There’s something so exciting about foodie creations that are totally unique and a little bit magical so that when you’re eating you feel totally inspired and delighted. A family friend of ours suggested we try
The Bazaar at the SLS Hotel for ‘tapas with a twist’ and an out of this world dining experience.
When you enter a hotel design by Philippe Starck, you know the decor is going to be seriously imaginative.
I want one of these pink love seats for my flat!
The restaurant is something of a bazaar itself with an eclectic mix of art objects, funky chairs, cool wall paper and flashy lights.
Check out the bar with its crazy holograms.
It seems like a strange collection of different objects but everything just seemed to work.
When we saw the barman creating a ‘smoking cocktail’ we knew we had to have one.
The drink is called an LN2 Caiprinha and is a Brazilian cachaca made with fresh lime and sugar frozen by liquid nitrogen. I’d never seen a drink made like this before and we knew we were in for a night of pure enchantment.
At the helm of The Bazaar is Jose Andres, a chef known worldwide for his culinary creative and unique dining experiences. I checked out his wikipedia page, he’s won loads of awards, James Beard named him ‘Most Outstanding Chef’ in 2011 and he’s even won a
SilverSpoon award! The menu at The Bazaar is all small plates and Andres offers the choice of traditional tapas dishes alongside modern tapas. There is a vast amount of options on the menu and we didn’t know where to start.
Fortunately, we had some sweet potato crisps to munch on while we made our decision.
I’m a sucker for any dish containing smoked salmon so we started with the ‘lox and bagel’ cone.
If you’ve read my blog on the
French Laundry, you may remember we ate a similar canape there which reminded us of one we’d had at our wedding. I loved the idea of playing with the traditional smoked salmon bagel and presenting it in a cone topped with a little bit of roe.
In my previous blog, I mentioned Mr Silver and I had discovered a new found love for fish tacos. So we ordered some, again from the modern tapas selection.
The Japanese taco contained grilled eel, shiso, cucumber and wasabi. I heard the waiter say ‘You can eat the paper too’ but when I did Mr Silver exclaimed ‘What are you doing?!’ Apparently he’d heard the waiter say the opposite. We’re still not sure who was right, but eating the paper on this delicious morsel didn’t make me ill so I guess we don’t need to worry too much!
Next was a white fish ceviche in an avocado roll. Another clever play on sushi and ceviche in this delicate small plate.
We were told the ‘Philly cheesesteak’ is one of the menu highlights so Mr Silver had to have one. He loved the meaty miniature but could have easily eaten another one (or three!!).
Seared squid in ink with crispy rice. After an incident with squid ink at
Berner’s Tavern I was worried this would turn my mouth black but this time I was fine!
Sauteed shrimp with garlic. We had anticipated that this selection would fill us up but as you can see ‘small’ plates really are pretty small so we ordered some more.
Meanwhile Mr Silver thought is would be hilarious to show me what I look like while I’m waiting for food…
haha…
Mr Silver tried to dissuade me from carbs but the little canape sized morsels weren’t really filling enough and I had to order some tomato bread to soak up the cocktails and wine.
Next was a cheesy mushroom special with a slow poached egg. The dish was delicious and total comfort food.
Artichokes, another big mutual favourite of ours and another fantastic small plate.
Our final dish of scallops and risotto was at last something a little more hearty and the table saw the welcome return of carbs.
Next, the waiter asked if we’d like to move to the bar for dessert. Puzzled, we said no we’d rather stay at the table. We later found out this was a big error and we’d missed on a whole dessert bar, a bit like a pick and mix! However, we did have a dessert while we were there.
A nitro coconut floating island with passion fruit and vanilla. A fabulously inflated puff of ice cream sat neatly on caramelised bananas, it was gorgeous presentation and kind of reminded me of a hot air balloon! It also made me think of the beautiful French Polynesian Islands that we would be heading to soon which are said to have the scent of vanilla.
There’s definitely a little bit of wizardry going on in the kitchen at The Bazaar and Mr Silver and I had a wonderful time. The food is a totally fantastic quality and the atmosphere and whimsical decor compliment the food nicely. However, if you’re feeling hungry be prepared to order quite a few dishes as portions are teeny tiny!
Watch this space for further adventures in the City of Angels.
