Thursday, January 14, 2010

New Restaurant Review:  La Barca Offers Traditional Italian Dining on Bonaire

It seems like 2010 has brought a wide variety of new restaurants on Bonaire to sample this coming year, from Chinese restaurants, to Italian restaurants, and everything in between.  La Barca Bar Restaurant recently opened its doors, and this reporter had the opportunity to give them a try.

La Barca is located on the oceanfront promenade in the premises of the former Angel Floating Restaurant.  The boat serves as a nice backdrop to the canopied garden, where dinner is served.  The menu, although not large, is varied and should offer something for everyone.  As with traditional Italian dining, La Barca offers starters (antipasti), different first courses (the pasta course), and various second courses (the main course).

My dining companion and I both elected to limit the caloric intake and so we each sampled the same pasta course, which proved to be plentiful and more than enough for a dinner.  We chose the tagliolini, a fresh egg pasta that was served with large shrimp, calamari, and shellfish, in this instance, mussels.  The pasta was perfectly al dente and the seafood married well with the pasta’s sauce.  Although I did not have wine, my companion approved of the wine list that was proffered and chose a nice red to go with the dinner.

The ambiance is understated Italian elegance, and those wishing to enjoy a drink at the bar sit on tall bar stools at the side of the boat’s starboard gunwale.  There’s an excellent breeze which keeps mosquitoes well away, so no bug spray was needed, and the tables are spaced well away from each other, so there’s no noisy intrusion from nearby tables.

To give other examples of menu items, starters can include a tuna carpaccio in citrus fruit marinade, duck salad with crudites and crunchy croutons, mozzarella leaves with tomato confit and Parma ham, among others.  Some of the pasta courses offered include Parmesan risotto with ossobuco morsels or a maccheroncini amatriciana style with fresh tomatoes, pancetta cubes, and pecorino cheese.

Some of the main courses that I’ve yet to sample on return trips include butter-fried Dorado escalope in poppy seed crust, grilled beef fillet with roasted potatoes, and for the vegetarians, a vegetable millefoglie cake with fondue, Parmesan biscuit, and orange citronette.

For such a small island, Bonaire offers a spectacular array of dining options, and La Barca is certainly a welcome addition!  The restaurant is located on Kaya Jan N.E. Craane, and reservations may be made by calling 717-4514.  (Source:  Bonaire Insider Reporter)