Capricho

Good but not great, there was a few mistakes in this modern contemporary Portuguese restaurant just opened in, to be frank the quite undesirable Barkingside. I think there was some good flavours but questionable service paired with some inadequate dishes left me wanting a little more. The cream of carrot soup with crispy fried bread was incredibly hot. So much so that it was pretty tasteless until it cooled slightly when the flavours picked up with the salty 'crouton' like bread lifting a slightly bland soup. The small sharing plates was probably the best course, with king prawns flamed in whisky or grilled with black pepper. Both really well balanced well seasoned dishes. Interesting use of fruits and chicken, grilled with pineapple and and passion fruit sauce. I didn't expect to be a massive fan but it just worked. Mixed main courses, unfortunately an average salmon dish, very slightly over cooked monkfish on a skewer however the flavours was good and came out looking pretty hanging on the skewer, the dry pieces of fish was hard to recover from. Well cooked octopus which is a personal favourite of mine was good but not great well seasoned vegetables and potatoes, but the octopus failed to wow me. Unfortunately similar inconsistencies with desert. 'Doce caprichado' (a slight variation of a tiramisu) was my favourite dish. However the 'puddin caseiro' (another variation of cream caramel) was the worst dish of the night, the custard was over done and curdled and was actually sweet scrambled egg and very unpleasant indeed. 

Unfortunately the Achilles heel of this restaurant I'm sure we'll be the vast menu, I struggle to see how a small restaurant can cope with so many dishes and I just worry the level of fresh produce might drop after a few slow services. I don't wanna be super critical of this because I've been lucky enough to go to some of the best restaurant in the uk and abroad, and i do appreciate that this was only the second service of a brand new restaurant. I really hope this small family business can fix there teething problems and establish themselves, as this has potential to be a good local restaurant. I'll be sure to give it a second chance. Watch this space

With love

The food scene



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