Posted by david dagoli on December 13, 2020, 9:17 am
We had a beautiful dinner in a cool open air restaurant called Fresco in La Manzanilla. Feels like we haven’t been out in decades, and this was a real treat! Italian Chef Elia Fresco Barilli and partner Martha Virrueta Garibay have created a lovely space - they made the whole thing themselves including the furniture, which is recycled from cast-off wood from Tamarindo.
It started with an amuse-bouche of bread toasted in olive oil set in a bed of beet coulis, topped with a tender prawn and the crispy fried foam made from the water from boiling an octopus. And the touch of adding micro-cilantro garnish was over the top.
Then deep-fried zucchini sticks with sriracha dip, wonderfully crunchy on the outside but hot and tender on the inside. The mushroom soup was earthy and rich. The main course of Spaghetti Carbonara was delightful, mostly because of the intense flavour of crispy pieces of jowl bacon, smoked and cured in-house.
We shared two desserts - a cheesecake topped with Tuna - not the fish, but a tangy cactus fruit from the local market that had amazing flavour....and traditional Sardinian mini empanadas filled with figs and pecorino cheese, topped with local honey.
Outstanding! Are we even in La Manzanilla? Muy bien hecho!
This sounds wonderful! We'll be down soon, and, if we can't find a test, will emerge on Jan. 15th. This will be amoung the first stops! Hi to Martha! Can't wait to virtual hug her in person!