Posts like this make me sad. Not only because I have something bad to say about the experience, but also because the venue in question, doesn’t seem to want to take feedback on it.
This whole thing was frustrating from start to finish, from the PR company’s unwillingness to take any responsibility, to the venue’s lack of response to email contact. But I promise you that I’ll always be honest about these things, so *takes deep breath* here goes.
Sandinista. Late night cocktail haunt, I must admit that their food hadn’t been brilliant of late. I recalled Spanish tapas and in particular a squid ink risotto that I was very fond of, especially when piled with pulled pork (yes I like pulled pork, so sue me).
So an email from a PR company stating their work with other brands, including the Sandinista venue in Leeds, filled me with anticipation – a new menu, just in time for Christmas. Perfect for those late night Christmas dos where you need something substantial to stave off the excesses of the night, but you don’t fancy paying a ridiculous amount for a giant German sausage.
I was going to be late to the venue, having had my gin skills called on for a last minute charity event. No matter, stated the PR company, we can accommodate pop by when you’re ready. I appreciated their flexibility.
I arrived, and headed downstairs. It appeared I was the only person to be directly told to head there – or so I was informed when I presented myself to fellow guests (not all bloggers) already seated. I was told how to collect my arrival drink (all others were paid for by ourselves, including a lovely off menu Margarita later on. Sandinista do do very good cocktails).
I seated myself and surveyed the table.
A salad of tinned tuna fish, egg, potato and dressing. I’m told very reminiscent of a Russian salad often served on Canarian holiday resorts.
Wild rice, speckled with dots of goats cheese.
Chilled pork terrine.
Chorizo in mulled wine sauce.
I must admit, nothing really wowed me, but it was OK. The rice and the tuna dish certainly lacked imagination and were easily things I could make at home with a bare fridge, and everything, bar the chorizo was a little cold for a winter menu. But, I told myself, we had barely started, and I had been late. Perhaps the temperature was down to that.
Tuna empanadas followed, so more tinned tuna and I was a little confused. An empanada is surely more of a pastry than a toasted sandwich? And like the chorizo, it was overly sweet.
Finally a little savoury saviour in the form of paella. The meat was a little dry, but there was flavour, the rice was cooked well – we fell on it rather hungrily.
The next dish, a traditional Galician dish, merluza ahumada a la gallega, was simple, but again, good – smoked haddock, potato, sea salt, paprika and extra virgin olive oil.
Easily the best dish of the night. Chicken skewers with Moroccan herbs and spices. Again, not difficult to do, but the chicken was tender and we quietly requested extras from the table next to us.
Grilled vegetables on sourdough. The toast had been left to cool on the plate, making the bottom soggy, but the top, despite the glistening vegetables remained stubbornly toasted. The vegetables were good, but lacked the smoke promised on the menu.
Second best dish of the night – and we wished we hadn’t had so many potatoes before. Roasted in duck fat, they were crispy yet fluffy.
Desserts were our final course, and leaning heavily on chocolate, particularly after all those potatoes, I stepped in a little cautiously.
The chocolate mousse was… intense. Heavy, rich, it was more of a ganache than a mousse – given enough air, it would have been great, but I still had two desserts to go, and could feel my arteries tense.
The best dessert of the night – Eton mess. I ate it all, happily. It was a good balance, though I couldn’t help question, strawberries in winter? Cranberries, brandy soaked dried fruit, figs, even whisky drenched orange would have worked better. Why not use some of the amazing in season fruit that would be a lot cheaper and tastier?
Finally, traditional Spanish rice pudding. Now I must admit, I’ve not had Spanish rice pudding. In fact, I’ve not had much rice pudding at all since an event following a dose of it in the school canteen, with strawberry jam. I shall spare you the details of that, however this was heavy, the rice was undercooked, and as well as being heavily dusted with cinnamon, there was a smokiness. An intensely heavy, charred cinnamon smoke that could not be subdued.
It seemed to be present in the milk and caused two of the fellow guests at our table to put the dish back down immediately.
This was all followed by a number of intensely chocolate truffles as a finisher.
For all of you following me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, you’ll have seen me tweet my experience – the good and the bad. For the most part, I was disappointed because these were all dishes I could easily make at home, and I like to enjoy things that I can’t (or won’t) cook at home.
But it’s following this that the confusion arose.
I will always feed back to venues about my experiences, particularly poor ones. Whether that’s on the night, or later on, if I cannot speak to a manager (which has occurred) or I’ll speak to the PR, if they have organised the event. The PR did not introduce themselves all evening, so I was unsure as to who to speak to. So an email was the best option I thought. It would give me time to collate my thoughts, put them on paper and feedback.
So the next day I emailed. The response was, as seems to be the theme, disappointing. Not only were they not responsible for the event, the host venue was, they were also going to feedback their own experience to the venue.
So, I thought I’d email Sandinista direct. Be polite. Let them know what was good, what was bad, and what I’d be writing up.
No reply.
So here we are. Two weeks later. I’ve written a post on a frustrating experience. I’m pretty sure chef would have appreciated a head’s up, or even a chat about it, but I tried. No-one seems to want to listen.
I’m sorry Sandinista. It’s not me. It’s you.
This event was part of a ‘blogger’ evening with Sandinista and I Like Press Ltd. As such all food consumed was free of charge, the first drink was also free, all further drinks were at our own expense.