capitan torres @ liverpool st.

The Friday night out in the city seems to be happening more regularly and this week I found myself with 15 of my friends at Capitan Torres on Liverpool Street. A combination of friends and food is bound to make it a good night out and it was! Having initially stumbled into one of the other Spanish restaurants on Liverpool Street by mistake, J & I made a rather fashionably late entrance to the right restaurant; really I'm not sure how we managed to go into the wrong restaurant when J knew it's name and all. Anyway, turns out we weren't the latest despite being close to 40 minutes late. phew!

On the menu for the night was the suckling pig which Andy had pre-ordered - probably a good choice for such a big group of us. We ended up ordering two lots of paella to go with it and in my opinion, it was enough to go around. There were a few complaints amongst the guys and talks of getting kebabs but for your average person, the meal was decent. Honestly, I don't think I'm a big fan of the Spanish suckling pig. Like your Asian suckling pig, the pig is presented to you whole before it's cut up and garnished with a rather disturbing stalk of vegetable. In this case, the pig was presented to us chewing a carrot, and courtesy of our rather flirtatious waiter, the pig's name was Louis. I imagine the pig gets roasted and given it's a young pig, you don't get that toughness with your regular pork roast. Served with assorted soft vegetables, it made for a reasonable meal. The only thing is that eating Asian suckling pig has taught me how nice pork crackling can be and really, the Spanish way of cooking the same pig just leaves the pig with a chewy and bland crust. Hence my proclamation that I'm not a big fan of the Spanish suckling pig. As for the paella, the crab in it must've been off, period.


Perhaps the highlight of the night would be the combination of the Sangria and our rather flirtatious waiter friend. No one knows what his name was but I believe the guys were in between spewing and having a good laugh at the entertainment we were provided with. Not only were some select few showered with messages and pictures scribbled on napkins (harmless and the not-so-harmless), another few had the pleasure of being squeezed around the waist and in parting, a rather enthusiastic farewell. I was asked to take that last photo so hopefully, it serves as a remnant of the night and our friend. Thumbs up to the guys who organised it; I had a good night!