Tantaluna

Tantaluna has just opened adjacent to the Thai restaurant, Sala Thai, in the old town of Corralejo and used to be an Italian restaurant called El Molino. The trespaso is still owned by the two Italian brothers who own Rosi di Veinti and San Barondón. They have used their imagination and opened a restaurant which provides something entirely different in Corralejo. Tantaluna describes itself as a cocktail bar serving sushi and fusion cooking. In my five year absence from The Smoke and with my finger no longer on the pulse in gastronomic terms, I have to admit that what fusion cooking is has entirely escaped me but, on perusing the menu, apart from the sushi, the list of 12 dishes available seem fairly down to earth albeit somewhat different to other restaurants´ fayre in the area.

The restaurant has been refurbished by the eclectic duo, Flavio and Giovanna, who have by now decorated half of Corralejo´s eateries and is decorated with a slight Japanese lilt (painted with black and white geometrics alongside red and yellow). Inside the locale is an area set aside for cocktail-supping on beanbags and big chunky cushions with low rattan tables. The theme throughout is very “chill out”. The tables for eating are set outside under a raffia roof. While I was there with Barfly (now becoming my regular Thursday night dinner partner!), most of the people were eating although there were a couple inside too supping their cocktails served with nibbles.

I get the impression they are steering more towards a cocktail clientele as the list of cocktails has no less than 42 on offer including Americano, Alexander, Bellini, Bloody Mary, Cosmopolitan, Gin Fizz, Kir, Mojito and on and on and on (you can probably tell they are listed in alphabetical order too!). The small sushi menu offers sushi rolls with rice and fresh fish (€10), sushi rolls with rice and vegetables (€8), nigiri sushi of fresh salmon (€5), sashimi of fresh salmon and fresh octopus and pai tzuki (don´t ask me!).

We decided to avoid the cocktail route and ordered a bottle or Marques de Caceres red to accompany our meal. We chose the sushi with vegetables between us as a starter and then chose a main dish each from the “fusion”(??) menu. Both the dishes we chose were presented beautifully and imaginatively. Mel had lamb cous-cous which came with a perfectly formed pyramid of cous-cous, two succulent lamb chops and a ratatouille of vegetables with chick peas. I chose pork fillet served with a honey and apple sauce which was served with a side salad (I would have preferred my veggies) and a helping of steamed diced apple mixed with the sauce – which was delicious. Other dishes available were spaghetti with tomato and basil sauce, pasta, chicken curry, burrito mexicana, mixed salad, octopus salad, veal or beef steak and two desserts of parfait de papaya or fresh fruit as well as some other dishes. All in all a small but widely ranging menu but nothing too heavy and robust. We were both extremely impressed with the food – the sushi was nothing but perfect – whether it is bought in or made on the premises I can´t imagine – but it tasted and looked like the real thing to me.

When we had finished our meal at gone 11.00 p.m. people were still turning up to eat. I get the impression that it will do very well as a post dinner cocktail bar where you can sit outside and wile away balmy summer evenings (when we get them here in Fuerteventura). Mel on arriving was a tad chilly so had to borrow the cardigan from my newly acquired twinset (plus diamanté) from my charity clothes sale on Sunday. Very un-Mel I have to add.

Next time I go there I think I will definitely have a few cocktails and probably just a helping of sushi although all the food was so well presented I´m sure I will talk myself into a full meal – knowing me!

My lovely friend Irish Paddy asked me the other day, with respect to my food write-ups – was I a gourmand or a gourmet – i.e. did I eat every damn thing in sight or was I, indeed, a master of good cuisine. I would say, Pad, that my accommodating derrière was probably sitting comfortably between the two!