...es/LosTorosBredaOpinion1355629:
"NOT IT DEJEIS By halves! TO READ IT WHOLE I go to contaros which I have done. Today I have looked for a cat, I have taken one that I have seen by my street, I have had it locked up in the dark in one habitacion during a time, to cabrear it. In the short while, ... Read review
Advantages: Down to earth, decent food, some elements of authenticity Disadvantages: Not a plush, fancy place if you like that kind of thing
...think it is good that Los Toros and Gauchos are distinct from each other. They both have their time and place. Strip away pretention, chrome fittings and fancy websites and focus on the food. This could be the place for you for a refreshing change.
This is the second and final instalment of my "Argentinean Steakhouses of Breda" series. Previously, I tried a chain where some of the "character" has been taken out of the place. This time, all the original character remains. But is that a good thing?
THE RESTAURANT
When dining alone, I like to arrive early so that it's quiet and I can get served quickly. When I arrived at 6pm on Easter Monday it seemed there were some family members of the staff dining. By the time I left at 7, there were a few people coming in, so it seems to me that this is a quite popular place with the locals. It's certainly slightly off the beaten track, on a side street away from the main square, near the refurbished canal. I've always seen a lot of "colourful" characters on this road, which seems to be a hotbed of immigrant activity and shops, which I personally like, and "coffee" and "smart" shops, which I don't. There are also a couple of sex shops and I'm saying nothing. In any case, the restaurant is in the perfect place to attract the minimum of attention with its dark, intimate interior. I have heard this is what the other Argentine restaurant in Breda, Gauchos, used to look like. Random South American music was played at a non disturbing volume throughout.
Each table is set against the side wall, and attached to the wall is a small shelf containing salt, pepper, Tabasco sauce and a bottle of wine. In my case, the wine was a Callia Alta 2006 Shiraz-Malbec Argentinean jobbie. The walls were a light blue background upon which various what I would assume to be Argentinean scenes are painted - cowboys, the pampas, that kind of thing. Very near to me was a painted map of South America. Over all of the tables was a v-shaped wooden beam roof, just to add to the feeling of claustrophobia. I noted that above some of the slats were a couple of McCains boxes, maybe to hide some hole, but that just shows that the French fries are frozen. From the beams hung various metal implements, cooking pots, gravy boars and teapots amongst them.
The entire wooden floored seating area is comprised of booths that would seat about 4 people, maybe 6 at a real squeeze. There is room for 20 or so diners. Each booth comprises of a dark wooden table with a dark wooden bench with dark brown leather seating on either side of it. Even the place mats were leather (complete with graffiti). The area is pretty dark, but the tables are very well lit up by a 4 section square wooden lightshade just above your head. This gives the rather amusing effect of not being able to see who you're talking to very well but the food very brightly.
Before you reach the seating area, there are some coat hooks on the right and on the left as you walk in is the main grill and cooking area, which you would be able to see from the outside window, quite cool I think.
THE FOOD
Suffice to say that the menu is quite heavy on beef. Various cuts of steak are on offer, as well as sides like French fries and baked potatoes. You can also order sauces such as BBQ and béarnaise. I think there were some surf and turf options and I think there was also a vegetarian pasta dish.
The orange juice I ordered at the beginning was served in a wine glass and was the standard from a carton effort.
The steak I ordered was a 200g cut of Bife De Lomo which according to my previous experiences in Argentine steakhouses would be the leanest, highest quality cut. I ordered this rare, or at least I think I did. The manager / waiter had quite rudimentary English which actually made things quite fun, he was a well intentioned enough fella and we agreed on my having the steak "red". And indeed it arrived nice and rare. This was a very tasty cut indeed; cooked on the outside but very red on the inside, exactly how I wanted it I only had one small piece of muscle in the steak that I couldn't eat, apart from that it was totally lean, easy to cut. I wouldn't say it was melt in the mouth, it did require some chewing, but I didn't have a problem with this. I noticed the positive effect a bit of salt and pepper seasoning had, it really brought the flavour out.
You have to order any sides and sauces separately at extra cost, and so I plumped for a baked potato and what I thought would be onion rings. I chose a garlic sauce to accompany the meat. My potato arrived on the plate with the beef, wrapped in foil with a teaspoon sticking out of it. The sauce was also on the plate in a small glass bowl. To complete this was a small slice of tomato and a lettuce leaf. The onion was in fact fried onion segments, served in a square bowl on the side and I remembered at that point that I had made the same mistake before with these.
The potato was very well cooked and in fact a bit crunchy at the skin corners, which was unexpected but not unpleasant. The inside of the potato was well cooked. I found this to be a bit floury, and hence in need of some sauce. Unfortunately, they forgot to bring the sour cream or butter that they should have, and I wasn't in the mood to quibble, so I just used some of the garlic sauce which had the required effect.
When I say I made a mistake with the onions, it was a fortunate one, as the fried, almost caramelised onions were a delicious accompaniment. They were full of flavour and had a nice, slippery texture.
The sauce was fine; quite thick, creamy and containing some herbs. A bit more of it would have been nice, but I guess that's my own fault for using it on the potato.
SERVICE
The service was adequate and friendly. I was left to my own devices but assistance was always available where I required it. The guy serving me was the manager, and I've had a chat with him before on a previous occasion. After a while he remembered me and asked where I was from, that kind of thing. I remember that the owner is Argentinean and the meat is imported from the homeland, but this guy runs the place for him. He is Palestinian and I think some of the other staff were also Middle Eastern. He asked me if the food was OK while I was eating. As he asked me in Dutch I replied "lekker!" which more or less means delicious (although the Dutch use it a lot in different contexts but that's another story). This got the thumbs up from him. I'll let them off with the sour cream as I'm sure I could have got it had I pointed this out.
This isn't the sort of place where you get mints or choccies with the bill but, really, does this bother you?
Interestingly I saw the couple next to me served with a baguette with some garlic butter as their starter. I did wonder if I'd missed something, but I've seen this in other restaurants (e.g. Greek) where I didn't get this but the Dutch did. I am pretty sure they ordered and paid extra for this, although why you'd want bread all the f*****g time with f*****g everything is an enduring mystery only the Dutch can answer.
FUN WITH BABEL FISH
Interestingly, this restaurant has already been reviewed on Ciao Spain, or at least there is something written on that entry. If my Babel Fishing had a whopper this would surely be it:
"NOT IT DEJEIS By halves! TO READ IT WHOLE I go to contaros which I have done. Today I have looked for a cat, I have taken one that I have seen by my street, I have had it locked up in the dark in one habitacion during a time, to cabrear it. In the short while, I have removed it patio to an inner that I have, so that it could not escape and it has been pursuing by the patio a good short while. I left it, so that she got tired and she did not give to much coñazo. Like veia that tapeworm but reflected, but ability... we go that it went for length, I have begun to him to nail needles of these to sew... to see if the wounds conseguian to slow down it. The case is that if, has begun to tire, this clear that those wounds in the back and that blood tire to anyone, as i that before died and when I have seen that his agonia was the joust like not finding out of that was close, I have taken an iron sharpened and ZAS, I have ended its life crossing it. I feel very proud, I have amused much. Before me llameis of everything please thinks that if you change cat by bull, instead of a maltratador son of puta of animals without escrupulos feelings nor.... that serious? a teacher, me sacarias to shoulders? I goad is a form but of murder NOT To The BULLS!"
What????? I'm not kidding, this was the review under the restaurant, check the link yourself if you don't believe me. I didn't see any bullfighting there; it's definitely not big enough for that.
CONCLUSION
I enjoyed my meal here and felt pretty relaxed all the way through, which is always a good sign. The service was OK, the food good and the price not bad for the quality I got (the bill was 25 Euros). I would recommend this for the experience as much as the food; places with real character are few and far between these days in the age of faceless, monolithic chains running everything. I think it is good that Los Toros and Gauchos are distinct from each other. They both have their time and place. Strip away pretention, chrome fittings and fancy websites and focus on the food. This could be the place for you for a refreshing change.
