A shortcut to Spain
A Tudor house in the Botanic Gardens is an unlikely gateway to a Spanish fishing port.
The menu displayed outside Curator’s House, the Spanish restaurant lucky enough to occupy the 1920s Tudor revival house in the Botanic Gardens, was unreadable in its frozen glass box on a frosty night. But inside flames in the gas fireplace and candles on the tables made for a warm welcome. Flamenco guitar played in the background and our two-top set next to a lead-light window was a picture of Old World romantic charm, even if the window made it a little chilly. But Spanish food works well for cold nights, with warming flavours and spicy tapas, and the large menu had plenty to explore.
We could have happily ordered the whole meal off the tapas menu – the savoury treats served with drinks in Spain – but decided to range more widely. Our excellent Chilean waitress steered me to a velvety full-bodied Spanish red, Vinazoraya from Ribiero del Duero, and we tucked into croquettes. The fried wrapping yielded to a gloriously creamy mix of mushrooms and parmesan with an intense mushroomy taste and they were perfect for a wintry night.
The fall-apart tender albondigas (meatballs) were also wintry, with a rich mix of ground pork and beef in a thick gravy. Part of the reason we had ordered them was because they came with patatas bravas, the irresistible fried potatoes served with a red pepper sauce in bars across Spain. But the sauce was absent, with our waitress convincingly explaining patatas bravas can also refer to the irregular cut of the potatoes.
They were still delicious and next time I’ll just order the bravas as another tapas.
Our third tapas was a pair of juicy lamb cutlets, perfectly cut from a rack, and drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. They came with some roasted potatoes and it was a beautifully presented plate. We also had a side of artichokes, simple jarred ones in olive oil, which added some spring greenery to our wintry feast.
We had debated getting the Langostinos al ajillo, whole Australian wild prawns pan fried in garlic, but decided not to, as prawns were to feature in the main we had decided to share, suquet de pescado y marisco, a ragout of monkfish and shellfish including prawn, clams and mussels with a saffron bisque and potatoes.
The ragout looked appealing with the shellfish, but where were the prawns? The waitress noticed us investigating the dish and asked if anything was wrong. She also took a fork to it and went digging, with no more luck than us.
She returned from the kitchen and said they were cooking us some prawns to add to the ragout. It was a good way to deal with a mistake, especially as she knew we had been sorely tempted by the prawn tapas.
The ragout did not skimp on the saffron and, as I licked sauce off my fishy fingers, it struck me that this was as close as you could come in Christchurch to dining in a Spanish fishing port.
Instead of smelling the sea though, the main aroma was of wood polish. The highly polished dark wood tables looked lovely in the warm-hued rooms of the restaurant but the scent diminished my enjoyment of the meal.
We rounded off our meal with a crema Catalana, the traditional Spanish version of a creme brulee. This was a simple vanilla version, with a side of blueberries and blackberries and a biscotti-type pastry to dunk into the soft custard. With coffees and some polvorones – crumbly, almondy macaroon-type biscuits – it made for a delicious end to an excellent meal.