Loco for Coco's

I had an exceptional dinner at Coco's Cantina on Krd last night with a bunch of my girlfriends. Worried that we weren’t going to get a table having been told this new eatery has quickly become very popular with locals, we arrived early-ish and enjoyed a few wines, quite a few polenta chips and soaked up the atmosphere before launching into the menu.

Unfortunately I forgot my camera, I would have loved a snap of the Calamari dish, which while delicious, was also very nicely presented. The plate was swirled with a very nice chilli sauce and a vinaigrette that went extremely well with the lemon we drizzled over the top. Too often I find I've made a mistake by ordering calamari but Coco's served up a tower of tender, delicious squid which we gobbled up two plates of. 

We also devoured a delicious antipasto platter, served on a standard sized dinner plate but crowded with delicious and rather innovative goodies. I particularly liked the marinated eggplant, which I think was done in a balsamic… my head is a bit fuzzy today I’m afraid.   

Before we sound like a bunch of vacuum cleaners, it’s worth mentioning, there were 6 of us girls and we are all huge food enthusiasts. Last year after a rather lavish dinner at The French Café owner Simon Wright complimented me for what he deemed, the rather impressive feasting display we put on.

I had an entrée sized chilli and prawn linguini that was absolute heaven to eat. A few of the girls had the penne pasta and when asked for an appraisal, nodded their heads vigorously, mouths too full to speak, it was good.

Our lovely waitress ran us through the specials which all sounded pretty good too. A few of the girls ordered a butter squash salad that came with lashings of crispy bacon and gorgonzola on a crunchy bed of cos leaves.

We skipped desert. I saw the panacotta on the menu and squeezed my eyes shut trying to put it out of my mind. I reasoned, that I had already had a lovely panacotta desert after a Ponsonby Bistro  lunch earlier in the week, it would be far too excessive to indulge again. Maybe next week...

Coco's Cantina What a great place to catch up with friends for a drink, a light dinner or even a feast!