A Michelin Star for our favourite restaurant!

We have been going regularly to l'Antic Moli Restaurant for a few years now and I have included it in this blog on a number of occasions. 

A week ago we learned that it had been awarded a Michelin star!

This was very well deserved in our opinion as we have praised the quality, originality and presentation of the food on several occasions.

However, it is not just the chefs and the food on the plates that deserve the star of quality - it must have been awarded to everyone involved including the waiters/waitresses, the suppliers of the meat, vegetables and wine, even the cleaners and the laundry company as everything and everone work together to provide a great experience.

Today the restaurant was packed - maybe it's an end of the week thing especially as this weekend is extended to include Monday and Tuesday as holidays.

For the first dish Margaret had the mozarella salad with jamón de pato, I had the fideuà...

...and for the second dish Margaret had pork fillets with mushrooms, I had the rabbit and vegetables. Included is postre, a sweet course, bread, a bottle of wine and a bottle of water and all for €12.50 per person. Superb!

l'Antic Moli

Lunch today was at one of our favourite restaurants, l'Antic Moli which is situated just outside Sant Rafel del Riu and is actually on the border of Catalunya and Valenciana.

We always choose the Menú del Diá, excellent value at €12.50 as it includes a bottle of wine, water and bread. My starter was lentil soup with cod...

...and Margaret had the chicken salad.

My second course was pig's cheek with 14 snails - delicious! Margaret had cod then lemon sorbet for sweet, I had the tiramisu.

You don't get dishes like these in ordinary restaurants but this is not an ordinary restaurant.

We've been to this restaurant many times and I am sure we will be back many more. The menu is never the same and the standard of cooking lives up to their slogan - With the senses, the experience of good eating.

¡¡Menú del día!!

"Menú del día", or menu of the day, was one thing dating back to the early 1960's in Spain which still exists today. It was introduced to enable the working man to have a 3 course meal at lunchtime at a reasonable price. However, they do vary and usually consist of soup, salad or a pasta dish followed by lamb or pork chops, chicken or fish and finished off with a flan or tart. Wine, water and bread are included and the cost varies from around 8€ to 18€. The menu improves over the weekend but then the cost escalates.

Today we visited l'Antic Moli, the Old Mill, restaurant situated just outside the village of El Castell on the road to La Senia on the borders of Catalunya and Valencia.

It was a smart restaurant and very well appointed where the food was well above the normal standard you would expect. First on the table were the aperitifs which can be seen in the photo above and above that with Margaret and her salad containing fruit, smoked salmon and mozzarella cheese shown in more detail in the photo below. Also in the top photo is my starter which was morcilla, Spanish black pudding, with piñones, pine nuts, topped with a fried egg on a bed of puff pastry - not the sort of thing you would expect for a menú del día!

The wine was a Terra Alta, the local wine region which we pass through on the way back to Torre del Compte, from a village called Bot. Margaret had a bottle of water as she was driving.

For segundos, jamon de Mallorca, which was basically a pork shoulder cooked in the oven with a lovely sauce.

For Margaret, chicken breasts stuffed with bacon and pineapple in a delicious sauce. The photo below does not do it justice.

For postre, dessert, chocolate mouse with chocolate sauce on puff pastry for me...

...and for Margaret, coconut ice cream with cranberry mousse.

And the price of this? 

Just 12€ each!!

l'Antic Moli is highly recommended.