Me and my girlfriend dined at Marco's last night.
On entry, we were both impressed with the decor and atmosphere; she insisted that she wanted to take home at least two of the nice lampshades there! She sat on the cusioned benchseat opposite me, while I sat on the plastic chair with an old crimson cushion. Now I weigh in the vicinity of 90kg, no featherweight by any measure but no front-rower either. The legs of this chair kept moving underneath me, which made me rather self-conscious thinking that the thing was going to give way underneath me! Fortunately, it never did; but this should be noted.
No sooner than we had taken our seats, the kindly waitress was beside us with menus in hand, a smile on her face and a warm welcome for us. We ordered drinks from the wine list; her - Cabernet Merlot; me - Pinot Noir. Browsing the list, I saw that the range available was rather extensive for such a small BYO restaurant, and well suited as accompaniment to the food menu.
I ordered the calamari (squid) entree. 5 minutes later, it was sitting on our table steaming hot. Now I consider myself somewhat of a squid connoisseur, but I had never tasted it like this before. The spices looked a bit heavy, I thought that it was going to hurt my mouth to eat it. I was pleasantly surprised. It was almost perfect; a slight taste of cinnamon which I though was very unique. A few drops of lemon juice later, and I had devoured the lot. Very tasty and a nice warm up to the main meal.
I ordered the Steak with Couscous and Tomato Relish, she ordered the Lamb Lhalou. The wait for the mains dishes wasn't too long, nor was it brief. In fact, with the conversation and wine-drinking me and my girlfriend engaged in, the waiting period was just right. This scores big in my books because I'm not big on waiting when I'm starving.
The steak meal arrived. I couldn't see the steak anywhere on the plate! It was smothered in tomato relish with generous amounts of onions. A few heads of broccoli, a slice of fresh homemade bread and a couple of sprigs of fresh coriander topped of a well-presented and huuuuuuge dish! The steak was cooked just how I like it, medium-rare, and I hadn't even been asked how I wanted it cooked! Top marks for the telepathic abilities on the chef's part
I couldn't get through the tomato relish completely, but I didn't need to - I was full by the time I'd finished the steak and helped my girlfriend with her dish.
The Lamb Lhalou - when we read about this dish in the menu we knew that one of us was going to try it. "...slow cooked from early afternoon in a stoneware pot with oranges and apple slices..." This dish was delicious. The meat practically fell apart when you looked at it, and it melted in your mouth. The sesame seeds scattered over the dish added a lovely flavour also. The Cabernet Merlot was an excellent choice of wine to accompany this dish.
Out of 10, I would happily give Marco's an emphatic 8.5 - I don't give 10's out, I've yet to experience a dining experience that I would call 'perfect', but this restaurant helped me and my girlfriend to have one of the best nights out that we will never forget.
5th Jul 04, 04:03 PM
Marco's Restaurant 
Not that great 
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