Don Quijote

Hola!

I happened to walk past Don Quijote with my friend about a week or two ago and I decided that it's a restaurant that I HAVE to try because it was relatively packed (which probably means that their food is quite good right?) and the numerous advertisements that are placed outside the restaurant seem to testify to the quality of food as well as the overall dining experience.


Determined to try their food as soon as possible, I told Jeffrey about this place and he agreed to bring us to Don Quijote last weekend! =) We took a short drive down to Don Quijote and we reached around 1pm. Despite it being lunch time on a weekend, the restaurant was completely empty! Where are all the hungry people? Thankfully, more people started coming in after we were seated so the place became slightly livelier.


There were quite a few paintings/ framed up pictures hanging on the wall. These pictures usually consist of bright and vibrant colours like those seen in the above photograph and they give a very pleasant and cosy feel to the restaurant.



The Bar Area. I think soccer fans may want to go to Don Quijote to dine and watch soccer during soccer season because a relatively big television sits amongst the shelves of alcohol! With food, aircon, alcohol and a soccer match to watch, what's not to like? =)

Unoccupied tables and chairs. I love how there are different coloured plates on each table! =) It's amazing how the right mix of colours can make a huge difference in terms of presentation.


Their menu, which can be found here: http://www.don-quijote-restaurants.com/menu.html. They actually diligently scanned every single page of their menu! =)

Don Quijote is one of those restaurants that doesn't serve iced water. You have to choose between still or sparkling water and we opted for the former. Our 1000ml of still Fiji water ($6) came in this funky metal container whose function, I suppose, is to keep the water as cool as possible.

Complimentary basket of bread. The bread tasted pretty normal but the butter (the orange paste sitting in the small little white cup) was extraordinary. I don't know what the orange paste was made up of but it complemented the bread slices very nicely.

Calamares Frittos ($11). The calamari pieces were warm and chewy. I liked the lightness of the fried breaded outer layers of the calamari pieces. The calamari dip was pretty tasty but it wasn't phenomenal.

Tortilla Espanola ($8). It's essentially thin potato slices stacked on top of each other, covered with a thin layer of scrambled egg. This dish looks like a small, cute and fat little pizza! It's definitely a dish for sharing because the potato slices makes it a pretty filling dish. (:

Fideua Don Quijote Special Pasta (Small) ($36) We deliberated whether to order paella or pasta and in the end we settled for pasta. We chose this pasta as opposed to others because it is supposed to be "special"! I think their definition of "special" is the addition of four gigantic king prawns to what would otherwise be a "normal" seafood pasta dish. Because I've very lousy prawn de-shelling skills (i.e. I don't know how to de-shell prawns without using my hands, especially if the shell hugs the prawn very tightly!), I didn't eat any of the four king prawns! Instead, I opted for the smaller, already shell-less prawns in the pasta dish itself. On the whole, the pasta was quite flavourful and the seafood was fresh but it isn't something that's out of this world. Perhaps I should try their squid ink pasta/ paella in future for a more "authentic" Spanish food experience.

Bread & Butter Pudding ($7) with an additional scoop of Vanilla Icecream ($3). Initially, I'd some reservations about ordering this dessert because I know that Jeffrey isn't a huge fan of bread&butter pudding. However, I think he encouraged me to order it because he knows that I LOVE IT! (: Since I didn't know whether the bread&butter pudding will be to his liking, I ordered an additional scoop of vanilla icecream for him just in case he doesn't like our main dessert. Thankfully, both the bread&butter pudding as well as the vanilla icecream were well-received by us! The chef/ baker was generous with the raisins so this bread&butter pudding had a more raisin-y taste, which is fine with me (: This dessert left me thoroughly satisfied (:

I think Don Quijote is a good place to go to if you are feeling a little adventurous and want to try something that's not too ordinary. Although I wouldn't say that their food is spectacularly special or extraordinary, the subtle taste of difference that comes with each dish is definitely something worth savouring.