Vintae: Tapas...so many choices....so hard to decide

Area:  Crosscourt Tower Chikamachi クロスコートタワ　チカマチ　B1 (about 200m east of Nagoya Station)

Restaurant:  Vintae ビンタエ　スペインバル

Map and Info:  http://tabelog.com/aichi/A2301/A230101/23046033/dtlmap/

Website:  http://chikamachi.com/floorguide/vintae/

Hours:  11am-12pm

This restaurant is open after regular lunch hours so it's perfect for my late lunch breaks.  It's a Spanish Tapas bar, so their menu is extensive with many different small plates to choose from; cheese, cured meats, salads, grilled meats and seafoods, oven baked dishes, fried stuff, etc.  They automatically bring bread (all you can eat) for 300 yen, but you can decline it if you don't want it. 

I tried the Flamenka egg, which was a half cooked egg in a tomato-based simmer with peas, white asparagus, bits of chorizo and cured ham.  The chorizo was not spicey but had a nice jerky like texture and meaty flavour.  The sauce was mild, but that balanced the saltiness of the cured meats and also picked up the meaty flavors.

The mushroom gratin pinchos (200 yen) was nice, the creamy garlickey grilled mayonnaise topping went well with the shimeji and shiitake.  Almost like garlic mayo grilled sushi from kaiten zushi restaurants.  A bit salty though.

I was contemplating whether or not to order the carrot salad but I'm glad I did!.  The carrot salad (400yen) had volume, was drunken with a mild wine vinegar.  The sweetness of carrot and raisins was perfect and light.  I asked the cook what was in it and he gave me the secret; red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, a touch of mayo, and finely chopped rosemary.

The duck and foie gras bread was as good as I expected it to be.  The foie gras, perfectly grilled with a nice char,  went well with the nicely reduced balsamic glaze which had a good balance of sweet and only slight sourness to it.  The tomato sauce stewed veggies (zucchini, red peppers, onion, eggplant) was, although simple, not too salty and the mild garlic flavor added a nice touch.

The open concept of this basement “street” of restaurants makes it a nice place to sit a people watch, just as if sitting at a restaurant in Europe.