Cafe del Sol Botanica

Cafe del Sol Botanica...took us 2 weeks to finally get into it...wow...what a waiting list....so off we went on Wednesday evening for a bite to eat.....

The interior is stunning, really attention to detail, beautiful...its all decorated in fresh colours of white, yellow and green....there is even a plant wall...we were seated just next to it...

Plant Wall

Inside decor

We received our menus and funny...we didn't all have the same menus, some of us had older versions which were missing a few items...that was very strange and the older menus also were missing some prices...anyway....for starters I ordered the duck spring rolls, mom and Mutti the deep fried Boccacini balls, Kim the truffle popcorn and dad polpette (he wanted to compare the polpette to our polpette at il Localino). 5 minutes the waiter informed us that they unfortunately are our of stock of the polpette so dad chose the calamari fritti with an aioli dipping sauce instead. The Boccacini balls were very nice, and beautifully presented, loved the little red pepper sauce underneath them. The truffle popcorn was a disappointment, literally popcorn and one could not really taste the truffle. My springrolls were halved, the top one was delicious the bottom one was not, cause it was lying in the sauce and it was extremely soggy and for the springrolls should be crispy....dad's calamari fritti were nice, the aioli sauce was tasteless, so our tartar sauce at il Localino wine...but what I must say beautifully presented....quite steep prices though....let me share some pics of the starters....

Boccacini balls

Calamari fritti with aioli

Duck springrolls

I then had to ask a waiter 3 times before I received the menu back for me to look at the main courses, in all honesty, service over all was not good, they really need to learn a little bit there....it was not attention at all....mains...I was not too hungry so I decided on a boccacini and avocado salad, Kim went for the salmon with black sesame seeds, grapefruit segments and guacamole, mom decided on the salmon wrapped in parma ham with strawberry risotto, Mutti the butternut gnocci with truffle sauce and dad the tagliatelle ragu (again to compare it to the one at il Localino)....again...presentation was beautiful....Mutti enjoyed her butternut gnocci and I tasted and thought they were indeed nice. Dad's ragu was a little too dry and it needed seasoning, the pasta beautifully cooked though. Kim's salmon, beautifully cooked, but what a tiny portion, that was definitely too small....mom's salmon was also beautifully cooked, the strawberry risotto was ok, nothing to rave about it consistency, there were also some zucchini fritti which were ok, also needed seasoning. My salad was delicious, goo portion size, loved the simple dressing...so I was happy.....now let me share some pics....

 Butterut gnocci with truffles

Tagliatelle Ragu 

Salmon with zucchini fritti and strawberry risotto 

Salmon with guacamole black sesame seeds and grapefruit segments

Boccacini and avocado salad

Kim was a little bit disappointed as he actually wanted to order the duck breast, but they came with vanilla gnocci and he was not allowed to change the side order. He just does not like gnocci at all....hence he settled on the salmon....which tasted good but the weight of the salmon was probably about 120g...dessert menu.....actually there was a surprise, Mutti with her sweet tooth did not find anything, nothing tickled her fancy...and then she thought she wanted a scoop of lemon sorbet, but minimum quantity is 3 scoops...a bit too much...dad and Kim went for the simple affogato...expecting to make their own affogato (get the vanilla ice cream and the espresso separate), however, it came already made in a Martini glass.  There was also some crushed Amaretti biscuits and caramelised almond splinters which I actually thought was a nice touch. Now the verdict....would I go back...probably yes, however definitely not in a big rush...service needs to improve, food was good but nothing mind-blowing and the prices are hectic...I mean they are steep.....so you better think twice about visiting Cafe del Sol Botanica.....but all in all we had a nice evening....so from me....cheers....maybe next blog will not be a restaurant review....let's see.......