Restaurant review: Cantonet Sep 2019

[JH02JLH]

The last time we ate at this restaurant we had a bit of a bad experience. Looking back at my previous review we were upset by the price of spaghetti bolognese for my son (21 euros back in 2006) and the indifferent service. I also remember the dining area being on a terrace next to a huge church, but it has re-located and, forgive me if I'm wrong, is it on the site of the old El Temple restaurant? The outside seating area looked very familiar.

Anyway, we thought we would give it another chance as restaurants change hands and the score on Google was an encouraging 4.7/5. Sophie and Mike walked up to book a table before we enjoyed drinks at the bottom of the Calvari steps and we looked forward to trying it again after such a long interval.

We were shown to a table outside in the very pretty garden which was already busy with people eating and drinking. The lighting was very dim so if you need reading glasses, take them! A woman opposite was using the torch on her phone to make out the menu! However, the dim lighting, beautiful foliage and white walls adorned with paintings gave it a gorgeous romantic atmosphere.

After delicious hunks of bread served with aioli and fat green olives (Sophie has discovered a taste for them and hoovered most of them up by herself) we tucked into beef carpaccio for starters (shared between Soph and Mike), goat's cheese salad for me and parma ham and melon for hubby, which ironically enough he ate on his last visit!

My salad was huge and the goat's cheese warm and moist on the inside, and crunchy on the outside...I could have done with another slice and less of the green stuff!

I chose the same main course as Mike - the chicken stuffed with sobrasada while Sophie tucked into ravioli stuffed with the same Mallorcan sausage. She was slightly disappointed that there were only five parcels of pasta on her plate and could have eaten a lot more. Keith chose the rabbit and said it was miles better than the dish he ordered at Ca n'Olesa.

Mike and I enjoyed our main course but I felt that the cream poured over the top was a bit too rich. Our main courses were plentiful and served with vegetables so Sophie was a bit miffed that her choice was a little meagre.

For drinks we all enjoyed a bottle of the Macia Batle Crianza which was fruity and went well with our meals.

We were having such a relaxing time in the garden that we decided to enjoy desserts - all four of us indulged in cheesecake, panna cotta served with Baileys (absolute perfection, Masterchef entrants take note!), chocolate cake and tiramisu which was also pronounced as delicious. I sneakily took some of hubby's cheesecake (with the dim lighting he didn't notice) and that was gorgeous as well. Cantonet has redeemed itself!

The bill came to 150 euros and if I could, I would go back tomorrow!