dinner at Añada on Gertrude St
The former Ume Nomiya space on Gertrude St became Añada at the start of the year, it filled immediately with customers, and some vigorous discussion erupted in the comments of the Tomato blog about their food. After two failed short notice attempts to get in I thought I’d let some time pass for Añada to fix any early problems before I tried it, which I did recently with some visiting Perth friends.
Añada has received mostly positive reviews and I agree with the Age, Tomato and Sookylala that its food is fantastic. On the night I was there it was full but the service was also exceptional. My water glass was never less than half full and the waitress was helpful in our guiding our discussions about sherry and dessert over the delicious salt crusted bread. As with Tom Phat and Griff’s wine pub, the mellow light made using flash intrusive (while ironically necessary), so my photos don’t adequately capture the beautiful preparation of the food.
Some of the tapas dishes we ordered were the boquerones (white anchovy in vinegar) with palm heart and pickled chilli (first photo below), charcoal grilled chorizo, Salt cod and garlic shoot croqueta, stuffed calamares with sumac (second photo), queso manchego with membrillo (hard Spanish sheep’s milk cheese with quince paste) and the handpicked imported olives, Farga Aragon, Arbequina and Manzanilla.
We them moved on to raciones, including potato cake stuffed with goat (first photo), mackerel charcoal grilled in vine leaves with pistachio and orange blossom sauce (second photo), aubergine and tomato pilav with dill and yoghurt and chick peas with spinach (third photo).
I wanted to try the lemon and yoghurt cake for dessert but the waitress informed us it had been a popular choice that night and it was all gone! We consoled ourselves with the Pedro Ximenez and muscatel ice cream and the churros with chocolate.
Añada exceeded my expectations and provided my group of four with a wonderful meal and a comfortable (though quite noisy) space in which to relax and talk. Having booked for the second sitting of the evening, we were not rushed by the staff to complete on time.
By the end of the evening the room had become quieter, the three waitresses were enjoying their evening meal at the back table and the waiter dealt prompty with our bill, which was more tha reasonable for what we had received. I finished with an espresso that was good (perhaps something that had been improved since the comments made to the Tomato review). I’ll be back!
Posts you may find relevant and interesting
- The Commoner, 22 August 2007
- dinner at Griff’s wine pub, 22 August 2008
- a tale of two restaurants, 7 January 2007
- William Angliss Great Chefs dinner 1 - Dallas Cuddy from Verge, 17 September 2008
- Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix - the track and paddock at dusk, 13 October 2008
