Segovia
Tapas Bar and Restaurant
484 Stradbrook Ave
(204) 477-6500
segoviatapasbar@gmail.com
http://www.segoviatapasbar.com/index2.php#/home/
December, 2009
The Village’s newest restaurant brings Spanish cuisine to Stradbrook Avenue near Osborne Street (near the Happy Cooker). Segovia, named after a city in Spain known for its beautiful Roman buildings, calls itself a tapas bar and boasts of genuine Spanish foods. Segovia follows the same plan as many of today’s restaurants, with black walls and furniture, and fixtures embracing neo-modern designs. The first impression comes in hanging your coat on suspended chains, leaving your outerwear to resemble meal locker carcasses. New age pop finishes the ambiance. I have nothing against the black and white trend, with attractive, young servers in black outfits, but I also appreciate deviations from the cookie-cutter concepts. Some imagination in décor would make Segovia most suited to the Osborne area feel.
While I have no objections to the overall décor, the table placements present some problems. Because the dining room isn’t very spacious, I can understand that the owners want to make the most out of the area that they have. However, the number of tables exceeds the amount of room available to provide diners with adequate elbow room. The restaurant crammed the five of us at a four-person table. At one point, we literally had dishes fall off our table. Regardless of how good the food tastes, if you’re not seated comfortably, you won’t enjoy your meal.
Traditional tapas in Spain feature a huge variety of tastings, mostly seafood-based. Each dish has a small portion of food, akin to the Chinese dim sum volumes. The intent is to permit the diner to sample a generous number of dishes without having to gluttonously overindulge. Unfortunately, every tapas restaurant I visited in North America serves tapas dishes that offer as much food as a typical lunch portion. Only the most voracious diner would have more than two tapas per meal. If North American tapas bars cut their portions by half (and prices of course), the experience would bring you a true taste of Spain. Alas, Segovia adheres to the North American standard of tapas service.
Segovia offers an interesting selection of tapas from which to sample. We start with the charcuterie board, which consists of several cured meats with a grainy mustard dip, accompanied by slices of beets and pickles. All of the slices show off the intense flavours of meats beautifully; I recommend interspersing slices of cheese between portions of the meat. The wonderfully presented quail’s eggs with paprika salt are almost too beautiful to eat. These delicate little eggs provide just enough to tickle the taste buds. Some may find the paprika salt a little overwhelming for the boiled eggs, so be careful how much you dip. The pork belly pastrami comes with herbed white beans and the same Guinness-based mustard. This tapa is the highlight of the evening as the delicious, fatty cut of meat is roasted to perfection. The sauce miraculously augments the meat while the beans provide nice relief from the richness of the belly (pork belly is the same cut used to make bacon). Hard core steak fanatics will probably not like the grilled hangar steak as it’s a considerable deviation from the North American slab of grilled steak. Segovia slices the meat thinly and finishes it with a green horseradish salsa. It took me a little while to get accustomed to the combination. I can see the attraction in this preparation but it doesn’t really work for me. The roasted quail also presents some nice flavours but because of the nature of this diminutive bird, there isn’t much meat to go around. The quail comes with Serrano ham, and black beans in a fig and orange gastrique. This time, the accompaniment outshines the main as this black bean concoction delivers a beautiful assortment of flavours. The chefs cook the beans perfectly al dente, although the occasional underdone bean appears.
I hoped to find more seafood dishes than Segovia offers. Spain is a coastal country that prides itself on its wealth of treasures from the ocean, but Segovia only features a salted cod bar snack and a seared scallops tapa. Normally, I love the unadulterated flavour of the simple scallop, seared in butter; however, Segovia’s sherry caramel delivers a deliciously sugar-sweet tingling to the tantalising sweetness of the scallop meat—what a wonderful dish.
Segovia offers several interesting looking desserts; not being a dessert fan, I would rather try another tapa but subtle tastes of the Santiago tarts provides a nice outlet for those who don’t like desserts that taste too sweet. The blood-red citrus segments zap a zingy contrast to the sweetness of the tart and the apricot puree. Toasted almonds completes the dish beautifully.
To go with your tapas, Segovia carefully selected a generous assortment of Spanish red wines, and a smattering of whites (Spain isn’t known for a lot of whites). They also offer four cavas, if you’re in the mood for delicious sparkling wine. Sparkling wines supposedly augment the appetite and you’ll need it if you want to get a fair sampling of Segovia’s wonderful tapas. The drink menu also offers a number of beers, all of which were meticulously selected (you won’t find any Labatt’s Lite or Bud here). A good selection of sherrys tempt you with an alternative to dessert.
Every page of Segovia’s menu tells you that the chefs and owners carefully selected everything that appears. The dishes themselves are painfully put together with care and thoughtfulness. If you’re a person who likes simple foods with simple tastes, Segovia is probably not the place for you, but if you’re a foodie who can’t get enough of new flavours, inventive combinations, and innovative fusions, you will love Segovia—I do. I suggest that you go with a group of friends so that you can sample more of what the menu has to offer.
**** /5
This is a free product that I'm happy to bring to you. If you enjoyed reading this, please consider clicking on the accompanying ads. This is the only payment I receive for offering this public service. Thank you as always for reading.
Tapas Bar and Restaurant
484 Stradbrook Ave
(204) 477-6500
segoviatapasbar@gmail.com
http://www.segoviatapasbar.com/index2.php#/home/
December, 2009
The Village’s newest restaurant brings Spanish cuisine to Stradbrook Avenue near Osborne Street (near the Happy Cooker). Segovia, named after a city in Spain known for its beautiful Roman buildings, calls itself a tapas bar and boasts of genuine Spanish foods. Segovia follows the same plan as many of today’s restaurants, with black walls and furniture, and fixtures embracing neo-modern designs. The first impression comes in hanging your coat on suspended chains, leaving your outerwear to resemble meal locker carcasses. New age pop finishes the ambiance. I have nothing against the black and white trend, with attractive, young servers in black outfits, but I also appreciate deviations from the cookie-cutter concepts. Some imagination in décor would make Segovia most suited to the Osborne area feel.
While I have no objections to the overall décor, the table placements present some problems. Because the dining room isn’t very spacious, I can understand that the owners want to make the most out of the area that they have. However, the number of tables exceeds the amount of room available to provide diners with adequate elbow room. The restaurant crammed the five of us at a four-person table. At one point, we literally had dishes fall off our table. Regardless of how good the food tastes, if you’re not seated comfortably, you won’t enjoy your meal.
Traditional tapas in Spain feature a huge variety of tastings, mostly seafood-based. Each dish has a small portion of food, akin to the Chinese dim sum volumes. The intent is to permit the diner to sample a generous number of dishes without having to gluttonously overindulge. Unfortunately, every tapas restaurant I visited in North America serves tapas dishes that offer as much food as a typical lunch portion. Only the most voracious diner would have more than two tapas per meal. If North American tapas bars cut their portions by half (and prices of course), the experience would bring you a true taste of Spain. Alas, Segovia adheres to the North American standard of tapas service.
Segovia offers an interesting selection of tapas from which to sample. We start with the charcuterie board, which consists of several cured meats with a grainy mustard dip, accompanied by slices of beets and pickles. All of the slices show off the intense flavours of meats beautifully; I recommend interspersing slices of cheese between portions of the meat. The wonderfully presented quail’s eggs with paprika salt are almost too beautiful to eat. These delicate little eggs provide just enough to tickle the taste buds. Some may find the paprika salt a little overwhelming for the boiled eggs, so be careful how much you dip. The pork belly pastrami comes with herbed white beans and the same Guinness-based mustard. This tapa is the highlight of the evening as the delicious, fatty cut of meat is roasted to perfection. The sauce miraculously augments the meat while the beans provide nice relief from the richness of the belly (pork belly is the same cut used to make bacon). Hard core steak fanatics will probably not like the grilled hangar steak as it’s a considerable deviation from the North American slab of grilled steak. Segovia slices the meat thinly and finishes it with a green horseradish salsa. It took me a little while to get accustomed to the combination. I can see the attraction in this preparation but it doesn’t really work for me. The roasted quail also presents some nice flavours but because of the nature of this diminutive bird, there isn’t much meat to go around. The quail comes with Serrano ham, and black beans in a fig and orange gastrique. This time, the accompaniment outshines the main as this black bean concoction delivers a beautiful assortment of flavours. The chefs cook the beans perfectly al dente, although the occasional underdone bean appears.
I hoped to find more seafood dishes than Segovia offers. Spain is a coastal country that prides itself on its wealth of treasures from the ocean, but Segovia only features a salted cod bar snack and a seared scallops tapa. Normally, I love the unadulterated flavour of the simple scallop, seared in butter; however, Segovia’s sherry caramel delivers a deliciously sugar-sweet tingling to the tantalising sweetness of the scallop meat—what a wonderful dish.
Segovia offers several interesting looking desserts; not being a dessert fan, I would rather try another tapa but subtle tastes of the Santiago tarts provides a nice outlet for those who don’t like desserts that taste too sweet. The blood-red citrus segments zap a zingy contrast to the sweetness of the tart and the apricot puree. Toasted almonds completes the dish beautifully.
To go with your tapas, Segovia carefully selected a generous assortment of Spanish red wines, and a smattering of whites (Spain isn’t known for a lot of whites). They also offer four cavas, if you’re in the mood for delicious sparkling wine. Sparkling wines supposedly augment the appetite and you’ll need it if you want to get a fair sampling of Segovia’s wonderful tapas. The drink menu also offers a number of beers, all of which were meticulously selected (you won’t find any Labatt’s Lite or Bud here). A good selection of sherrys tempt you with an alternative to dessert.
Every page of Segovia’s menu tells you that the chefs and owners carefully selected everything that appears. The dishes themselves are painfully put together with care and thoughtfulness. If you’re a person who likes simple foods with simple tastes, Segovia is probably not the place for you, but if you’re a foodie who can’t get enough of new flavours, inventive combinations, and innovative fusions, you will love Segovia—I do. I suggest that you go with a group of friends so that you can sample more of what the menu has to offer.
**** /5
This is a free product that I'm happy to bring to you. If you enjoyed reading this, please consider clicking on the accompanying ads. This is the only payment I receive for offering this public service. Thank you as always for reading.
Hey Ray -- I too enjoyed Segovia immensely. My thoughts are posted at www.zollipop.com
ReplyDeleteWell said Ray. Segovia is a must visit. Makes sense that they're catering to a N. American diner. Winnipeggers are discerning diners and expect good value for money = good portions. Plus we N. Americans tend to eat larger portions than Europeans anyway. Great observations. I recorded my experiences at www.SavourWinnipeg.com
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