Tapas Extraordinaire @ Moomba
We wanted something a little rowdy; we wanted somewhere a little fun; we wanted something really tasty – we got neither of the first two, but a lot of the third one on Wednesday evening when we girls headed out for a bite.
It was one of those evenings where we needed something to give us a boost but it was the wrong day of the week to expect excitement from the outside. Wednesday is often a quiet night and this particular early evening was not only quiet but also windy. We dithered as to where we should go to eat and found that the car just turned into the parking lot – you know that kind of state of affairs when you really don’t know what you want and don’t really have the oomph to do something about it.
Moomba has been top of my list to try for some time now; we had heard a lot of great things about the delicious food that the (fairly) new chef was putting on the table so we made our way to the restaurant tucked in the corner on the second floor in Maho. The approach was inviting, a bar on one side of the passage, a large restaurant inside and right ahead a welcoming outdoor seating area where we made ourselves comfortable.
Very quickly, we were presented with menus – the waitperson was extremely pleasant. At this early hour, there was just one other couple seated in the same area but it was just too chilly and windy for us so we moved into the main dining area. We laughed at the fact that the “snowbirds” seated outside probably thought it rather warm.
The menu was interesting, quite small in fact, but the concept is fabulous because the menu is designed around having groups together sharing the delicious tapas. There is a choice of great sounding salads; the salads are a base to which you can choose to add fish, meat or fowl. There are also great sounding pizza choices. The tapas menu is quite exciting and it is from there that we choose our tasty hors d'oeuvres.
First, though, we ordered our drinks, because the drink choices were so interesting we did not get our favourite tipple of Rose wine. My friend had a martini with olives but I had a margarita, a chili jalapeño margarita…it was quite chill-some, to say the least, went perfectly with the starters we breathed in, they disappeared so fast. While waiting for the food to arrive, a basket of table bread was brought out; light, warm and coated with a buttery garlic sauce – it gave a promise of what was to come.
The tapas choices we made were duck, lobster and shrimp – and potato bravas. The duck was sliced and rested on a mousse of foie gras on a slice of fresh bread; the lobster was tasty and also on sliced bread. The shrimp came in rice paper wraps and was our number one choice with its peanut dipping sauce. Drizzled with chipotle aioli sauce the “Papas Bravas” was heavenly.
We then decided to try one of the main dishes – usually, I am a little disappointed with main dishes after having very good starters, but this time was very definitely an exception. We shared the “Sautéed Gnocchi” salad. The gnocchi was seriously heavenly light, creamy pillows fried quickly, draped with quick sautéed spinach and garnished with blue cheese stuffed bacon wrapped dates. The combination of this dish was sublime but the gnocchi were out of this world. Not heavy, doughy little things that are akin to “dumplings” that we have in local soup, but feather light and… okay, I won’t go on, but wow! I found them more-ish in the extreme.
We then shared dessert. This was a bit of a misnomer for my friend. We ordered the profiteroles; she was expecting just that, although she said she was not sure the actual idea of ice cream in a profiterole was appealing for her to order, she would really prefer to see custard filled profiteroles. So because it sounded intriguing, we ordered it. What came was puff pastry encasing some ice cream adorned with fluffy fresh cream and drizzled with salted caramel and chocolate sauce. Light and not very sweet – it certainly hit the spot.
We actually did not mind that the evening was very quiet, as everything turned out to be to our satisfaction. I really do not think we were in the mood for a lively night on the town after all. Next visit I hope to get to try some of the signature dishes made by the chef.
Info:
Moomba
2nd Floor Maho
http://www.moombasxm.com/#Home
Hours: 7 days a week for dinner/Happy Hour
Cuisine: Tapas/Pizzas/Signature salads/Entrees
Good: Bar Menu/wine list
Price range: $$/$$$
Ratings:
Staff friendliness ****
Service speed ****
Restaurant cleanliness ***
Food quality ****
Value for money ****
Ambience ***
