On another day off back in Barcelona, S, A, and I decided to go try out a new restaurant. It’s amazing how beautiful the weather is, even when it’s mid November. Surfers were out at the Barcelonetta beach, and this was the view we had from the restaurant! Such a nice change from typical rainy Novembers back in Vancouver…
Anyways, our professor had compiled a list of his recommended resturants, and Kaiku was one of them. At first, we weren’t able to find it since their name on the banner is quite faded… We had to double check a few times to make sure we were at the right restaurant! It was a pretty nice day with some wind, so we decided to sit outside. We grabbed our seat ourselves (you find your own seat at most European restaurants), and a waitress came by right away with menus. The menu was in Catalan, and although we could make out most of the translations, she still gave us some help. Good service!
Green Salad with Honey Vinaigrette, Rosemary and Red Pepper
At Kaiku, they have a regular menu, but also a daily 3 course menu (like most Spanish restaurants). Since the regular menu is quite pricey, we went for the 3 course lunch menu. It was 11,50 euros, with VAT included. It included a drink of your choice, and I went for a glass of white wine. The choices are limited, but we still managed to choose some items. A and S both went for the Green Salad. I tried some of it, and to my surprise the honey vinaigrette was so delicious! The salad was a bit sweet and sour, and the red peppers were also a nice addition.
Cream of Roasted Tomato Soup with Basil and Parmesan
For myself, I got the Cream of Roasted Tomato Soup, which I really enjoyed. It was creamy, but not too thick and filling. A nice consistency, and the hint of basil and Parmesan gave it great flavour.
Bake Sea Bream with Tomato Sauce and Parsley
For our entree, we all went for the Sea Bream. The other choice was a Veal Hamburger, and since Kaiku is known for their seafood dishes, we automatically went for the fish. I’m not a big fish eater, but when I go out to eat, I do like to order fish dishes. However, when I saw the dish come, I was shocked. I didn’t know it would be the whole fish… This is extremely common for sea bream though, and I found that most European restaurants present their fish as a whole. Well, it’s not surprising, since most fish at Chinese restaurants are as a whole too… I guess I was just imagining a nice piece of fish fillet.. Anyways, I didn’t really know how to eat the fish, since I’ve never really ate a whole fish, so I just watched my friends skillfully skin off the meat. It’s pretty cool actually! The bones are really just in the middle, so once you skin off the top layer of meat, you’ll see the bones, and you can detach the whole skeleton. The sea bream was just topped with tomatoes and a green vegetable, along with a green sauce. However, this simplicity was perfect as the fish was extremely fresh. Also, the skin was baked to perfection so it was crispy. I normally hate eating fish skin, especially if I can see the scales, but I devoured this fish with satisfaction.
Coffee Flan
For dessert, the choices were not listed on the menu, so the waitress told us the choices verbally. I went for the Coffee Flan. It was sort of like a caramel flan, but infused with coffee flavour. I really liked this since I enjoy flans, and mixed with the whipped cream, it wasn’t too sweet!
Banana Pudding
A went for the Banana Pudding. At first, we thought it looked like the Coffee Flan, but this was much more dense. She said it was pretty good!
Fruit Cake
As for S, he went for the Fruit Cake. It wasn’t exactly what we had imagined, but was more like a berry mousse on a tart like base. It was fruity and a mix of sour and sweet. He enjoyed this a lot as well.
All in all, Kaiku is worth checking out if you’re near Barcelonetta. The 3 course lunch menu is a good deal and will fill you up just right. Also, the view you get from sitting outside is just perfect! What better way to enjoy the weather with quality food!