Good grief, this restaurant was terrific.
As folks who live in landlocked Ohio in the United States, we aim for good fresh, seafood just about anytime and anywhere we can get it. Spanish seafood? Even better. And this, for us, was a seafood feast.
Three seafood starters were superb:
--Cumbrae oysters had wonderful brininess, and were a few pounds less expensive for a half dozen (£15) than some of the upscale competition nearby. They came with a "reseda" shallot and vinegar sauce, which I'm sure was fine, but we just added the lemon: perfect.
--Mussels in a tomato sauce with chorizo and white wine, served with an excellent crusty bread, were about as big as I'd ever seen. Oftentimes, "big" doesn't equal "good" when it comes to shellfish, but these were succulent and bold.
--Smoked salmon with a prawn mousse, dill, avocado puree, and just a sprinkling of salmon caviar. I ate quite a bit of smoked salmon while in Scotland, all of which was good or better, but this was easily the best presentation of the bunch, and the salmon was of melt-in-your-mouth quality.
For mains, the wife had the sea bass (served with potatoes and a sort of romesco), which was perfectly cooked and which she loved. I had a zarzuela special, which at £18 was just a ridiculously good deal: a half portion of the sea bass my wife had, more fish (haddock?), more mussels, a langoustine, a couple of scallops, potatoes, delicious tomato sauce. I'm a sucker for cioppino and cioppinio-style dishes in the States, and I was a sucker for this dish right here. It wasn't sophisticated by a damn sight, but I could have eaten it till the cows came home.
This wasn't any kind of carefully balanced, innovative dining experience by any means, but just a flat-out superb seafood fest, with a variety of fresh seafood handled and executed professionally and knowledgeably. Very reasonably priced for what it was--right around £100 for the two of us, with a couple of drinks each included.
The first-floor dining area at Cadiz is comfortable, colorful, and kind of generically upscale and modern. It's very nice, with giant windows affording views of picturesque George Street.
The service was a bit Old World and formal, and possibly even a bit stiff considering the youth of most of the servers. But they were very efficient and steady all evening.
One of the easier five-star scores I'll ever post on this site, and I don't write all that many of them. read more