graciously fishfaced

After last night's little banquet at Stephen Hodge's fun outlet, I think we basically decided his is our favourite hang out in town. It's hard to understand how he seems to be the only cook we know, who has an incredible awareness regarding the virtues of fresh fish and not complex cooking.

Lynn decided to explore unknown territories and she started with an unusual first, which happened to be a quite illuminating one: shrimp ravioli. The sauce, specifically, was worth every single millilitre. Mr. Hodges dropped by our table to offer some bread, which culminated this initial phase of our magnificent dinner.

Bonito sashimi with seaweed flakes and violet baby flowers was my own starting point. I completely enjoyed it, but it was hard to get more excited after that colossal shrimp sauce.

A 2009 Leirana, barrica, which I brought on my last trip from Galicia in October, was a glorious wine for such a delightful masticating session.

Crispy skin bar cod with leek puree, roasted tomatoes and garlic was one of the specials of the day, which fuelled our unstoppable gastroblast.

It looks like we have become sort of addicted to the brilliantly prepared potatoe chips: right flavour, right cooking degree, right texture...

I got another special of the day: seared blue fin tuna with fermented garlic mayo and watercress.

For dessert we had for the first time the house banana souffle with vanilla ice cream and passion fruit. No discussion about being our best possible choice.