A not so glorious return to Boqueria

After my first experience at Boqueria, C and I were completely won over and could not stop raving about how delicious it was to our friends. Therefore when S said she wanted tapas I fervently suggested that we go to Boqueria so that she could find out how great the food was. Sadly the meal was a GREAT disappointment and it was nowhere near as enjoyable as our first visit. We have previously heard mixed reviews from our friends who visited the restaurant and could not understand why they did not like the food as much as we did. Now that I have gone a second time I understand why! S and I were joined by H and T; all of us were ready for a nice meal to beat out the weekday monotony, sadly this meal did not meet expectations! All the dishes I had last time were delicious, and when I ordered one of them again it was still very good. Some of the dishes were decent, yet there were also dishes that were absolute misses. But a good restaurant simply cannot have such discrepancies in the quality between each dish! The service was also a little bit spotty with dishes repeating itself and wrong orders. The male host was very friendly however and happily made our sangria stronger at our request.

Chorizo Cantimpalo - Mildly spicy pork sausage cured in pimentón 
T has this obsession with chorizo, therefore we got two things featuring chorizo. I am not particularly a fan and I can't really judge if this is good or bad chorizo but I am not too fond of this dish. The bread was also cold and dry and just not very appetizing.

Chorizo Braised in Red Wine Reduction
Chorizo dish #2. The sausage was just really hard and I did not think the flavor was particularly striking. 

Albóndigas - Lamb meatballs, tomato sauce, sheep’s milk cheese
The lamb meatballs were a bit dry and very mediocre. The tomato sauce was nothing special either. I did like the addition of the sheep's cheese, it added a interesting texture and a nice tang to the dish. Apart from that, the nice was very subpar.

Buñuelos de Bacalao - Salt-cod and potato fritters, citrus allioli
After three disappointing dishes, this was a pleasant change. The fritters were fluffy, flaky, and well seasoned. The outer crust was delicately crispy and went perfectly with the creamy allioli dip. 

Pimientos de Padrón - Blistered Shishito peppers, coarse sea salt
This dish was not bad. The peppers had a nice char to them and a strangely satisfying bitter taste. The presentation however was slightly pathetic. It was not bad, but not something I would order again.

Bombas de la Barceloneta - Two beef and potato croquettes, salsa brava, garlic allioli
These croquettes were mentioned frequently in the reviews and I had high expectations for them. I felt that the croquettes were packed too tightly and was just a big ball of potato. The crust was nice and crispy but I would have preferred the insides to be creamier and fluffier. More meat would also be nice as the ratio of potato to meat was unbalanced. I think a higher amount of allioli and salsa brava would also improve the dish as the big ball of potato seemed a bit dry and one dimensional by itself. I much preferred the creamy croquettes that I had last time! We got them again at this meal and luckily they were just as good as I remembered.

Carne a la Plancha - Seared beef a la plancha, fingerling potatoes, Shishito peppers, mojo verde
"a la Plancha" means grilled on a metal plate, and grilled beef sounded rather promising. Unfortunately this was mediocre dish #I don't even remember. The beef was overcooked and lukewarm. Actually the temperature of the food was a big issue the entire night. Almost all the dishes were lukewarm and that just does not make me happy. I do not recall this problem at my first visit. The beef was seasoned decently, yet the flavor and texture of the meat was very mediocre. As you can see, the fingerling potatoes also left a lot to be desired. 

Tortilla Española Traditional - Spanish omelet of farm eggs, confit potatoes, Spanish onions
This easily was the worst dish of the meal. I understand that the omelet can be served cold but this dish was just not tasty at all. It was basically a bland and cold block. The egg was too firm and the potatoes were mushy and tasteless. The onions did not add any level of sweetness or flavor, it was another empty component to the dish. Even as a egg fanatic I could not eat more than 2 bites of this. 

Anchovies with Salsa Verde and Olives
This dish was a bit of a joke as it came in this humongous dish and contained a few little pieces of fish. I like to eat anchovies but this dish was literally just a few pieces of anchovies... nothing else (well besides the dressing I guess). I would have wanted something done to the anchovies... perhaps on top of some toasted bread with other components to result in a complete dish with harmonious flavors and textures. I don't need to go to a restaurant when I can just grab my own huge red plate and plop some anchovies on top of it myself at home. The quality of the anchovies was fine, but this dish was just too simple and did not qualify as a restaurant dish.

Paella de Mariscos - Bomba rice, monkfish, sepia, squid, shrimp, clams, mussels, saffron, salsa verde
The rice was well flavored and the amount of seafood was decent. This is one of the better paella's I've had in Hong Kong. I think the amount of saffron can be increased as it was not very aromatic. I would not say this dish was amazing, but it was decent. The presentation was also appealing. 

Considering how much I loved my first meal at Boqueria, it was a huge disappointment for me to realize that many of the dishes were of such low standards. Some of the dishes were very good while others were extremely unappetizing. I feel that Boqueria has a lot of potential it is apparent that the chef has talent as reflected by the few excellent dishes that I have tried. Yet the low quality of the bad dishes cannot be redeemed by the tasty dishes! Boqueria should ensure that all dishes are made to the same high standard. People all have different palates, yet some dishes were simply not made well. I may return to Boqueria for the dishes that I enjoyed such as the lamb skewers and potatoes, yet I do hope that the other dishes will be improved to show that they truly care about their food and customers!