Candle Lit Diner For Two Anyone?

It was Sunday we had just driven four hours from Madrid and we didn’t feel like cooking, so we headed for one of our old favorites... Viloriens. For those of you that don’t know of this restaurant it can be found a mile or so outside of Rojales just off the old Rojales to Guardamar road. There is a map with directions on our website if you need more help with this location.

The new owners have been in charge for a little over a year now and are making their mark. Viloriens was always good but now it’s well on the way to becoming one of the finest restaurants in the area. On Sunday nights they suspend their al a carte menu in favour of a candle lit supper at the set price of €20 per head. The exact menu varies regularly but there is always plenty of choice for each of the three courses.

While studying the menu we chose one of Principato’s wines. Principato which means “Princely Realm”, is from the northeast of Italy, the Tre Venezie region. I find these excellent good value wines to have a consistent quality. This is very true of their Pino Grigio. A dry, crisp wine with wonderful fruity flavours… Perfect!

To start with I eventually settled on the stuffed tomato with spicy minced lamb filling, while Pam chose the spicy chicken wings with sweet chilli sauce. My simple tomato starter could not have been improved. There was melted mild cheddar cheese over the top which complimented the lamb filling beautifully. I sampled Pam’s chicken, she was never going to eat all five pieces, this was equally delicious. A good start!

Pam followed this with fillet of sole on wilted spinach with prawn and butter lemon sauce. I decided to go with the fillet steak medium rare. This was accompanied by sauteed onions and mushrooms, a classic dish! The selection of fresh vegetables included both new and chipped potatoes, mmmm. Pam’s sole was delicately flavoured as you would expect, whilst the prawns were delightfully tender and yet meaty. The combination of the spinach with just a hint of nutmeg, which definitely gets my approval, was magic! So often restaurants serve fillet steak that is not actually the fillet. Not so on this occasion, there was no mistaking this cut of meat. Perfectly cooked, still pink in the middle and wonderfully succulent, my mouth is watering again as I recall this moment. There really is something quite special about the coming together of grilled steak, sauteed onions and mushrooms. Each on their own are good but in this mix they add and develop more taste sensations than they could ever achieve singularly. For me when steak is this good there is no need for mustard or sauces, they serve only to bolster a mediocre steak.

We sat back taking our leisure whilst selecting dessert, there was a good crowd in that night, which always adds to the ambience of any restaurant. It was noticeable that the staff were equally enjoying being there! I’m sure this subconsciously adds to the evening immeasurably, good vibes are what we all want to feel right now. Well actually at any time!  

Mindful of that diet we both should be on Pam decided that fresh strawberries with ice cream would be the sensible choice, I had the “be good to yourself” profiteroles made with fresh cream! You see I’m easily lead. And these were really good profiteroles with to die for chocolate sauce and just a splash of fruit coulis. For me it’s never going to be the same when profiteroles are filled with anything other than fresh cream. Why do they bother? And Pam’s strawberries? Well what can you say, they were perfectly ripe and full of flavour.

This had been a great evening meal rounding off a superb weekend, probably all the more enjoyable for the impromptu decision to eat out. I strongly recommend you go try Viloriens for yourselves. Do let me know what you think.   

Partida Saavedra, 24 Rojales, 03170. Tel. No. 966 712263

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