raquel's spanish kitchen, darlinghurst

To celebrate my friend's 18th birthday we decided on Spanish tapas. At first planning the dinner was fine but later communication with the restaurant got harder and harder. Also the reviews online were 50% bad and 50% good. Didn't know what to expect.

raquel's spanish kitchen:

Cute interior with a very 'Spanish' feel to it. Also you should wear shoes with some grip. Not sure if the floor was just mopped or just super smooth. Oh and if you are going to the toilets, bring a friend. It's like a dark dungeon in there.

chef's choice canape:

Not sure if this really was the canape appetiser or just a fancy Spanish term for original Kettle chips and olives.

garlic bread:

Lightly toasted bread with garlic butter and cheese.

jamon and cheese croquettes:

Creamy béchamel Jamon and cheese croquettes. I quite liked this. The crumbed exterior made it very crunchy and crisp and it wasn't a thick layer either. The insides oozed out upon forking it.

Buttered oven roasted baguette with creamy crab dip and avocado. Tasted like a filet-o-fish burger from McDonalds except the bread was super super crunchy. They replaced the prawn dish with 'crab' because all their supplies had been used yesterday (Mardi Gras was on). We were excited about crab but turned out to be imitation crab meat  sticks.

patatas bravas:

Fried potato with spicy brava sauce, topped with aioli. The sauce reminded me of a spicy leggo's tomato paste.

carne guisada a la riojana:

Braised beef in a rich rioja wine gravy served with creamy mash (Today they just served it with some fries). This tasted a lot like Campbell's Chunky Beef Soup minus the peas and more concentrated flavour.

pollo al ajillo:

Garlic chicken. Tender and succulent chicken always saves the day.

pulpitos a la gallega - small ($8.00):

Baby octopus barbecued with smoked spanish paprika, spanish onion and pimiento infused oil. This wasn't part of the banquet menu but got to sample this. The octopus had a really strange sour after taste.

oven roasted half baguette with dip:

I think they served this as extra to us because we didn't get to eat the calamari rings which were on the original banquet menu.

churros con chocolate:

Lady finger Spanish style donuts served with hot dipping chocolate. Most anticipated dish of the night because everything else was a disappointment. But this turned out to be super oily and was not even properly coated with sugar. Just tasted like crunchy and oily dough sticks. I prefer the $1 churros from Costco over this.

All in all, I didn't think it was worth the $30 dollars because service/communication wasn't that great, food wasn't that great. The older lady serving us didn't treat us very well until we handed over the money. But at least we were able to make good memories which was really what counted the most.

raquel's spanish kitchen
98 oxford street
darlinghurst NSW 2010
t: (02) 9331 6806
w: http://www.raquelsspanishkitchen.com.au/