Ambrosía is in an old house, so is a fairly large place divided into several rooms. The good sized tables are of a glossy wood, well spaced and appointed with comfy chairs and lovely large cloth napkins. Music plays softly in the background and service is attentive, well paced and friendly. It is a family run restaurant with the dad and his son working the front, his daughter, Carolina Bazán, is the chef and his wife helps in front but is mainly in charge of their catering business. I’m guessing it was due to some of her recent commissions that there were so many gorgeous fresh flower arrangements around the restaurant. The son, Alvaro Bazán recommended our wine which was a good pick and a nice value.
It is all al a carté for the menu and the waiters were willing to make recommendations. Tables are quickly given a fresh slice of bread and some tasty butter. There is a book about the restaurant with some recipes and lots of pictures of the family and the chef daughter also has a cookbook of her own with she and her partner’s recipes and stories.
We started with the beef heart served with capers, ungreased toast and a couple sauces. The heart was nicely chewy and cooked perfectly but the sauces were a bit of a mish-mash of tastes, however it somehow worked. I thought there would be more seasoning on the outside of the meat but it was overall a good starter and perfectly sized to split.
For a main course we had the Wagyu beef cooked a nice rare and served with outstanding fries. The Bernaise tasted more like mayonnaise and the ketchup included some additional seasonings. The meat was more like a flank steak than the listed skirt cut. The mustard seeds on top looked good but added little taste. The meat had been nicely glazed.
We ended with a walnut tart served with vanilla ice cream, also recommended by Alvaro. It had a great crust and was not too sweet but did have plenty of flavor. It was a fine way to end a nice meal.
