Easter Monday Dinner at Carmen

Paella del Carmen

One of my other favourite restaurants in the city is Carmen (922 Queen St W). My sister and I took my parents there for dinner last Easter Monday, and it was still as good, if not better, as our first visit to the Queen West haunt last year.

Jicama con Aguacate

We ordered the date pintxos and gambas al ajillo to start as well as some new items: the jicama con aguacate, the pintxo de pulpo, and the croquetas.

The jicama con aguacate consisted of avocado purée, pico de gallo, and corn crisps scooped onto jicama wraps. In spite of the small serving size, the jicama con aguacate was really good. The jicama and the avocado purée tasted fresh, and the corn crisps were a crunchy surprise. Mom, Ate, and I all wished we ordered two plates of the jicama–it was really refreshing. We couldn't get enough of it.

Date Pintxos

The date pintxos, which were essentially bacon-wrapped dates and almonds, were also extremely tasty. They were massive compared to the dates we had tried at Patria–my guess is that they had used Algerian dates. The contrast between the saltiness of the bacon and the sweetness of the dates are always a welcome treat; we couldn't get enough of these either.

Gambas al Ajillo "Estilo Carmen"

As for the gambas al ajillo, they were good as well, but they unfortunately could not compete with the gambas I had had at La Casa del Abuelo (Calle de la Victoria, 12, 28012 Madrid) in Madrid. Those were the king of all gambas, and everything else really pales in comparison to them.

Pintxo de Pulpo

The pintxo de pulpo was a skewer of octopus, potato, chorizo, and pepper on top of traditional pa amb tomàquet. It was very flavourful. I only wished that I had heeded to the server's advice to order more than one skewer. We ended up having to split this tiny one amongst the four of us; I ended up with a sliver of octopus and some potato! Hahaha.

Carne y Camote

The carne (aka the top loin steak) y camote (aka sweet potato purée) was my dad's pick. Normally, my sister and I do not go for meat-heavy dishes, so this was a nice change to the palate. The meat was extremely tender and was well-complemented by the sweet potato purée. I certainly could see it being classified as a main as opposed to a tapas dish: with a larger serving size, the carne y came could stand on its own.

Croquetas de Jamón Serrano y Manchego

We thought that we would still be hungry before the paella arrived, so we ordered some crunchy croquetas to stave us off.

The paella soon came to our table and was a treat for all of us. It was creamy like the paella Brian and I had at Mesón (345 Rue Villeray, Montréal) and less salty than the paella Mitchell, Ate, and I had at Patria.

Churros

We ended our meal with some sugar-tossed churros–the perfect ending to a great Easter Monday dinner. Happy that we got to take our parents out for dinner after such a long time! It was a blast.