Foods from The Soca Kitchen
Comments
2015 Jun 14
This is an interesting new restaurant located on Holland Avenue in a converted house formerly inhabited by Pho Van Van. It touts itself as a Spanish gastropub, but the offerings have a large South American component. This richer-than-advertised menu diversity is no surprise as the chef and owner both hail from Venezuela. Promising indeed!
We had booked for 7pm on a Friday evening. When we arrived, we were led past the beautiful (and empty) main floor, upstairs to what really felt like an "overflow" room. Seriously, you will feel like a second class citizen if you end up there. Definitely ask for a table on the main floor when you make a reservation as pricey restaurants have a duty to provide a nice atmosphere. My wife mentioned later that she had considered asking if we could move downstairs but she didn't want to deal with the awkwardness of complaining. When we left about an hour later the main floor was busy and bustling.
Service was good, if a little casual and offhand for the price point. The high point of service was that some dishes were brought to our table by the chef herself. The complimentary sugar cane juice that others had mentioned was absent but we were treated to satisfying little fried arepitas de queso as a starting gift from the kitchen. These dense corncakes arrived piping hot and had a pleasant salty-crunchy exterior.
Thrilled that they have Estrella Damm ($8.50, top left in photo) on tap, it was my first choice of beverage here. This ubiquitous pilsner of Barcelona is refreshing and sweet with a wonderful honey aroma.
The menu offered "langoustines" ($2.75 each, top right in photo); we asked for four. What came instead were giant tasty prawns. Not a problem for us, but unexpected. They arrived in a beautiful bowl filled with ice cubes and lime wedges, accompanied by two dips and the cutest little bottle of Tabasco sauce. Dollar for dollar, these were the most reasonably priced part of our meal. Highly recommended!
My wife had been here for lunch and she wanted me to try the ceviche ($18), which she really enjoyed. It showed up as a tempting pile of tuna and citrus, garnished with plantain chips and dense tostones. This was our favourite dish of the evening. Kudos for them including the warning, "Eating raw seafood poses a health risk ..." message in fine print at the bottom of the menu. All places that serve sashimi, raw sushi, tartare, crudo, or ceviche should be this responsible.
The home-made Butifarra sausage ($15) was a really nice bratwurst-like sausage accompanied by a filling and flavourful chickpea stew. I dribbled Tabasco (from our tiny bottle) on the sausage to spice it up. Yum!
I had read rave reviews of the shaved mushroom salad ($15, bottom left in pic) so I wanted to try that. Unlike what Ms DesBrisay experienced (www.ottawamagazine.com), I found the white truffle component to be quite overwhelming. This could be explained by a difference in personal preference or not, it's difficult to know. The fennel added a nice freshness to this earthy and umami-laden dish. Get it if you live for white truffle oil.
My wife really loves octopus so the Octopus a la plancha ($20, bottom right in pic) was an obvious request. This turned out to be a thick braised octopus tentacle atop a lovely little pile of warm well-dressed fingerling potato halves. The octopus was dry and chewy, which was disappointing but not entirely unexpected as octopus is difficult to work with. The potato salad was the high point of this dish. So this is probably the best potato salad in town but also the most expensive. ;-)
We were full at this point and didn't stay for dessert. Prices seem about 20% higher than I would like to see, but that isn't unusual for this part of town. I'd definitely go back--perhaps for brunch--but only if I can be assured of a table on the main floor. :-)
We had booked for 7pm on a Friday evening. When we arrived, we were led past the beautiful (and empty) main floor, upstairs to what really felt like an "overflow" room. Seriously, you will feel like a second class citizen if you end up there. Definitely ask for a table on the main floor when you make a reservation as pricey restaurants have a duty to provide a nice atmosphere. My wife mentioned later that she had considered asking if we could move downstairs but she didn't want to deal with the awkwardness of complaining. When we left about an hour later the main floor was busy and bustling.
Service was good, if a little casual and offhand for the price point. The high point of service was that some dishes were brought to our table by the chef herself. The complimentary sugar cane juice that others had mentioned was absent but we were treated to satisfying little fried arepitas de queso as a starting gift from the kitchen. These dense corncakes arrived piping hot and had a pleasant salty-crunchy exterior.
Thrilled that they have Estrella Damm ($8.50, top left in photo) on tap, it was my first choice of beverage here. This ubiquitous pilsner of Barcelona is refreshing and sweet with a wonderful honey aroma.
The menu offered "langoustines" ($2.75 each, top right in photo); we asked for four. What came instead were giant tasty prawns. Not a problem for us, but unexpected. They arrived in a beautiful bowl filled with ice cubes and lime wedges, accompanied by two dips and the cutest little bottle of Tabasco sauce. Dollar for dollar, these were the most reasonably priced part of our meal. Highly recommended!
My wife had been here for lunch and she wanted me to try the ceviche ($18), which she really enjoyed. It showed up as a tempting pile of tuna and citrus, garnished with plantain chips and dense tostones. This was our favourite dish of the evening. Kudos for them including the warning, "Eating raw seafood poses a health risk ..." message in fine print at the bottom of the menu. All places that serve sashimi, raw sushi, tartare, crudo, or ceviche should be this responsible.
The home-made Butifarra sausage ($15) was a really nice bratwurst-like sausage accompanied by a filling and flavourful chickpea stew. I dribbled Tabasco (from our tiny bottle) on the sausage to spice it up. Yum!
I had read rave reviews of the shaved mushroom salad ($15, bottom left in pic) so I wanted to try that. Unlike what Ms DesBrisay experienced (www.ottawamagazine.com), I found the white truffle component to be quite overwhelming. This could be explained by a difference in personal preference or not, it's difficult to know. The fennel added a nice freshness to this earthy and umami-laden dish. Get it if you live for white truffle oil.
My wife really loves octopus so the Octopus a la plancha ($20, bottom right in pic) was an obvious request. This turned out to be a thick braised octopus tentacle atop a lovely little pile of warm well-dressed fingerling potato halves. The octopus was dry and chewy, which was disappointing but not entirely unexpected as octopus is difficult to work with. The potato salad was the high point of this dish. So this is probably the best potato salad in town but also the most expensive. ;-)
We were full at this point and didn't stay for dessert. Prices seem about 20% higher than I would like to see, but that isn't unusual for this part of town. I'd definitely go back--perhaps for brunch--but only if I can be assured of a table on the main floor. :-)
2015 Mar 24
We stopped by the other day after looking at the menu online. We had the bruschetta with tomato and Iberica ham. That is very delicious ham and the toast was really tasty as well. The tomato was fresh if a little under seasoned. We also had the chicken salad arepas which was just as it sounds with some avocado thrown in for extra deliciousness. The arepas themselves were really good with a great chewy and crispy combo going on. My only quibble is that the chicken filling needed a little seasoning as well. The yuca fries were also good and a nice change of pace from the typical. I would definitely go back and try a few more things as long as we could start with the bruschetta and ham again.
2015 Jan 14
Visited Soca couple weeks ago and really enjoyed it. The wine/beer list is small but personally like it that way. Food was good. Ordered the Octopus a la plancha...nicely cooked and the creamy sauce (don't remember what kind) was excellent with the fingerling potatoes.
Empanadas (meat and veggie) were so-so since they were quite heavy compared to the Peruvian version. Although still good.
Ceviche was the highlight packed with tender chuncks of fish and lime.
Service was nice and attentive. Owner is from Venezuela and greeted us and had a few word to seek some feedback.
I will returned to sample more dishes.
Empanadas (meat and veggie) were so-so since they were quite heavy compared to the Peruvian version. Although still good.
Ceviche was the highlight packed with tender chuncks of fish and lime.
Service was nice and attentive. Owner is from Venezuela and greeted us and had a few word to seek some feedback.
I will returned to sample more dishes.
ben
First post for this user
- Their sourdough/tomato & garlic/serano harm is fantastic. Great bread.
- The tuna ceviche is also great. Delicious avocado cream.
- The arroz suchio (dirty rice with chocolate) was the sleeper surprise. Really complex and satisfying.
- The stuffed piquillo peppers were good, pretty much what you would expect.
- The calamari was our least favourite. It was very chewy - possibly intentional, but not to our tastes.
It's not a cheap place. The drinks are priced on the higher side - mojitos at $14 and beer was $8 for something around 12-14 oz. Two beers, a glass of wine ($13) and our dishes came to about $125 before tip.
But the meal was delicious overall, we found the service quite good, and there was great people watching from the bar on their patio.