LaRaMona Tapas Restaurant Review

IMG_20140923_190710LaRaMona Tapas is a relatively new tapas bar on situated on Jl. Dewi Sita in Ubud, Bali. We dropped in here one night for a drink just after it had opened, and promised ourselves that we would come back for a feed as the food looked so good.

We started with the eggplant bruschetta. Egyptian style roasted with matahari peanuts goats cheese feta. The taste was fantastic, though the peanuts a bit too crunchy.

Eggplant Bruschetta
Eggplant Bruschetta

The other dishes we had  were the Mararrech Lamb Tagine, with contreau soaked prunes ras el hunout topped toasted almonds served with grilled homemade bread. Also In House Spiced Beef Patatas Bravas, with warm chimmichurri sauce. We also had a roasted eggplant side (which should have been free, see note below)

These were just a few of the fantastic meal choices, there really is a great range. The serves were bigger than we expected for tapas, but that is reflected in the price. Each dish was the price you would expect to pay for a meal in a similar standard restaurant in Ubud.

IMG_20140923_193735

We were complaining (to each other) about a group near is smoking. I guess you have to put up with that in Bali with more lax rules about smoking in public places. However, we did not expect to see the waitress light up a cigarette not far from us. We had to ask for her to put it out, the smell of smoke was not what we wanted when trying to enjoy their food. It did spoil our night a little.

Another thing, when we checked their facebook page before we went, we noticed that they had daily specials, and that night it was a free side dish with every main. When we arrived we asked about specials but were told there were none. We also questioned them later online and still have not heard a reply.

Spanish Flavours Review [closed]

Spanish Flavours, Mount Hawthorn

[this review is of a restaurant that is now closed. They now operate only as a deli at the Malaga Markets]

We went to Spanish Flavours not long after they first opened this store in Mount Hawthorn, and were blown away by the great thick hot chocolate that came with the churros. We returned for a mother’s day treat on a Saturday lunchtime. I was surprised to see the cafe tables all empty on a popular weekend for dining out, and after the meal I now know why.

I tried the cured spanish chorizo sandwich, which had cured spanish chorizo, roasted peppers, mixed green lettuce on a white roll. Well that is what it should have had. It came out with just some thinly sliced chorizo and a small amount of lettuce. When I questioned this, the waitress said that the menu had been changed and she had not known. The sandwich came back with the roasted peppers and double the amount of lettuce. A bit better, but very ordinary.

My mother in law wanted the Ensalada Campera (Spanish Country Style Salad), which should have had potato, tomato, hard boiled egg, olives, onions, red capsicum with sherry vinaigrette. Sorry, no sherry vinaigrette so what about the same thing with mayonnaise instead. So it came out as a pile of potato salad.

The Calamares Romana – squid tossed in a crisp golden crumb served with aioli sauce – was not quite crispy golden.

empananadillas

Empananadillas Argentinas – a variety of vegetable and beef with olives in a pastry shell. The pasty was soggy after being microwaved.

empananadillas

Sorry we cannot do the cheese plate as we only have on type of cheese.

We found out later why our meals may have been so bad – the owner Rosa thought it was going to be a quiet day so she told the chef to come in later, and  she had prepared all the meals. I am not sure that it would have made much of a difference.

churros

We wanted to finish with what we thought was going to be the highlight, churros and hot chocolate. We ordered one each, which came to nearly $23, for what was a couple of churros each and some weak chocolate drink that tasted like it was made from the powered chocolate.

The owner Rosa is very friendly, but did not leave us alone. I guess as they was no one else in the restaurant she had nothing to do – except make our food! She come a couple of times and asked us what the waitress had already asked, and was doing what her waitress should have been doing.

I hope they rely on their store selling Spanish and Latin American food products for their income, as the cafe is not going to support them. We won’t be going back.

Other Things You Should Know

  • closed Sunday and Monday – now closed always!
  • BYO

Location & Contact

Naked for Satan Review

Naked for Satan, Fitzroy

Naked for Satan is a vodka bar serving pintxos, which are small snacks mostly served on a piece of bread, the Basque equivalent to tapas.  You can pick from a selection of pintxos at the bar or wait for some others that are brought around to the tables.They are only $1 each at lunch times during the week, which is unbeatable value. Two of us pigged out and only was $10 each. I love my bread, and there were enough choices to find something that was appealing. Not all of them were, but that is OK. There are even some sweet ones that you can save for the end. Even if you went at a time when they were $2 each, you would still get great value.

naked for satan

Other Things You Should Know

  • make sure you read up on the legend of Leon Satanovich after which the restaurant got its name.
  • open every day from 12 noon, and closing 12 midnight and at 1am on the weekends.

Location & Contact