El Bulli - Randwick

Spanish - two nights in a row.
I am all Spanished-out and you will not see another Spanish fooded post in a while (hopefully!).

To celebrate the end of our clinic days for 2008, my lovely clinic colleagues and I dined at El Bulli. Just last night, I would have thought that Encasa was a bit too cozy and loud and noisy - but after El Bulli at Randwick, Encasa seems spacious. But that's okay - friends like to be nice and cozy (and somewhat squashed).

El Bulli at Randwick

Before I even sat down, some of my friends were busily Sangria-ing already. Compared to the Sangria last night? mmm... more fruit involved, and tasted more alcoholy. But really, more of the same - and jug-fulls more were ordered throughout the night.

Sangria

I loved the menu - quite elegant looking.

First to come - after the Sangria - was complementary bread with mayo for dipping. One of my friends found mayo on bread a weird concept but I love it (I do it at home and my dad also finds it wierd - but if it gets served at restaurants, it must be kind of normal!). The bread was very nice and soft and fluffy. Mmm - or maybe I was just so so so hungry by then!

Complementary bread with mayo.

As it was a very busy night and my company and I were all dying to dig in the food - I was unable to note what we ordered, or how much it cost, or even know if I snanpped everything. Everything kind of just happened at a blur. Or maybe I was just so elated to be finished for the year that I was unable to focus or concentrate on anything! So apologies for being grossly broad and inaccurate in my description of food tonight.

Anyway, we ordered mushies. These had what felt like mince inside, and topped with cheese. As a fan of cheese and mushies, I found these quite deliciousness.

And this, was the Tortilla Espanola. Much like the ones at Encasa, they were potatoey goodness.


A vege plate - comprising of things such as carrots, eggplant, spanish onions and zucchini. Mmm... it was drenched in some sort of oil so the healthiness factor - the veges and the oil might just cancel each other out! :)


Now this was a puzzling dish - my friend told me what it was, but I forget. Inside these pastry puff things, was some sort of mushy beefy type thing. I know, it sounds weird from my description, but really, it tasted pretty good.


These potatoes were nicely baked then mixed with tomato chilli salsa type sauce and although they had lost it's crunch, it was quite yummy.

Now for something I never had before - paella balls. Paella (without seafood) shaped in a ball and deep fried (a bit too golden) and topped with a sour creamy type white sauce. They were... uh... interesting...but I believe you can give it a miss.

And now, for my favourite dish of the night - octopuses! Drenched in herby, garlicy oil, they tasted super unhealthy but super yummy. Lots of garlicy flavour immerced in soft and tender bitesized octopuses.


Chicken Skewers. Chargrilled and topped with flavoursome mayo. Some pieces were quite gigantic, and were twice or even thrice the size of some others. The kitchen hand sure needs some practice!

And after waiting atleast 20 minutes, our chirozos came out (one plate, instead of our order of two). Nonetheless, by then, the restaurant had become so rowdy that we just couldn't be bothered to do anything about our missing dish. All that aside, the chirozos were quite tastey - as you can see, one of my friends were too eager to fork some before the photo could take!


We decided to fake a celebration and sang happy birthday when the waitresses walked around - in hope of getting some freebies (eg. desserts). To our dissappointment, none came. We did, however, recieve complementary port wine.


In all, the decor of the place was pleasant - dimmed, candlelit, cushoiny and very very snug (a bit too snug). The walls were painted with a spanish feel and the restaurant was definately buzzy - or loud - and packed! There was hardly any room to move at all!

Nonetheless, the food was decent, and slightly less pricey than Encasa (I think).
What I think would draw me to this restaurant again, would be it's name - if I can't eat at the real El Bulli, atleast I can eat at the fake one~! :)

Ratings
Food - 7/10
Service - 5/10
Ambiance - 5/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 24/40

El Bulli
40 St Pauls Street
Randwick, 2031
Tel: (02) 9398 2027