The new expansive menu at Barcelos features international delicacies not just from South Africa but also from Portugal, Mexico and Italy. But they could do with a little bit of consistency, says Kritika Dua
Say Barcelos and the two pictures that pop up in the head are red and black burgers. But the restaurant has decided to push the envelope and expanded its menu which now features chicken parmesan, quesadilla, fajitas, Mexican burritos and Italian pasta. It takes guests on a culinary world tour with international delicacies inspired by Portugal, Italy, Spain and Mexico.
Its Saket outlet is quite spacious and has sofas as well as chairs for a cozy experience. Dim lighting, unique wall paintings and upbeat music in evening hours add to the fun vibe.
The restaurant is renowned for their non-vegetarian delicacies, particularly their flame-grilled peri peri chicken but there are lip-smacking vegetarian options as well. It serves around 21 varieties of Sangria. Barcelos’ first restaurant in Pretoria, South Africa, dates back to 1993 and it has five outlets in India. The Portugal-inspired dishes include a rice bowl which has grilled chicken legs tossed with onions, bell peppers, olives, chickpeas served on a spicy bed of rice. Another option is Trinchado with rice, mixed peppers, onions and tomatoes cooked in peri peri sauce, which is served with sour dough bread and butter.
We started our meal with Onion rings, Crunchy cheese poppers and Empanadas. The Crunchy cheese poppers were crisp on the outside and melt in the mouth with the creamy goodness of cheddar and mozzarella cheese. The Onion rings looked perfect but as can often happen with food, the looks were deceiving. These turned out to be super oily, so much so that we could actually taste the heaviness. It was served with condiments like the peri mayo and an African chilli infused mayo which had chopped onion and corn and was tangy and spicy. The Empanadas were basically half-moon tortilla pockets with a generous filling of beans, carrots, peas, sweet corn, onions and carrots. The sauce, however, was too dry for our taste buds. Also, the inner layer was under-cooked, which further added to our dissatisfaction. But the next dish that came up more than made up for it. Just a bite into the bruschetta and I was overpowered by a delicious garlicky taste. Add to it the freshness of tomatoes coupled with the soft and salty taste of paneer — which made it come close to perfection. The only underside — had it been toasted a bit more, it would have taken the dish a notch higher.
Barcelos also serves alcoholic shakes and refreshing drinks. A tall glass of Kiwi cooler with its strong sweet and sour taste was a sure winner. It went well with Tostada chips (deep-fried tortilla chips), a Mexican delicacy which came loaded with tomatoes, jalapenos, beans topped with salsa and sour cream. The appetising dish was one of the highlights of the new menu. A perfect dish to be paired with alcohol. What came to our table next straight from the oven was a piping hot Farm fresh pizza with generous toppings of broccoli, tomato, yellow and red bell pepper, corn, capsicum on a thin crust base. The tempting pizza tasted as good as it looked and was baked to perfection.
We dug into the Soft shell tacos served with black beans and Mexican rice. The palatable rice was packed with flavours and veggies (corn, carrot, onion) and the spice quotient was taken care of by peri peri and tasted delicious with piquant black bean sauce. The taco shells were a bit under-cooked, the quantity of veggies (lettuce beans onion, capsicum) was adequate but another blooper was that the cottage cheese was not marinated. Overall, the soft shell tortillas are not something we would recommend. We ended the meal with vegetarian quesadilla. The thicker than usual tortilla wrap was filled with cottage cheese, capsicum but it was a bit dry as the amount of mozzarella and red cheddar cheese was way less than we would have preferred.