Restaurant-Check: Mi Corazon, Las Terrenas
The Dominican Republic a well known country for European people. Today we headed to Santiago in the north and took a 3 hours ride to the peninsula Samana in the east of the country - to the wonderful city Las Terrenas to be exactly. We saw the beauty of the country but asked ourselves, is the Dominican Republic a secret place for lovers of good cuisine and service? We made us on our way to figure that out and our first restaurant was the "Mi Corazon" in the heart of Las Terrenas. While we were looking for the entrance a young waiter welcomed us at a tower and accompanied us over an old staircase to the first floor where we arrived in a beautiful courtyard. The heart of it was a fountain out of the head of a lion and around it were lovely decorated tables. We really liked the atmosphere of this magical place.
At the table, we were welcomed by the head of service a who comes from Switzerland. Before we could even register, they motioned that they are a slow food restaurant focusing on good service and quality, and that's what we really appreciate in such a place. We were not in a hurry and could enjoy every course and drink.
We where really overwhelmed by this enchanting service and the personal touch in the restaurant. They told us that the chef was a French lady who has cooked in several Michelin starred restaurants in Europe. Now they try to take all their know-how and combine it with just regional products of the Dominican Republic to give the guest a good time and a delicious dinner - and they do it pretty well!
As an aperitif we ordered a passion fruit Mojito - the best one we have ever had - fresh mint and passion fruit gave the cocktail a crunchy and authentic touch and the freshness it had. The cocktail was accompanied by a small amuse bouche - a goat cheese terrine with pyramid cake and a chinola vinaigrette. Chinola is the Dominican word for passion fruit. It was a quite interesting dish, sweetness in the pie, fresh and sour with the passion fruit and creamy with the cheese. It would also have been a good and light dessert but we really enjoyed it as the start of an amazing dinner. Our first courses were an onion tartlet served with grilled calamari along sealed withe cashews as well as a zucchini soup on a creamy base with grilled chicken cube.
The main course was based on fish: a sea bream perfectly Asian-style steamed with passion fruit and passion fruit hollandaise, an amazing sauce with an interesting taste but we really liked it. The fish was served with peppers and Camembert risotto. A wonderful combination of all ingredients - very well done. The other main course was a grilled sea bream with braised leek, cherry tomatoes and tarragon vinaigrette. Hot cuscus was the side garnish.
The desserts were a sweet and creamy nougat ice with glazed pineapple. The pineapple was super sweet and fresh, actually it's been my favorite part. That's what I love in these countries - you will have the best fruits wherever you go. The second dessert was an deconstructed mojito. The lime part was hidden in a creme brûlée topped with sugar crumble and the rum was made as a granité. Very creative and delicious.
At the end we had two espressos with a wonderful taste and creme. Here you can see how much the team pays attention to the detail and therefore we can highly recommend this gorgeous place. Again we want to highlight the service which was extraordinary and attentive and we wanted to thank all of the team for their kind tips and advices so that we could enjoy this wonderful country in all its beauty!
