delicious.
We tried the garlic bread first, because that seems to be the hallmark of a decent restaurant. It was hot, buttered on both sides and very garlicky. All good.
Matt proceeded to pick the mushrooms off his meal and I started to pilfer them, I think overall I liked the sauce on his meal better, although they were very similar. I tried a few veggies and immediately picked up the flavour of a herb I couldn't identify. It bugged me throughout the meal, as the odd mouthful would contain a burst of this flavour. Matt tried a bit of his veal, thin and tender and I cut a piece of my steak, pleased to see it was slightly bloody, thus not overcooked.
The steak was perfectly cooked medium-rare, like I asked. At restaurants that aren't completely snooty, usually you'll get a steak slightly overdone and occasionally underdone. I was prepared for a lot of chewing. But this meat melted in my mouth. Stunning stuff.
We had a look at the dessert menu, which didn't offer anything awfully exciting. Which was fine because we were stuffed full.
Most of these little, unassuming places are surprising. What you don't get in atmosphere and/or decor and/or service is made up for by the quality of the food. And I often find "service" to be annoying anyway. A waitress that will take your order, get you a drink if you want one, and make sure you enjoyed your meal once you're done is enough for me.
A very satisfying night out.
The place was small, with bad acoustics and too loud background music. Everyone was talking over the music and it was quite noisy. The decor was quite plain also, the tablecloth was covered with a sheet of white paper. I wish I'd had my crayons.
We were immediately given a bottle of water for the table - a rare thing these days. It seems more and more often you ask for a bottle of the water and they slug you $2 for the privelige. We were also given two small rice balls, which were quite tasty. I'm guessing they were a smaller version of the arancini on the menu.
Surprisingly for me, I quickly decided what I would have. Sure, it was one of the most expensive dishes, but it WAS a steak served with prawns. A sirloin (or portehouse to be exact). I requested it cooked medium-rare, figuring if the chef stuffed up at least it would only be medium. Matt ordered a similar meal involving veal stuffed with prawns. We were offered either salad and veggies to go with it and both of us chose veggies. Now, choosing veggies is a hit or miss affair. Salad is generally a garden salad, which may or may not be edible, and a pile of chips, which are always edible but frankly, boring. Veggies, more often than not, are a small pile of steamed cauliflower, carrot and beans sitting on the side of the plate rapidly getting cold. But sometimes they are interesting veggies, cooked well and served interestingly. We also ordered the garlic bread. The bread platter sounded very nice as well, but would have been too much for us.
It took a while for the meal to arrive, but not overly long. Our meals arrived and we still hadn't recieved our garlic bread. But upon reminding the waitress garlic bread arrived within seconds with an apology.
Our meals looked very similar. Meat and veggies smothered in a creamy sauce full of sliced mushrooms, with a few prawns scattered about for good measure. The veggies this time were a hit. The potatoes were roasted and crispy. There was also cauliflower, baby carrots, beans, cabbage and snow peas, which probably had been simply steamed, but as they were around and under the meat they also were covered in sauce and were delicious.
We tried the garlic bread first, because that seems to be the hallmark of a decent restaurant. It was hot, buttered on both sides and very garlicky. All good.
Matt proceeded to pick the mushrooms off his meal and I started to pilfer them, I think overall I liked the sauce on his meal better, although they were very similar. I tried a few veggies and immediately picked up the flavour of a herb I couldn't identify. It bugged me throughout the meal, as the odd mouthful would contain a burst of this flavour. Matt tried a bit of his veal, thin and tender and I cut a piece of my steak, pleased to see it was slightly bloody, thus not overcooked.
The steak was perfectly cooked medium-rare, like I asked. At restaurants that aren't completely snooty, usually you'll get a steak slightly overdone and occasionally underdone. I was prepared for a lot of chewing. But this meat melted in my mouth. Stunning stuff.
We had a look at the dessert menu, which didn't offer anything awfully exciting. Which was fine because we were stuffed full.
Most of these little, unassuming places are surprising. What you don't get in atmosphere and/or decor and/or service is made up for by the quality of the food. And I often find "service" to be annoying anyway. A waitress that will take your order, get you a drink if you want one, and make sure you enjoyed your meal once you're done is enough for me.
A very satisfying night out.
