Restaurante La Farala is on the second story of a building that has a Flamenco club on the first floor. They have been open one and a half years. Music is in the background and the lighting has a yellow tint to it. The polished bare wood tables are set with a gray or black stone placemats and a contrasting white or black napkin. Bench seats are along the walls for some of the closely set tables and others are free standing with just chairs. Several large square columns divide the room and one wall had some heavily draped windows overlooking the street. The floor is a nice wood plank and the ceiling had some recessed portions. The show downstairs was over so there was no noise from there but seating is available when the shows are on and in that case there is another way to enter the restaurant. The menu offers a la carte items and 3 tastings of different sizes. Optional wine pairings are available. We ordered the middle size menu and our own wine. The waiter said the longer menu would take over 3 hours and you should be really hungry with it.
The staff took awhile to get started with us but once they did the pacing was good. They offered us a complimentary glass of cava because of the delay.
The first set of snacks included potato, eggplant gel with honey, falafel with a liquid center and Sierra Nevada Water. The Moorish bread was a soft bun with a filling. The falafel had the most flavor of the group.
The Oyster/Padrón/Pepper was a French oyster with a Padrón pepper sauce and topped with pickled pepper slices. There was a nice bit of spicy heat to the oyster. It was a good combination with the spice really bringing out the oyster flavor.
Potatoes/Bicycle/Red Shrimp was made with potato gnocchi, raw shrimp in a sauce of red prawn and sea urchin. The shrimp and gnocchi were well matched but a touch on the salty side. The broth was tasty but mild.
Housemade bread was white or wheat. It was presented in slices with a fruity olive oil. The white bread was very light and the dark a bit more dense. Neither really had a crisp crust.
Squid/Mushroom was a white mushroom emulsion with squid and portabella pieces. The broth was really strongly flavored and the squid cut into long pasta-like shreds. The broth thickened and made the squid strips pasty but they still tasted good.
Cauliflower/Almond/Truffle was cauliflower cooked in a low temperature with butter and sitting on a rice flour bechamel. The dish had lots of flavor, the sauce having a hint of nutmeg. The cauliflower was cooked to a nice tender. It was a good one.
Seabass/Cabbage/Marinade was sea bass with cabbage in a garlic vinegar sauce. The fish was cooked perfectly and the sauce quite tasty. There were some salt crystals on the top that sometimes were too much but easily spread or flicked off. The cabbage was a good match with the fish.
Shank/Lamb was just that and it was carved tableside. It was cooked Santceloni style with garlic and herbs. It was plated with nicely cooked eggplant. The lamb was cooked to a wonderful flavor and texture but its good strong flavor overpowered the eggplant that was served on sour cream.
Orange was the first dessert. It was a sweet orange on a macadamia crumble with a passion fruit and orange emulsion. It was a good, a tasty combination of flavors and textures.
The second dessert was called Moorish/Sweet. It was a soft cake with spices topped with sweet cream alongside Greek yogurt ice cream. The cake was herby and some crumbles were under the ice cream which added crunch. The server gave us a glass of sweet wine to accompany it which was nice.
Last treats were a profiterole with chocolate and cinnamon that was nice. A chocolate and hazelnut ball was crispy on the outside and had a soft interior. A frozen black truffle was the third piece and it was super strong chocolate with truffle undertones.
