Strength in numbers -foodstagramming

This is not about my experience, but my attention was drawn to an article in last Saturdays Independent Newspaper

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/foodstagram-the-restaurant-trend-thats-driving-new-york-chefs-crazy-8467755.html

I have never been stopped from taking pictures, but as you realise, most of the places I go operate on the concept that all publicity is good. I do not place my images on mainstream social media, and I think there is a place for the mundane and everyday. Check out the Critical couple web site. http://www.thecriticalcouple.com/
Now I have something to live up to.

Nando's: a specialty restaurant that really succeeds

27th January.
Whilst this assessment relates to the branch of Nando's in Southend-on-sea, the quality of food has always appeared to me to be consistent across branches, so my some of my comments are general, and some branch specific.
I have eaten several times in Nando's both lunch and dinner. The one near where I live in North London is so busy in the evenings, particularly weekend, that they usually have a queue, and my wife will not queue for Nando's so it is pot luck if we get in. This time we went early on a Sunday lunchtime (about 1230) which was just as well, because an hour later, the place was even more packed, and we would have had to wait. What makes this establishment so popular, in my opinion, it that it delivers an excellent product at a realistic price. This is also its undoing, and in North London, the branches can become a bit over-run with teenagers who will find that this provides an eating out experience within their budget.
There is a very interesting article about Nando's on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nando%27s . I had always assumed that Piri Piri chicken was Portuguese, and the fact that the emblem cockerel that abounds in the restaurants was saying that too, but I was wrong. Nando's is South African, and the piri piri comes from Mozambique (makes sense) and is named after the African bird's eye chili. So now you know.
If you did not know, Nando's is in the business of selling chicken. To satisfy those who do not want fowl, there are vegetarian options, but not a huge amount. You can see the menu at www.nandos.co.uk . If there is anyone unfamiliar, the idea is that you choose your quantity of piri piri chicken, and then how hot it should be.(I went for hot, which is in the middle). There are a limited number of side orders, mainly French Fries, and a simple drinks menu. You order at a cash desk, resist the propositions to add to your meal, pay up-front, and wait. I was devastated to find that my loyalty card had expired, and the promise of a free quarter of chicken evaporated.

We ordered a platter of hot spiced piri piri with a sides of cole slaw and fries.

Sorry about the angle of the photograph, but take it from me that there was more than enough chicken and sides for two. I have always found the quality of the chicken at Nando's to be excellent. I don't know how they do it. There was more than enough for the two of us. The chicken was hot enough (7.9 on the CHOF scale), but Mrs Northlondoner thought the chips could have been hotter. The web site give a little insight into the sourcing of the food, but on the whole, I would say it was better than the somewhat anonymous unidentifiable portions of KFC.

We did not partake of desert. Drinks are about average price, and if you have soft drinks it is help youself.
Whilst the platters are brought to your table, everything else is help yourself, so you get your own utensils, piri piri sauce and condiments. I have to say that the staff who did serve and help were the epitome of politeness and helpfulness. Considering there was no direct service charge, this attests to the quality of the business. (There was a box for tips on the counter just where the orders are being taken. This was chained down, and one can only guess they did this in the light of a bad experience) This is not silver service, but it is not what the average client wants.
The decor of the restaurants is what could be described as Garish Ethnic, and I understand that the art if South African in origin.

So all in all, I give a very big thumbs up for Nando's as does the rest of my family including the vegetarian. It is exactly what it says it is, and the price is extremely reasonable. Lunch for four including drinks but no desert came to £44 and pennies. I am still looking for a branch of Los Pollos Hermanos.

The Wharf, Crossways, Dartford. Pub Grub but not quite.

I went with some colleagues for a lunch to the Wharf Pub as there is nowhere else to take visitors on the Crossways business park except Burger King. If you were an overseas visitor, this would be a strange first impressions of an English Pub. It looks like a Country Chalet and extension that has been left by the side of a lake, and if you look at it from the lake, it could be most picturesque. I think most of the other reviews found on the Internet have been for weekend or evening visits, but during the working day, it is full of office workers and (I am guessing) warehouse workers from the industrial estate. Without want to sound judgmental  you can tell by their uniforms.It gets a lot of business.
The Wharf, which describes and pictures itself as being at the edge of the Cotton Lake, is a sort of chocolate box half timbered chalet in the middle of an industrial and business park, built on disused gravel pits. Whilst many destinations make an attractive feature out of famous bridges in the background, the Dartford Crossing does not do it for me. The lake is probably the high spot of the park, and today, during a frosty period, as well as common water fowl, also hosted two cormorants, and a heron was seen close by.

Check out the web site at http://www.shepherdneame.co.uk/pubs/dartford/wharf .
 For a pub, the grub is not cheap, with a sandwich costing around a fiver and a main about £8-10. If I did not look at is as a pub in a business park, but a restaurant pub, then that would be different.
But just how much of a restaurant is it? Well, that has been puzzling me. I stopped going there completely about 2 years ago because I thought the food was very low quality: I preferred to not eat as an alternative.. But now I discover that Shepherd Neame, the tied brewers, are actually making most of their profit from food in their pubs. They have ramped up their efforts, and I have to say that the chicken breast stuffed with mushrooms and chorizo was actually not bad at all.

I appologize for the picture, as the vertical view makes it look like an indistinguishable hunk of pink flesh, but it clearly was chicken, warranting a 7.8 on the CHOF scale - for a cold day it could just have been that little bit hotter. It was well cooked, attractively presented, had the interesting taste of chorizo, with a pleasant sauce, but had that slight essence of a prepared food meal taste.
As to its sourcing of the food on the menu, we can only guess, as the sheer variety of dishes, thoroughness of cooking and the speed of delivery suggests that these are pre-prepared, and the chef does the artistic bit making them look better than pub meat and two veg. A colleague who had a burger said that it looked as if it had been prepared (rather than extruded), and seemed freshly cooked.
I still do not care for the workplace atmosphere that pervades at lunchtime, and will probably decline all but the most insistent invitation to go to the pub during the working day.

Le Saint-Hilaire, Rouen: it's what having lunch in France is all about

17th January
What I like about the French is their enthusiasm for doing business over Lunch. This is Lunch with a capital L  rather than business lunch. So my French colleague had arranged for me to meet with an important contact for him at a restaurant for lunch. This was a local restaurant for local people, and there was some surprise when a menu was produced in English. However the quality of the translation was such that I think I did better with the menu in French.(see later). There was also the mandatory blackboard with the menu of the day.You can check them out at http://www.le-saint-hilaire.com/
I cannot exactly remember what the name of what I had for starter was as it came from the board. I remember that that they tried to tell me it was chicken and mushroom. However, you would not guess from the appearance:

Suffice it to say that it did taste of chicken, was delicious and was a 7.8 on the CHOF scale.

I was a bit dubious about the dish of the day on the blackboard, and opted for what I thought was a safer choice. The menu said Médaillon de quasi de veau normand et noix de Saint Jacques au beurre d'algues, écrasée de pommes de terre. ("Normandie Viande Héritage"). The English menu said  "Almost of calf from Norman region and scallops with seaweed butter and puree of potatoes. Google translate is a little better saying "Medallion of veal Norman nuts and Saint Jacques seaweed butter, mashed potatoes. ("Heritage Meat Normandy")". In this case, a picture is worth a thousand translations:

This was excellent in every way. The combination of tastes was wonderful, the meat was excellent quality and cooked medium but not rare to my taste and CHOF of 8.5+. By the time our main was served the restaurant was packed on a Thursday lunchtime. It was largely adults and elderly, which apparently was taken as the sign of a good establishment.

My desert was also something that became lost in translation.

Coque chocolatée à la crème de marron et ganache au citron yuzu, palet de chocolat bland croustillant was translated by the house as Ball of Chocolate with chestnut cream, lower jaw with lemon yuzu, pancake of crispy chocolate. Google translated this as Hull chocolate cream ganache and brown yuzu lemon, chocolate puck bland crispy (which seems well clear of the mark, and I was invited to offer a better translation). And this is what you get:

Like a Cadbury's creme egg for gourmets. It looked rather manufactured in its virgin state, but clearly this was something you could not buy from your local supermarket.

So this was an excellent experience and is recommended. The TripAdvisor entries are mostly in French, and rate the place highly. One did not, said the bread was good, but the chef must have been absent that day.

I look forward to doing more work with my French colleague.

A quiet night in Clichy - Le Coin du Rocher: a score for TripAdvisor

16th January, Paris.
I was let down by my French colleague who promised to take me out for a nice dinner in Paris (not his fault), and had been left at a hotel in Paris in an area I did not know. I did a bit of research before my trip, but the establishment I had identified had closed. I advise anyone in situation to consult with TripAdvisor. Used with care, it has rarely let me down. You have to sort out the comments that have clearly been made by competitor disparagement, but if a lot of people have praised a place, it might just be good. And so it was with Le Coin (The corner) which looked like a typical little Parisian restaurant. There was no formula menu and no English. There is a helpful web site, but not in English (Chrome makes a fare stab at it)
http://www.lecoindurocher.com/
It is just as well that I went there early, about 7.30, because an hour or so later, it was packed, and I would have had difficulty getting a table, but being early, the host took his time to take a picture of me

This is the best view of the place, otherwise, despite the pictures on the web site, it is very ordinary looking

Fashions come and go, and one of the fashions at the moment is to not have a printed menu. In Paris, this is suggesting that the menu is varied according to the availability of produce, and that what you get is just for that day. This was the case here, but later perusal of the web site suggested that the blackboard and the web menu were pretty similar. I could not know that at the time. I should have guessed from the length that some of the things were staples.

For starter I had Basque pate with pimentos which came with a jar of small picked gherkins

With fresh bread this was excellent.

For main course I chose cassolette de rognons au porto, which came with potato, which you don't get very often in North London.

This was excellent and scored a 9 on the CHOF scale offset by the potatoes which were only a 7.

I am guessing that this was pre-prepared (although I accept that this was probably in their kitchen) and heated to order, as by this time there were more diners ordering diverse meals, and nothing appeared to be rubbed off the board.

For desert I chose a dark chocolate mousse. This had probably spent too much time in the chilling cabinet, and was a little dried on the top, but was clearly home made and tasted excellent.

A three course meal with a 250ml piche of the house red cost 40 euros and was well worth it. The quality of the food was excellent, and the staff made me very welcome. They even tolerated my schoolboy French, which was just as well, as there was not a lot of English here. The place was packed with locals when I left after 9 pm, and looking in the windows of nearby establishments, nowhere else had the same occupancy. So a lucky strike here, and well done trip TripAdvisor.

Eurostar: what does the extra £250 buy you

I have just been to Paris on Eurostar in Business Premier Class, because I thought I wanted the flexibility of changing tickets. In the event, because of the wrong kind of snow on the line in France, the timetable was rubbish anyway, so the timings made little sense. There is a £250 difference between the cost of the most expensive standard class fare and the business premier. What it buys you is a meal and the right to use the business lounge and ticket flexibility.. On Wednesday when I left, the lounge was so packed in the morning, that it was frankly unpleasant, and on the way back, because of timing of the trains, I did not even use it. The lounge provides complimentary snack food and drinks, somewhere to sit, and wifi and magazines which you would not normally want to buy. They make a lot of fuss about their catering on the train, and the question is whether it is worth the extra? The service is wildly successful, and the business class is pretty full. The carriages appear to be a bit past their sell-by date, and are frankly showing wear and tear.

So, for a morning departure, you get a hot or cold breakfast which looks like the airlines used to provide in the good old days. The dish is a fritate with egg and ham. Otherwise it looks exactly like airline food, and was hot enough (8 on the CHOF scale) and tasty, but the fritate was a bit on the heavy side. The orange juice came out of an individual carton, and there was a volante tea and coffee. One way or another, because of the time zone change, this became an early lunch.
On the return journey, an early dinner was served.
A menu told us that the starter was flakes of salmon: broccoli puree, dill dressing (sic)

The main course was pickled mackeral or duck, aubergine and potato pie. No contest.

This was rather like a high class cottage pie, but was actually quite tasty and scored a 9 on the CHOF scale. The desert, which I did not care for was a pear and almond frangipane tart. They used to serve nice chocolates with the coffee, but maybe that is only on the Belgium run.

So the balance is paying for a high class airline meal and flexibility or saving and sorting out your own catering. Based on the occupants of the carriage, I would guess it depends on whether you are paying for your own ticket out of your own taxed income, and most of the passengers in my carriage were clearly not.

Azerbaijan Restaurant in North London: who would have thought?

11th January 2013
I bet that most of you don't even know where Azerbaijan is. I didn't, and it's sandwiched between Iran, Georgia and Turkey, or, at the north end of Ballards Lane in North Finchley, and that tells you a bit about the food. This place is where a Russian Restaurant used to be (patronised once), and we have tried to go there before. There is a web site on their menu www.azerbaijanrestaurant.co.uk, but at the time of writing it is just a holding page, which is a pity, as more information would have been useful.We previously had a booking for a Saturday night, and when we turned up, there was a double booking with a big party, and even though our friend had seen his booking written in the book, the staff suddenly lost the power to speak English, shoulders were shrugged and we were sent on our way. But curiosity got the better of us, and we forgave, but took care to go on a Friday to avoid the crowds of festive weekend Azers. And Friday night is music night.

For a Friday night it was quiet, with never more than 8 or 9 diners. I think it may get busy on Saturday if the ex pats descend. When you walk in, it is like entering a success of 1970's dining rooms, possibly in a well to do Soviet home, There are local photographs on the wall, and an old Pye valve radio, which actually pumps out some of the background music.By the bar, there is an incongruous mix of an electronic synthesizer, and a huge samovar on the counter. The musician played a mixture of plinkety local music and international wedding classics, and I guess that was where he made most of his money. I guess 'I just called to say I love you' is the lingua franca of light music.

The food is a mixture of Turkish, Persian, and stuff you never thought of. The wine list is Georgian, and the bottles we had at £20 each were quite ok, but seemed a little overpriced for what it was. You were paying for the provenance.

The menu is quite extensive. For starter, between us, we had a mixed starter from the hot starter section. Our waiter told us he could do better than what was on the menu, and we had a mix of dips, things with Aubergine and something with chicken egg and potato. This is served with nan bread

For main, there are a variety of kebab type things typical of that part of Asia, and some special stews. I chose Khoresht Ghorme Sabzi which is a mix of diced lamb (actually big chunks) and kidney beans, cooked in fresh herb sauce with whole lime. This is served with rice, and if you want for £2.50 extra, you can have a special rice which is a rice with different fruit and vegetables.

The green colour is not not an artefact, and this was how it really looked. I could not quite identify the taste at first, but if you have tasted lime pickles at an Indian restaurant, that is the basis. It was something quite different, and scored about 7.8 on the CHOF scale. The kebabs looked very interesting, and I would definitely try this place again with different choices. Starters are from £3 each and mains from £8, but one way or another for two courses and two bottles of wine between three of us, the bill came to £95 for three of us. Despite my previous experience of the cold shoulder, the service was helpful and friendly and in English. I think that this may be a place where expats come to get a bit of the home style cooking. Interestingly enough, there is a very Persian Persian restaurant exactly opposite which get packed out with them on Saturday night, and again does not seem to want to make local residents welcome. The question remains as to how authentic this experience was. I had a look at food web sites and there was not much concordance.

Cafe Cordina, Valletta: step back to traditional cake and coffee

3rd January
It's one of our rituals to spend a bit more than average, and have morning or afternoon coffee and cake at least once during each stay. Cordina is from a past era, but still looks fresh enough. I don't know enough about the history except to know that Republic street was flattened during world war 2, but according to the blurb on the web site http://www.caffecordina.com/EN.About_Caffe_Cordina.aspx  the current owners only went there in 1944 despite a sign on the door saying 1837

The building has seen grander times, but the interior decor is to be seen to be believed.

It's cafe food, but the quality of the cakes is excellent, and we have taken them home for tea from time to time.It's not cheap, but you are buying the dream. Cakes cost between 3 to 3.50 Euros

They don't make them like this any more, so if you have time in Valetta, definitely stop here because you will not forget the experience and you'll get to mix with Maltese cafe society.

Momo, Tigne, Fortina: Two steps backwards, one forwards.

29th Dec 2012 and 3rd January 2013
This restauratnt used to be known as the Tigne Brasserie for many years and was a flagship Mediterranean popular eating place both with the hotel guests and the locals. Since our visit last year, it has had a refit, new staff, and a new ethos, and has become another Italian Restaurant. In fact there are now three Italian restaurants in the Fortina complex (one over the swimming pool seems to be independent of the hotel, but seem to shelter with it). This means that the variety of cooking has contracted. There is a web entry which views the restaurant from the opposite viewpoint I had, and there is a menu which appears at the time of writing to relate to the prior existence: http://www.fortinasparesort.com/momos?l=1 It is difficult to work out what the name of the establishment is trying to tell us, as it is a common name for restaurants of different persuasions  just try  googling it.
We had been warned about the standard of service, and were not disappointed. Whilst the food is good, they do not seem to have their act together, and service is very slapdash and slow. For example it is a matter of chance or persistence whether the breadbasket comes your way. Our friends had indicated that the staff seemed to be dipping in and out of the restaurant with supplies as if they were swapping food with one of the other restaurants and borrowing when the orders overwhelmed them.
It is more attractive than its predecessor but all  the decoration is focused on the place settings. The wall are bare, and unlike the previous somewhat overloaded overstatement of decor. One thing they have not fixed is the front door, which is a poor fit, and my advice to anyone is that the seat next to the door should always be declined because there is a perpetual draft and people tend to leave it open when they come and go.

For starter, I had a Penne with the chef's signature swordfish carbonarra.

This was quite a large serving of something I was not quite expecting. I had thought it would be like the usual versions of carbonarra sauce, but on checking, the technical definition of carbonarra is cooked with egg and parmesan, which it was. It was fine but a bit bland and was hot enough.

I then had a steak with mushrooms, and this was excellent, although the vegetable accompaniment was a bit miserable.

This was a huge hunk of meat of excellent quality and temperature. In fact the steaks were better quality than we get here in London. I asked where the meat came from, and the hotel's meat was said to come from Scotland.

In the previous incarnation, dessert had been a high spot, but they seem not interested here and offer fruit, cake or ice cream. I had the Tiramasu, which seem to have only had a short holiday from the freezer. Mod satis, but no credit to the chef.

On my second visit, I had Gnocchi with prawns and courgette

followed by another steak this time impregnated with truffle oil

Both of these were fresh, and the steak was excellent. The disappointment of the evening was the desert, and this time, from the very limited list I had the fresh fruit salad, which turned out to be a mix of pineapple and apple. It looked like leftovers and tasted that way.

Looking at other reviews of MoMo's it looks like a marmite event, and you can be lucky on some nights. The food is good, but the organisation has a lot to be desired.

Post Script March 2013

I have received an email from the Fortina indicating that MOMO's will be no more, but has been rechristened the Tigne Restaurant, and it looks as if an external operator has been brought in. Any comments or experiences would be welcome.

Can Thai: an oriental pleasure at the Fortina

31st December 2012 and 1st Jan 2013
So good, we went there two days running.
Having had a superlative experience last new year's eve at this restaurant, with a feast that was of such a high standard, we booked a return visit as soon as we arrived at the Fortina. The web site is fairly informative and there is a menu that tells you that eating here could be an expensive experience. However, unlike last year, it was clear that there was no special meal this year, and the place was laid out for large parties of local Maltese cash customers, some of whom were also drinking at the hotel.
http://www.fortinasparesort.com/can-thai
The restaurant is very attractive. I personally would not eat in the conservatory on a winter night, as it can be a little chilly, and prefer the inside at night. For the festive period, there was a manger crib scene (very typical of Malta) made of biscuit.

Unlike the previous experience, the staff here were extremely obliging to the all inclusive guests, and made it clear we could have anything we liked. The menu is extensive with significant Chinese and Thai contributions. We chose to focus on the Thai, which is of good standard, and some of the dishes seem sufficiently authentic, you could think you were there.All meals start with prawn crackers and dip.(there is going to be a lot of food here!)

This is served fresh and hot with sauce that is just out of picture. Next the soup, but I want to show you before and after.

This was a chicken Tom Yam soup, as good as I have had in Thailand, but without the killer chillie content that sometimes come with it. So by the end of starter and soup, the edge is taken off our hunger.

We chose of variety of dishes including beef red curry and stir fried duck with capsicum and basil sauce, prawn phad Thai noodles and chicken fried rice. Fantastic

Strangely enough the deserts are untypical with a choice of fruit, cake or ice cream. To be healthy, I chose the fruit which was an attractive combination of tropical fruits, but there is not enough space on this episode. All food was sufficiently hot and scored mostly 8's.

View of Sliema creek from our Room.

Just to let you know, the one way I was assured of a 10/10 hot food was the sizzling dishes and on another occasion had this sizzling chicken. No doubt there, and I think the Can Thai was probably one of our better venues for variety, hotness and helpfulness of staff.

Sa Re Me Ga : Fortina continued; Indian food for beginners

30th December 2012, Sliema, Malta
The Sa Re Me Ga, which appears to be the name of an Indian music company and the first four notes of a seven note octave in Indian music has been a fixture in the dine around at the Fortina for many years, and serves a middle of the road upmarket Indian food for people who may not be accustomed to Vindaloo, or even Madras.
It has been fairly reliable over the years. This year, as a five * all inclusive guest, it left a little to desire as an operation, although the food is fine.
Firstly, we were offered only a very late sitting on booking (you have to book) and when we arrived, it was almost empty. Some friends, who had been earlier in the evening, said it had not been any more full all evening, so I am not sure what the point was here: they don't have much in the way of staff, so may be they cannot cope with more than two or three tables at a time.
The menu is short: in fact it is the shortest menu for an Indian Restaurant I have ever seen. There is no information on the web site, but for the meals on offer, there is only about a choice of 6 main dishes. In the past for an inclusive guest's meal there had been poppadoms, pickle, raita and dhal included, but that had all gone. Perhaps you had to ask for it as extra. Actually we were made to feel that as an all inclusive guest (who are not permitted on a Saturday night) they were doing us a favour in serving us, and we did not go there a second time although the food was good.
I started with a classic shami kebab which is what I would have had back in the UK

You can't tell from this picture, except the slice of cucumber as a standard, just how big this is: it is not big, and is far smaller than the portion I might expect to receive in London. It was about a 7 on the CHOF scale, and I shared my wife's chicken tikkah.

For main we shared a chicken and a lamb dish. Cannot remember exactly what the name was, but the quality  was excellent, but it could have been a little warmer. No raita, no dhal, but I think there was a garlic naan, which would have been called a paratha elsewhere.

I judge this place by the standards I am used to, and whilst the food was fine, the choice was indifferent, and this was spice flavour rather than spice hot.

The deserts offered were a bit of a joke: two scoops of icecream or rice pudding.

Clearly they were interested in cash customers and resented our all inclusive presence. If that is the case, they should simply opt out of the arrangement.

If you go as a paying customer, I gather it is quite pricey by London standards, and I understand you pay 38 Euros for the set menu, which is probably twice what I would expect to pay here.

Hibiki, an unexpected Japanese pleasure: Fortina continued

Hibiki

This is the Japanese restaurant, although it serves food more for a western palate. In previous years when we have been at the hotel, this restaurant has been immensely popular, but this year, at lunch we were the only diners on a couple of occasions, and it did not get full at dinner. For the new year dinner, which we did not attend, it was pretty deserted, and the Tepanayaki section was hardly used at all. This cannot be because of the quality of the food which we found excellent, as was the service, and can only assume it is a combination of price and suspicion by winter visitors (mainly mature) of Japanese food.

http://www.fortinasparesort.com/hibiki?l=1 for more detail but at the time of writing, no menu.

We ate there a few times for lunch, and once for dinner (identical menus).On my first visit for lunch I had the prawn tepan starter

This was followed by the Beef Gyozo Dumplings which were delicious

This was followed by a desert of rolls, rather like sweet spring rolls with a cinnamon and chocolate filling (does not sound very Japanese).

The menu is somewhat repetitive, and portion sizes are not huge, but one did not leave hungry. Overall, I would give the hot food a 7-8.

Fortina Spa Resort Hotel, Sliema, Malta: Review of Restaurants including Taste, Sa Re Ga Ma, Can Thai, MoMo

28th December to 4th January
I have just returned from a weeks holiday in Malta, a regular jaunt for my wife and I and I thought I would review the various eating options that exist in the hotel, and a couple of out of hotel experiences. Malta is not known for its culinary excellence, although there are traditional foods which are a cross between Mediterranean and North African. Over the past few years, especially since Malta joined the EU, there has been an increasing Italian influence (not surprising as Sicily is only a hop away), and we have noted that most of the new restaurants are Italian style (including many Pizza and Pasta, for the budget conscious) and others have converted to Italian.
Fortina Spa resort started out as an all inclusive 4* hotel with a small Thalassotherapy spa to a major league spa resort offering pretty much everything including fish therapy and colonic irrigation. There are a number of excellent restaurants (aimed both at tourists and the better end of the local trade) which guests have access to.This blog will review the ones we used.
Taste
For the guest in the 5*, the restaurant called Taste is the key destination. It is where breakfast is served every day, and where you can have lunch and or dinner on most days. http://www.fortinasparesort.com/taste
Described as Mediterranean and Vienamese, the emphasis on Meditteranean. The cooking is novel (see menu) and covers a wide variety of tastes at lunch and dinner. Breakfast is another matter. For a five star hotel, the breakfast is nearer 3.9*. It is in fact identical to the breakfast served in the 4* bit of the hotel.

The buffet breakfast is a mixture of hot and cold. If anything raises the star rating, the litmus test is whether there is smoked salmon and champagne, and in this case there is both. There is also a bottle of vodka and tomato juice, if that is your morning starter.As usual the hot buffet falls down in the hotness and quality of scrambled eggs in that both are inadequately hot (only scoring a bare 7 on the scalee, and with solid scrambled egg - I did not even bother. There is also an omelette bar, but there is an element of luck here as to who cooks it: a request for easy over fried resulted in solid eggs, and my first omelette was overcooked. There is a selection of fresh bread and rolls, and the bread is very crusty but there is a lack of variety: white or brownish. A selection of fresh fruit and yoghourt is provided, changing on a daily basis, and the usual cereals are there. So the breakfast could be better, and relies too much on below average hot food. Cold food is better, but there is a poor choice (see above).

Lunch at Taste is a different matter, and just check out the menu on the web link.Over the week, we had lunch there a couple of times. It is pointless going there for a quick lunch, and you should allow between 90 minutes to two hours.

Here are a couple of examples of lunch

How pretty these look and almost a shame to cut up and eat. The starter at the top has pranws and something else I cannot remember, and below is their escalope of veal. Both scored an 8 on the CHOF scale, but as everything happens very slowly, it is difficult to assume that hot food is their concern.

Dinner in this restaurant is very popular, with it often being booked up well in advance. One night I had Spaghetti with a venison bolognese sauce, followed by Guinea Fowl tornados with kohl rabi (which I failed to find) Lighting is very subdued, so pictures are not the greatest.

I made a note at the time that both of these scored a 9 on the CHOF scale, and were excellent. I followed this by an exotic fruit salad, and I am still not sure what the things that look maniac dice with lots of spots are.

In summary, Taste for lunch and dinner is a good choice serving a variety of food that can be hot but takes time to come. Atmosphere is excellent. If you look at the menu, if you are an outside visitor, it can be quite expensive.