Las Columnas
We have been eating our way through Torrevieja for three years now and there is still a long list of restaurants we have yet to enjoy. But we do try.
Our only experience before now with Las Columnas has been during the tapas weeks. So we know they have very good wine and the tapas were always some of our favorites but we had not experienced an actual full meal before now.
The location needs no revue, you can see it is situated on the sea front with a great view. There is outside seating as well but for today we chose to be inside, which is unusual as we typically have our furry friend Bisque Kitt with us. If you do choose to be outside they always have a nice deep house mix playing.
We were seated and they immediately brought over a complimentary glass of cava, that is an excellent touch. It takes so little to make a good first impression.
Next up was an amuse bouche and the bread box. I like the bread box, very cute. The amuse bouche was kind of a fruit mousse, perhaps apricot with a salty almond. Again, nice touch and we haven’t even ordered yet.
We chose to do the Menu Del Dia for $15 euros per person which is offered Monday to Friday, they do close on Tuesday FYI. And this is where things really got good. Terri Lynn ordered the Crujiente de queso a las finas hierbas con salsa chilly. Basically fried cheese. We both would agree this was our favorite dish of the day and at a starter price of only $4 euros this woiuld be a reason to come back, and we would just to have this dish with a glass of wine. I ordered the Crema de calabaza con tierra de queso de cabra, crujiete de jamon. It was excellent so we were off to a good start.
We chose a nice bottle of wine, their wine list is good and well priced.
It was time for the mains. As is often the case we sometimes enjoy the starters more. Starters can be a bit more creative and pretty which we like. There were four starter options and four main options. One main was a salmon so of course Terri-Lynn chose that. I went with the BBQ ribs. Both dishes were very good but nothing to really rave about. Terri-Lynns Lomo de Salmon sobre crema de marisco looked amazing upon arrival. So, a note about seafood sauces in Spain. Most we have tried tend to have a very strong flavor which is great if you like that sort of thing, and we do eat fish most days of the week so to say this was a bit fishy is a statement. My experience has been with many dishes and sauces they will cook using head on shrimp. This imparts a very strong flavor into the food, which is not a bad thing but it can be, and in this case it was, a bit overpowering to the entire dish. The salmon was cooked nicely and it could have been better with a different sauce. I had the Costilla de cerdo Duroc a baja tempertura con salsa del chef, basically a slow cooked pork rib. It was excellent, nothing too unusual or stunninng but a very nice BBQ pork rib.
For Postre (dessert) we did the Ladrillo (Brick) and the Tiramisu. The Tiramisu was quite good!
So, we really enjoyed our lunch at Las Columnas. The location is excellent and the food is very good. We have been back too for that Cheese thing, especially at only $4 euros and a glass of house wine is $3.5 which is a bit more than usual but the quality is good and you are paying for the location and the view. Also, the service was excellent and remember the free glass of cava and amuse-bouche upon arrival.
