Timonel Belchica
There are a lot of restaurants in Torrevieja. So many in fact that it would be easy to never have to go to the same place twice. But we are finding our favorites and for a special night out we currently have four, this is one of them.
We went there for Terri-Lynn’s Birthday and when I made the reservation I told them about the special occasion. When we arrived they had a special table by the window waiting for us.
We chose the “Fine Gastronomic Menu” an all inclusive evening priced at $49.60 Euros per person. This will be at the top of my list for all time great dining experiences, and you know I come from Portland (think Castagna, Nodoguro, Roe…. etc. I’ve had some good meals)
As soon as we sat down one of the owners brought us over 2 Gin & Tonics. Nice touch. Terri-Lynn’s first course was “Short baked scallops, Parmesan cheese, Caviar of salmon” The seared scallops were cooked perfectly and the entire dish very well balanced.
Wine is included with the meal. The first course arrived with a half bottle of white, sorry I didn’t take pictures so I do not recall exactly what it was but the explanation was lengthily and the wine delicious. We finished that bottle before finishing our dish so she brought us another half bottle of a different white wine.
My first course was the “1/2 Lobster Belle Vue” I never order Lobster as it is a bit pricey and I consider it to be kind of boring. But since this was an option I decided to give it a try. I am glad I did. It was essentially a salad and super fun to have a half lobster all to myself.
The next course was a lobster soup, sorry I guess I did not take a picture of that but I’m sure you can picture it, its soup. And yes, delicious. And the third half bottle of wine came out, this one a red… things are getting good!
Since it was Terri-Lynn’s Birthday dinner I let her order something for two people that I would normally never order. Hmmm… seems to be a theme here. Chateaubriand with Bearnaise sauce. I usually go for something like duck or lamb and I think the last time I had Chateaubriand was 30 years ago. Turns out I am really glad we had this experience, it was a romantic sharing experience and cooked absolutely perfectly, as you can see in the photo.
This dish came out with the fourth half bottle of wine, this one was the best. A big full bodied red that I am not always able to find here. Many of the Spanish wines are quite light, lovely but you know I like my wines BIG. It was so good we asked for another half bottle and they were more than happy to oblige.
By the way the restaurant is owned by a husband and wife team and the two of them do it all. Saskia is the server and host and Benny her husband is the chef.
And then it was time for dessert, complete with a “Birthday candle”. Since I am not a sweet eater the other option is a Spanish coffee, yes please.
The restaurant is located just two blocks from Playa Del Cura. After dinner we took a lovely stroll down the promenade reminiscing of this truly amazing dining experience. It was about a three hour dinner and we loved every minute of it. Welcome cocktail, 4 courses and 2 1/2 bottles of wine with the after dinner drink! Excellent quality and value. And so, we have decided to celebrate our 32 year anniversary there next week.
