Happy New Year! And welcome to my restaurant review spot. I hope over the coming weeks we will become good friends. Now before we go any further, away with all thoughts of new year resolutions to diet our local restaurants need you! Over the past several years the Costa Blanca has begun to attract those entrepenuaers who have the sole aim of creating great places to eat. This year will be a tough one for all of them as the financial crunch bites, so get out there and dine!
Let me take you to the small but exquisitely formed Benimar, that’s the cuddly bit right next to Benijofar. Here you will find many restaurants gathered about the two commercial centers. One gem shining brightly is Let’s Eat owned and run by husband and wife team Michael and Marie. Let’s Eat first opened it’s doors in November 2006 and has been steadily building it’s reputation and regular customers ever since. I had not been to Let’s Eat since the dining-room was extended last August, they have done a remarkable job. Well done Michael and crew you have created a warm cosy and inviting space to eat with just enough light so as to prevent you from eating your cutlery or napkin. I do hate it when you sit in restaurants where it appears they have not paid Iberdrola for some months. Oh while on the subject of cutlery Michael, whilst yours’ is very artfully designed I don’t think it is the most comfortable to use, small point but worthy of a mention.

 

The welcome from the waiting staff is as warm as the decor, you will certainly feel at home here. For a midweek evening there was a good crowd in at least 28 of the possible 90 covers were taken giving a lively feel to the place. Seated with my gin and tonic, then came the difficult part what to choose from the menu. We spent some minutes perusing the menu and wine list, there is a very good range of dishes to suit most palates including vegetarian and wines from Spain, France, Italy and the Americas. We chose a Chilean Chardonnay “Casillero del Diablo” a beautifully fresh fruity wine. Apparently over 100 years ago Don Melchor de Concha y Toro reserved for himself an exclusive batch of the best wines he produced. To keep strangers away from his private reserve he spread the rumour that the Devil lived in that place. Hence the name “Cellar of the Devil”.

 

To help tackle the credit crunch Let’s Eat are currently offering three courses for the price of two a very welcome acknowledgement that we are all a little poorer than we were last year. Pam, my dining companion and she who must be obeyed, chose king prawns in chili and garlic served on leaves whilst I went with the goats cheese and mushroom crustini. The smell of cooked garlic heralded the arrival of our starters the king prawns were succulent and no sign of that rubberiness that you so often get when prawns have been badly cooked! I bit into my crustini, the piquancy created by the combination of goat’s cheese and mushrooms had worked really well.

 

Pam had chosen the braised lamb with rosemary jus. My main was halibut with a herb crust served with a tomato sauce which lapped at the filet like a thick red sea. This was an excellent dish! The chardonnay was a perfect accompaniment for the halibut, whose delicate flavour was lifted by this fine wine. The selection of vegetables included roasted and new potatoes, carrots, cauliflower and cabbage with bacon. I think creamed potatoes would have worked better with both dishes but no matter, I will always enjoy ‘roasties’.  Pam’s lamb was tender and perfectly cooked the fusion of rosemary and meat juices providing the excellent jus.

 

We both rounded the meal off with the cheese board selection a mixture of local, French and English cheeses. The brie was soft, creamy and wonderfully mellow at it’s most perfect ripeness. The accompanying port was smooth and warming… Perfect.

 

This had been a delightful dining experience one I urge you all to experience, the price while not bargain basement was not expensive or inflated, good food can not be delivered at rock bottom prices! Let’s Eat, an affordable luxury.