Yorkshire Pudding

The theme was English. The party was all about the England VS USA FIFA World Cup 2010 game. I’m not a big fan of football/soccer so I’m basically there just for the FOOD! =)
I had to make something English……easy and quick. I have always wanted to make Yorkshire Pudding and this party was the perfect reason for me to churn out some. Yorkshire pudding isn’t really a dessert like the many other puddings. This is usually eaten with roast beef and gravy. I guess, you could say this is like how you would eat dinner rolls or biscuits.
The recipe I found online HERE on www.about.com looked quite scary. It reminded of how my grandma would measure the ingredients to make her cookies/cakes. Don’t get my wrong grandma’s cakes/cookies are delicious…It’s just because I’m so used to using proper measuring cups and scale! I tried the recipe I found online anyway; couldn’t ignore the reviews it’s gotten.
Glad to say the Yorkshire Pudding turned out excellent! Everyone at the party enjoyed it! The English boy at the party thought it was pretty authentic! It looked pretty close to the ones I had at Lawry’s Steakhouse for sure….mini version though!
Here's the Yorkshire Pudding recipe by Elaine Lemm of www.about.com. LOVE IT!

YORKSHIRE PUDDING RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 4 Large Eggs, Measured In a Measuring Cup
• Equal quantity of milk to eggs
• Equal quantity of all purpose/plain flour to eggs
• Pinch of salt (or two for more flavor)
• 2 tbsp lard, beef dripping or butter

Method:

Heat the oven to the highest temperature possible, however, do not exceed 450For the fat may burn.
Pour the eggs and milk into a large mixing bowl and add the pinch of salt. Whisk thoroughly with an electric hand beater or hand whisk. Leave to stand for 10 minutes.
Gradually sieve the same volume of flour (as the eggs) into the milk and egg mixture, again using an electric hand beater or hand-whisk to create a lump free batter resembling thick cream, if there are any lumps pass the batter through a fine sieve. Leave the batter to rest in the kitchen for a minimum of 30 minutes, longer if possible - up to several hours.
Place a pea-sized piece of lard, dripping or ½tsp vegetable oil into your chosen Yorkshire pudding tin, or a 4 x 2"/5cm hole tin or 12-hole muffin tin and heat in the oven until the fat is smoking. Give the batter another good whisk adding 2 tbsps of cold water and fill a third of each section of the tin with batter and return quickly to the oven. Leave to cook until golden brown approx 20 minutes. Repeat the last step again until all the batter is used up.
June’s Comments: I used muffin tin to make mini Yorkshire Pudding and the recipe gave me about 20-24 yummy Yorkshire Pudding. I used butter instead of lard/pan drippings. Butter burn easily, so be careful not to burn it if you’re using butter instead of lard/drippings. I did not leave my butter smoking in the pan; just enough to melt the butter before pouring in the batter.

Simply June 

Baby Shower Cupcakes

A couple weeks ago, I volunteered to make baby shower cupcakes for one of my co-workers. I was excited and nervous at the same time. I had plenty of ideas flowing, but needed one that would not take up too much time after work. Plus, I need to make enough to feed about 50 people.
A few days prior to the baby shower, I started shopping around for supplies and sort of settled with some designs. It was going to be cupcakes for sure. Figured out a game plan of how I was going to execute the project after work. The plan was to stretch the whole project into 2 days (nights to be exact).
The first night, I made the decorative part……..Kneading the fondant and mixing the white fondant, turning it into pastel colors. And then using cooker cutter and also hand shaping them into my different shapes and sizes.
The second night, it was all about the baking. Chocolate and Cherry Vanilla cupcakes to be exact, topped with a vanilla frosting and my decorative fondant!

The day of the baby shower, the husband helped me bring the cupcakes to work. I think the cupcakes were a success. Everyone seem to be in awe and some even had 2-3 helpings of cupcakes. Pat on the back for me! Yay! =)

Simply June 

Happy Father’s Day!

My Father, My Guiding Light

Dad, you’re like the sun to me,
a sure thing, always there,
beaming light and warmth on my life.
Whatever is good in me today,
I owe to your wisdom, your patience,
your strength, your love.
You taught me by example,
as a role model,
how to be my own person,
how to believe in myself,
instructing me without controlling me.
Even when we disagreed,
you held us together,
so our bond was never broken.
I understand what you did for me,
and I am so grateful that I have you
as my solid foundation, my rock.
I respect you, I admire you, I love you,
my guiding light, my father.

By Joanna Fuchs

Happy Father’s Day Dad, Father-in-Law and all the dads out there!

Simply June 

Happy Birthday, Bro! XOXO

Another Year

I’m wishing you another year
Of laughter, joy and fun,
Surprises, love and happiness,
And when your birthday’s done,

I hope you feel deep in your heart,
As your birthdays come and go,
How very much you mean to me,
More than you can know

By Joanna Fusch

Here’s wishing my brother a HAPPY 24th BIRTHDAY!!

See you soon!

Simply June 

EVOO @ Cambridge, MA

The husband and I picked EVOO for my birthday treat. The husband had wanted to bring me to Sorellina, an Italian restaurant which was given thumbs up and a must try by few of our friends. Dining at Sorellina will set the husband back easily $200 for some appetizers, entree, dessert and wine. Since the husband has gotten me a very nice birthday gift, I decided to be considerate and suggested we look for other fine dining place with an affordable prix fixe menu.
EVOO came up in the search and we can’t ignore the great reviews it was given by diners. And with a 3 course prix fixe menu of $38 (add $17 for wine pairing), this had to be the place!  Oh, and they try to use local ingredients in their daily menu. We were ecstatic to try out their eclectic menu.

We’ve looked at the menu online and somewhat made up our mind on what we were going to try. Upon arriving at the restaurant and being seated (a plus for the husband for making reservation!), we noticed we were given a daily menu. Some of the stuff we had seen online wasn’t there and was replaced by equally delicious selection.
Some bread and especially yummilicious grissini, olive oil & balsamic mixture was brought out for us to snack on.

All 5 of us took the prix fixe 3 course meal with wine pairing. It was a no brainer for us! There were about 7-8 kinds each of appetizers, entrees and desserts to choose from their prix fixe menu. Here’s what we ordered:
1) Vermont Goat Cheese Pierogi with Roasted Garlic and Crazy Ben’s Locally Foraged Wine Cap Mushrooms (Bottom Left). Steve ordered this and if not for the goat cheese, I would have ordered this too! It looked so good, I think it tasted as good as it looks.
2) EVOO’s Country Pate with Pickled Fiddleheads, Boozy Fig Jam, Whole Grain Mustard and Grilled Bread (Bottom Right). Rob ordered this dish, and it must have been good coz he cleaned the plate.

3) Red Hot Oven Baked Pete & Jen’s Rabbit Empanadas with Peppered Celery Root Salad and Cilantro – Pumpkin Seed Puree (Bottom Left). Rabbit seem to be the thing for the husband, he will order rabbit if it’s on the menu. “Pete & Jen’s Rabbit” sounded like somebody’s pet, don’t you think? The husband thought the empanadas were just ok. I bet if it was fried, it would have tasted better. Who doesn’t like fried stuff?

4) New Jersey Asparagus soup with Parmigiano Reggiano, Red Chili Flakes and EVOO (Bottom Right). Seyda and I went for the soup. Seyda liked it, I wasn’t quite sure if I did. I love creamy smooth soup and this was something I did not expect. There were chunks of roughly pureed asparagus and it wasn’t creamy like how i like my soups. =)

5) Seared Golden Tilefish Fillet with Organic Potatoes, Fiddlehead Ferns, Wild Ramps, Cilantro, Curried Potato Broth and Minted Carrot Salad (Bottom Left). Seyda ordered this for her entree and I remember her loving her fish dish. It does look very good from the other side of the table. The skin of the fish looked like it was fried to crisp golden perfection.
6) Donnie’s spring Dug Parsnip Biscuit filled with Slices of Brown Sugar Cured-Hickory Smoked Leg of T’s Pig, Quick Pickled Sweet Onions, Equinox Farm’s Spinach and Caramelized Pig Gravy (Bottom Right). When this was first served to Rob, we all teased him that it was one heck of an expensive burger. =) It surely looked like a burger but definitely does not taste like your Mickey D’s or Burger King! It was delicious although we had a hard time trying to guess what was the grainy stuff in the gravy. r

7) Seared New Bedford Day Boat Sea Scallops with Smoky Pig’s Skin Risotto, Equinox Farm’s Spinach, Fennel, Crispy Onions and Sweet Pepper Vinaigrette (Bottom Left). This was mine, all mine and I love it. The sea scallops were huge, fresh and seared to perfection. The risotto; full of smoky pork flavors. Everything paired well together with my wine. =)
8) Turf in Surf; Crisp Fried Spicy Chicken Sausage Stuffed Chesapeake Bay Soft Shell Crab with Adobo, Smooth and Creamy Potato Salad and Spring Vegetable Slaw (Bottom Right). The husband and Steve ordered this and it looked SO CUTE when it came!! Portion was small, but it was good surf and turf!

We did not share/try each other’s entrees or appetizers but we surely pass the plate around when it  came to desserts. I unfortunately forgot to take with me their dessert menu. The name/description is to my best ability.
9) Chocolate Banana Pudding (Bottom Left). This was pretty good, although the chocolate flavors were stronger than the banana.
10) Warm Chocolate Truffle Cake with Toasted Marshmallow (Bottom Right). This was sinfully delicious. Very dense and rich with a slightly goey chocolaty “filling”. I would recommend this if you’re a big chocolate fan.

11) Strawberry Rhubarb Oat Crisp with Sour Cream Ice Cream (Bottom Left). I’m not a big fan of rhubarb so this is something I wouldn’t order. It is good if you like rhubarb. The sour cream surprisingly tasted better than expected. It reminded me of frozen yoghurt.
12) Sticky Toffee Parsnip Cake with Prune Raisin Ice Cream & Spiced Walnuts (Bottom Right). This was the yummiest dessert that night. Well, at least Seyda and I agree that I picked the best one. The prune ice cream was creamy good. The parsnip cake surpassed my expectation of a “vegetable cake” and was so rich and yummy. Spiced walnuts were the best I’ve tasted.

Service that night wasn’t the greatest for a fine dining restaurant. I guess, the casualness in the restaurant down played the service. The 3 hostesses were not very professional and looking at them work standing around looking awkwardly pretty doing almost nothing were to me a waste of resource. The place weren’t that big to need 3 hostesses. Our wait staff were also so-so; nothing to shout about. The one who brought us our wine pairing was so busy she didn’t quite stop and explain the wine nicely to us. She tend to walk away as she tells us the wine we were drinking.
Despite the somewhat poor service, EVOO scored an above average in my books. I give the place 2 thumbs up for its creative and quite delicious menu. The service does have room for some improvement. Portions were just nice if you take a 3 course meal, with no left overs to take home unlike when we dined at L’andana Grill. L’andana has one of the best service, and yes bang for my buck!! I do like that EVOO uses local produce and tells you where they got them from. =)
Head over to EVOO’s for some modern American cuisine! You’ll be surprised with their eclectic MENU.

350 3rd Street
Cambridge, MA 02142
(617) 661-3866

Simply June 

Hong Shao Rou (Red Cooked Pork Belly)

The husband was browsing my Saveur magazine and he came across a section on Chinese food. He told me that he will cook all the dishes from that Chinese stir fry section for me and he did on my birthday!
The Hong Shao Rou (translated to Red Cooked Pork Belly by Saveur) was our favorite.  This was one of the yummiest pork I’ve eaten. I’m so proud of the husband to be able to whip up such delicious and additive dish (Thanks, Saveur for the great recipe). Now the husband has another dish to add to his repertoire. I wonder when will he start baking???
We enjoyed the Hong Shao Rou SO MUCH the husband cooked more 2 days later, doubling the portion..so that we have more to eat and can eat it over 2 days. I made sure the husband wrote down the variation he did and measured everything precisely. Besides doubling the portion, he substituted the fresh chili for dried chili. Click HERE, if you’re interested to see Saveur’s original version. They should have warned us that this dish can be quite additive!!
It was extremely hard rationing the pork belly so that it last us 2 days..we were so tempted to just gobble the meat down in one sitting! It was THAT GOOD! That weekend, with a total of 3 Hong Shao Rou meals…I felt like a pig… my belly felt like big fat slab of pork belly. Serve me right for being such a glutton! Here’s the husband’s tweaked version of Hong Shao Rou! Let me know if you guys enjoyed it as much as we did!!

HONG SHAO ROU RECIPE
Ingredients:

• 2 lb. Boneless Pork Belly Cut Into 3/4” Strips
• 2 Leeks, White & Light Green Parts Only, Roughly Chopped
• 2” Piece Ginger, Peeled & Thinly Sliced
• 12 Dried Chili
• 6 Pcs/Cubes Red Fermented Tofu, Mashed
• 4 Tsp Liquid from Red Fermented Tofu
• 1 Tbsp Canola Oil
• 2 Tsp Sugar
• 2 Tbsp Dark (Sweet) Sao sauce
• 4 Bay Leaves
• 4 Star Anise
• Salt
• 15-17 Cups Water

Method:
Bring 10-12 cups salted water to a boil in a pot. Add pork and cook for 5 minutes. Drain pork and set aside. Wipe out wok (or use a stainless-steel skillet instead). Set over high heat until wok begins to smoke. Add oil around edge of wok, swirling to coat bottom and sides. Stir fry dried chili and ginger for about 30 seconds. Then add leeks and cook, tossing constantly, until fragrant, about another 30 seconds. Add blanched pork and cook, tossing often, for 3 minutes.
Add sugar, soy sauce, tofu and its liquid, and salt and cook, tossing, until ingredients are browned, about 6 minutes. Add 5 Cups of water, bay leaves, and star anise and let it come to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low, cover, and simmer until pork is tender, about 40–50 minutes.
Uncover, increase heat to high, and cook, stirring, until liquid reduces to 4tbsp about 10-15 minutes.
June’s Comments: If you want more liquid/in your pork, you can just cook it in high heat for about 5 minutes instead of 10-15 minutes. Serve this over warm rice or even steamed Man Tou…

Simply June 

Garlic Bistro @ North Chelmsford, MA

The husband and I are believers in giving second chances. Some times it works out ok, sometimes not. Unfortunately Garlic Bistro disappointed us the second time around. =( We first dined at Garlic Bistro about 2 years back and our whole dining experience wasn’t that great. Hence, it took us 2 years (or more) later to gain courage and revisit the restaurant; mainly coz the 3 other Thai places we called were closed.

When we first ate at the restaurant, I remember that it was one hot summer. The restaurant did not turn on its AC, had it’s door wide open. We were sweating while eating our not very great Thai food. Everything was overly sweet and with bead of sweats flowing down the forehead, we weren’t enjoying ourselves.

This time around, the restaurant was empty when we arrived there at dinner time. A waitress and presumably the owner/manager were the only ones in there. We decided to do take out and asked for the menu to browse. The owner kept insisting us to dine in and to take a sit, etc . The owner was a bit over friendly, it got a bit intimidating.  We decided to just stand, look at the menu, order, leave and come back later. We already knew what we wanted to order. We picked up the food in 10 minutes, went back home and was quite disappointed.

Here’s what we ordered:

1) Duck Green Curry – Green Curry in coconut milk with sliced bamboo shoot, eggplant, zucchini, green pepper, string beans @ $13.95 (Bottom Left). The portion was significantly small compared to our favorite Thai place; Rostip. The knife skill seem to be missing, with all the vegetables cut up into large slices. The little and thinly sliced duck meat look liked it was steamed; hence the lack of flavor. The green curry did not have much flavor and at $14 for this entree that does not come with free rice, it was SO NOT WORTH IT! The dinner portion was like Rostip’s lunch portion (maybe even less).

2) Crazy Noodle (Pad Kee Mao) – Rice noodle dish; stir fried with chicken in hot chili sauce with string beans, onions, red pepper and hot basil leaves @ $10.95 (Bottom Right). This one was also a let down with knife skills missing. Everything was large, and it seem to me not much love was put into cooking this noodle dish. The noodle again for about $11 was very little for the amount we paid and compared to other restaurants. Noodle was a little on the hard side. There were more chicken and vegetables than the noodle. Flavors were again missing from this dish.

 

3) Golden Bags – Ground shrimp, water chestnut, mushrooms, Thai spices; wrapped with tofu skin and served with sweet plum sauce @ $6.95 (Bottom). I thought this was the best dish of them all. The “bags” were filled with shrimp (and perhaps meat). The husband however thought this was also a little on the bland side.

Unfortunately, this place does not deserve the phrase third time’s a charm! With small portions, expensive prices, bland dishes……I doubt we’ll be going back to Garlic Bistro. It’s sad, coz this place is so much nearer to our place. The portions were so small that we did not have leftovers unlike when we get takeout at Rostip where dinner entrees are worth 2 meals! And I’m not a fan of Asian restaurants charging extra for plain white rice!

If you want to give Garlic Bistro a try; check out their menu HERE. Maybe it’s just us not liking the food there. They have a big dining area and there’s plenty of parking in the plaza area!

121 Drum Hill Rd
Chelmsford, MA 01824
(978) 454-8337

Testing Out the New Lens..

Took my camera and my new 50mm lens I received from the husband on my birthday. Here are some shots I took over the Memorial Day weekend when we decided to check out Great Brook Farms @ Carlisle, MA.

Clafouti

Clafouti is a baked French dessert with cherries and has a texture like flan. I made it for my French themed dinner and that was decided just hours before my dinner party. I googled for recipes and found a Clafouti recipe by Julia Child, shared by many other bloggers. Can’t go wrong when so many people are sharing the recipe!

Julia Child’s Clafouti recipe also call for Cherries. With Bing Cherries going for $3.99 – 4.99/lb, I wasn’t quite willing to get them to make dessert. Strawberries were in season and were much more affordable. So, I went with that alternative.

The clafouti honestly looked kinda ugly when it came out of the oven. But with the help of powdered sugar, fresh strawberry and mint leaves, I disguised the look and made it look fancy! =) The guests enjoyed this dessert and I was pleasantly surprised it tasted better than it looks. Next time, I will try it with other fruits instead. Maybe those will turn out better looking!

Here’s Julia Child’s (Cherry) Clafouti recipe.I would suggest not using strawberry as an alternative!

CLAFOUTI RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 1-1/4 Cups Milk
• 2/3 Cup Sugar, Divided
• 3 Large Eggs
• 1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/8 Tsp Salt
• 1/2 Cup All-Purpose Flour
• 3 Cups Cherry, Pitted
• Powdered Sugar For Garnish

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Using a blender, combine the milk, 1/3 cup sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt and flour, and blend.

Lightly butter an 8-cup baking dish, and pour a 1/4-inch layer of the blended mixture over the bottom. Set remaining batter aside. Place dish into the oven for about 7-10 minutes, until a film of batter sets in the pan but the mixture is not baked through. Remove from oven (but don’t turn the oven off, yet). Distribute the pitted cherries over the set batter in the pan, then sprinkle with the remaining sugar. Pour the remaining batter over the cherries and sugar.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 to 60 minutes, until the clafouti is puffed and brown and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm.

June’s Comments: If you do want to incorporate strawberries in your clafouti, I would suggest using about 2-1/2 cups of halved (or quartered) strawberries. I made my clafouti in individual 7oz ramekins. I ended up with 6 individual servings! =)

Shrimp Mayo (II)

Husband and I love Mayo Shrimp and I’ve made it once before. We recently ordered take out from a restaurant near our place and just couldn’t resist what we saw on the menu; Jumbo Shrimp Mayo. Just had to order it!

The Shrimp Mayo was slightly different from what’ve we’ve had before but it was still good. I recognized immediately that they used coconut milk in the sauce. Mmmm….

So, a few weeks later I attempted to recreate what we had  I tweaked the recipe I used before and was pleased with the result. It tasted like our take out dinner the other day!

MAYO SHRIMP RECIPE

Method:

Part A (Fried Shrimp):

• 1/2 Lb Shrimp, Peeled & Deveined
• 1 Large Egg White
• 1/4 Cup Corn Flour
• 1/4 Tsp Baking Soda
• 1/8 Tsp Salt
• 1/3 Cup + 1 Tsp Oil

Part B (Sauce):

• 2 Tbsp Mayonnaise
• 2 Tbsp Condensed Milk
• 1-1/2 Tbsp Coconut Milk
• 2 Tsp Lemon Juice

Method:

Mix egg white, corn flour, baking soda, salt and 1 tsp oil in a bowl until you get a smooth paste. Pat dry the shrimp and mix them into the paste/batter. Make sure shrimp is well coated with the batter.

Heat 1/3 cup oil in a small pan over medium heat and slowly drop the nicely coated shrimp one at a time into the hot oil. You do want to make sure the oil is at least 1/2” deep. Add more oil if your pan is bigger. Do not overcrowd the pan with the shrimp. Fry the first side of the shrimp until it’s golden brown before flipping them over to fry the second side. This shouldn’t take too long as the shrimp cooks very quickly.

While the shrimp is cooking, prepare the sauce part by mixing Part B in a bowl until well combined. Set it aside. Remove fried shrimp, drain oil and place them in a bowl. Pour sauce over the shrimp and coat well before transferring onto a serving platter. Serve immediately with some white rice. You could also place the sauce on the side instead of coating the shrimp in them!

Bar Lola @ Boston, MA

Tapas, Sangria and Live Flamenco! This is as Spanish as you can get outside of Spain! We love Tapas and fell in love with Flamenco especially after our trip to Barcelona last year. Seyda told us about Bar Lola and live Flamenco there. We decided to check it out and really enjoyed the whole experience. Sorry, my pictures weren’t the greatest. Poor lighting + Shaky hands = BAAAD picture!

The house Sangria was pretty yummy. We has front row seats and had direct view of the Flamenco performance. Although the performance was good, it would have been better if they were actually on the stage. Their outfits fell a little short compared to the traditional Flamenco dancers; no long  flowy dresses.

Here’s what we ordered for Tapas. We picked 2 Tapas each and pass it around the table.

1) Calamares Fritos Tenerife - Fried calamari with mojo ali-oli & Lola’s tomato sauce (Bottom Left). I don’t think this came with the tomato sauce, but the mojo ali-oli was awesome. The calamari lightly coated in batter and fried to golden brown deserves 2 thumbs up!

2) Bunuelos - Seasoned vegetable & cheese puffs (Bottom Right). This was light and very flavorful. I forgot was the the dip/sauce that came with it though. I think bell peppers were one of the key ingredients in this puff.

3) Vegetarian Crepe (Bottom Left). I can’t seem to find this on their online menu now. I forgot what was in the filling  (beans perhaps?) except that it was a vegetarian crepe. The crepe itself was however nice was thin.

4) Langostinos Rebozados - Prawn fritters with a savory mango & scallion sauce (Bottom Right). The batter was rather thick (but fluffy) on this, but it was nicely seasoned and deep fried till crisp. Fried seafood are generally good in my books. =) I can’t help dipping my fritter in more yummy mango sauce!

5) Crostones de Cangrejo con Salsa de Piquillos y Gambas - Maine crab meat, sofrito and cheese crustini’s with a piquillo-shrimp sauce (Bottom Left). Crabcake and sauce was good. Lump crab is definitely not used in this cake.

6) Spinach Dip with Pita Bread (Bottom Right). Again, I can no longer find this on their online menu. I don’t care much for this dish. For some reason, I did not like this dip; maybe it’s the cheese that they used.

7) Pato con Naranjas Valenianas - Roasted duckling with Valencia orange sauce (Bottom Left). Duck is one dish that the husband will order at most Tapas (and any other restaurants). This was good. The orange sauce was light and refreshing. The duck was moist and delicious.

8) Pinchos de Pollo a la Mostaza - Chicken skewers with mushroom-mustard sauce (Bottom Right). While the husband usually order a duck dish, Rob will usually order chicken. The grilled chicken skewers were not bad, although I’m not a big fan of chicken breast. The white mustard mushroom sauce were creamy good; I can’t get enough!!

9) Flan Al Caramelo - Caramel Custard and Sugar Biscuit (Bottom Left). I like that they put in a little more effort to make the dessert look pretty. Seyda ordered this and the flan was light, smooth and delicious. The turn off was the hard sugar biscuit on the base. It was quite inedible.

10) Budin de Pan - Bread Pudding with Mango Sauce (Bottom Right). A nice slice of bread pudding drizzled with mango sauce, sprinkled with berries and topped with whipped cream. My kind of dessert and I love it!

 

11) Tarta de Queso - Fresh White Cheese Tart with Berries (Bottom Left). The husband ordered this and we all agreed that it was the BEST dessert that night. I’m not a big fan of plain cheesecake, but I actually enjoyed sampling this. This cheesecake was nothing like the dense and uber rich New York cheesecake. It was light, almost fluffy, and was perfect with the berry sauce. I’ve never had a cheesecake like this and would definitely eat this again!

12) Tara de Chocololate - Chocoloate Tart with Passion Fruit Cream (Bottom Right). It sounded good but this was quite a let down. I think this was maybe store bought. The chocolate tart was quite frozen, it was kinda hard to dig in.

 

I forgot the prices of the Sangria ($24 per 1 L pitcher?) and the Tapas. They were slightly higher ($1-2 more) than the other Spanish restaurants we’ve been to. On average I think it was about $8-9 per Tapas. However, if you factor in the free live Flamenco….the whole experience is pretty worth while. We spent about $77 per couple. Not bad for a night of entertainment, drinks, food and company!

Service was overall ok. Nothing too spectacular, although with our “front row” seats, it was quite hard to hear what the wait staff was saying!

If you’re perhaps interested in learning the Flamenco, check out Flamenco Boston. She’s one of the Flamenco dancers at Bar Lola that night. She/They seem to be performing quite regularly at Bar Lola, so check out their next scheduled performance.

Don’t forget to check out Bar Lola’s delicious menu. Bar Lola is just located a street from Newbury Street. So, get your shopping done and head over for some dine and wine!. Plenty of metered street parking on Newbury Street, but it’s also usually quite hard to get coz of the many shops and restaurants there!

160 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02116-2707
(617) 266-1122