Carmen [Spanish]

Carmen (@carmensayz) have been open a few months now and have heard only but good things. It's after all from the duo behind Torito Tapas, Veronica Carmen Laudes and Chef Luis Valenzuela.

The 70 seats space includes a bar at the front and a main dinning room with an open kitchen.

 The space is rather eclectic but yet very clean and quite modern.

There's no long drink list here; only 4 cocktails, white/red sangria, a few beer and a short list of Spanish wines plus 5 sherry offerings.

 

 Red Sangria $14 

Have to say the sangria was good but really nothing special, I usually prefer white sangria but Ben ordered this for me instead.

 Federico Cocktail $12

~ Tequila, Lemon, Sage, Serrano Syrup

Ben ordered this and although I love the strong Tequila, the sage flavor was just as strong and was too overwhelming for me.

The menu here consist of both tradition and modern interpretations of Spanish tapas dishes and made to order paellas to choose from.

Tomate Verde frito con Queso Feta, Maiz y Pimentos $7

Was expecting a more acidic tomatoes which lack the pop of flavor, but everything else tasted great together including the sweet pepper and corn chutney with the powdery feta which separate each tomato layers.

 Alcachofas Fritas $7

~ Fried artichokes, Maldon salt, aioli

 This was one probably our favorite dish of the night, with a just thin and light enough batter to seal in the delicate moist artichokes flavor inside

 Morcilla y Garbanzos $10

~ Blood sausage, chickpea sofrito, apple, fried egg

 Everything on this plate was delicious, I end up wiping the plate clean with bread.

The blood sausage was very moist, soft and flavorful and perfect with the apple.

 Pimientos de Padron con Salsa de Tomate $10

~ Shisito peppers, tomato sauce

I personally love the simplicity of this dish, some are mild and some packed some intense heat. We only end up getting2-3 spicy ones, wish they were all spicy =P

 Sardinas en latadas $6

~ In house canned sardines, roasted tomatoes, olive oil

Isn't this a cute presentation although I bet the can have been use a million of times. Love the sardines but with the crostini are not that hard.

Paella del Carmen $35

~ Shrimp, clams, mussels, scallops, chorizo, chicken, saffron

It takes 45 mins for this made to order paella, make sure to order right away. It looks like a huge portion but it was rather shallow and the two of us finish it without any difficulties. Love scrapping the burn bits at the bottom of the pan and all the seafood was cook to perfection.

Verdict :

Love everything we had and can't wait to go back to try some other dishes.

Great attentive service and Great food

Love that they have both traditional and modern dishes