Tuesday, April 8, 2014

The Beginning of a Puerto Rican Voyage...



Toro Salao
367 Calle Tetuan
San Juan, Puerto Rico 00901

My girlfriend and I headed down to visit her parents in Puerto Rico at the end of tax season last year. She needed to get her German passport renewed and I was on the mission of asking her father for his permission to marry her, so it was due to be a pretty eventful trip. On the first day there, we went to lunch in the old city to a little spot known as Toro Salao. It’s a Spanish tapas place run by a restaurant group that owns quite a few popular restaurants in San Juan. I hadn’t had Tapas since our visit to Hong Kong in November, so I was pretty excited to try this place out.




When we were seated outside, we began discussing what to get. I allowed my girlfriend and her dad to decide, and once they did we wound up with the following items to share; Bacalaitos, Brie topped with chorizo marmalade and toasts, empanadillas with aioli, a flatbread with veggies and arugula and paella. My girlfriend's dad was on his lunch so he couldn’t enjoy an adult beverage with us, but we ordered a couple of passion fruit caipirinhas. I love tropical fruit in any form of alcoholic beverage, but passion fruit has to be one of my favorites. It makes drinks citrusy and sweet and it is especially refreshing in the heat of Puerto Rico.




The first two items that we received at the table were the bacalaitos and the brie topped with chorizo marmalade. Bacalaitos are little fritters made from salt cod, and these in particular were served over a delicious homemade aioli. The fritters were crunchy and the salt cod was the perfect filling inside. It was rich and creamy, and seasoned perfectly because of the salt. The aioili was amazing because of its creamy texture and strong garlic flavor. The brie and chorizo marmalade was out of this world. The melted brie was creamy and rich and the chorizo marmalade was a touch spicy and very sweet, while still having all of the intense flavor of chorizo. It was pretty fantastic to have chorizo in that form, and spreading the brie and chorizo mixture over some of the toast they gave us made for a heavenly combination. 




The empanadillas came out next along with the flatbread and the paella. The empanadillas were stuffed with chicken and were very flavorful. Unfortunately for me, the empanada dough was too thick for me, especially in relation to the filling. There was way more dough than there should have been in my opinion. The aioli they served with it did wonders to finish up the extra dry dough though. They definitely know how to make a good aioili at Toro Salao. The flatbread was a very delicious dish. It was full of fresh vegetables and was crispy as can be. The paella was also pretty tasty. I love paella because it has so many different elements to it. There are so many different kinds of seafood in it. The rice always has so much flavor and the freshness of the seafood is always something to look forward to. 




Three pints for Toro Saloo. They offer of some very tasty Spanish tapas options in a place filled with many other dining options. While Puerto Rican cuisine is similar, Spanish food is different enough that they really have a hold of the market for that type of food in the old city. Definitely worth a visit if you are visiting San Juan, so check it out and let me know what you think! Cheers!

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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
I am a food lover living in Philadelphia.

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