Sunday 11 May 2014

CAU Cambridge

I don't usually do restaurant reviews. Mostly because I don't eat out very much. I also find most restaurants pretty much the same, I enjoy the food but its not special enough to knock my socks off. Recently me, Sis and the Culinary Consultant headed to CAU Cambridge for a celebratory meal. And I have to admit I was rather impressed. I also apologise for having only a few pictures and them being bad quality, I only decided to write this review after all food had already been sampled and by that time I was so absorbed in the experience of eating that taking pictures was far from my mind.

CAU is part of a chain of restaurants inspired by Buenos Aires cuisine. And that, my friends, means meat. Not just any meat, very nice meat cooked to absolute perfection. There are vegetarian dishes on the menu as well, and while they were very nice (my Sis sampled quite a few of them), in my opinion there is no point in going to CAU if you aren't planning on having meat.

We started our meal with drinks and the bread basket which is served with chipotle butter while we were perusing the menu. The breads were nice and fresh, but I was a bit worried about the chipotle butter as I don't do spicy. However, it was very mild and perfect for me. In fact, I think I fell in love with that butter! It was so good, I had to restrain myself from using my finger to wipe off the leftover butter from the little ramekin when we had finished the bread!

Sis chose to have several of the small plates and sides, and the Culinary Consultant had one of the huge steaks with chips and causlaw (as the menu says, "it's like coleslaw but better"). But although I say it myself, I think my selection was definitely the winner of the night. Tapa de cuadril, thinly sliced beef grilled in a way I have never had meat before. It was the most tender meat I have ever had, I swear it melted in my mouth without chewing. Although the meat was thinly sliced, it was still beautifully pink in the middle of the thin slices. When I had my first bite, I just couldn't believe meat could be this good! I had my meat with crunchy, golden, beautiful (and triple fried) chunky chips and some more of the chipotle butter. Healthy? Not even close! Delicious? Understatement of the century!!!

In addition to the good food, the service was very friendly and relatively quick although it was a Saturday evening (but we dined right at the start of the evening, before the mad rush). The food was reasonably priced in relation to the quality, but certainly not a cheap meal. I will definitely go back, for some more of that lovely meat but also to try the CAU cornflake ice cream Sundae which I was sadly deprived of as my fellow diners didn't feel like having dessert. I watched a gentleman in the table next to us have it, and let me say, I just have to have one for myself!

Disclaimer, I have not been asked for, or compensated in any way for this review. It's just my opinion of a restaurant I thought was very nice.

 

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