Friday 13 November 2009

Gothic Gastronomy in The Castle

It was a dark and stormy night.
The wind was at gale force and the rain lashing down so hard it bounced off the floor as it hit and reached back up into the heavens.
And we were booked at the Carn Brea Castle Restaurant, one of the highest points in Cornwall, to go for a meal with friends.
As we arrived, the wind whipped around our bodies, trying to carry us away with it, but we were having none of that! We were here to enjoy an unusual night out, and were really looking forward to it.
After trying our camera's on just about every setting, Alison and I finally managed to get a couple of great, moody shots of the Castle from our parking spot just below it..... this is to be our haven and eatery for the evening.

We were welcomed by Mr Sawahla, the owner and our host for the evening, and walked up some winding steps, dripping with rain water that had seeped through the granite walls, adding to the atmosphere.

There is no electricity in this most unusual restaurant, everything is lit by candle, making for a really fantastic atmosphere, especially with the increasing wind and rain outside.

Again, us girlies fiddled with our camera settings and found a suitable one to give us nice bright pictures, and did the compulsory couples posing pictures....

Firstly Alison and Paul...
and then Paul and I....

Mr Sawahla took our food orders, cranked up the Jordonian music and pulled out his traditional drum, and began tapping away to the music.....

The rhythm was great and got us all clapping along and wondering how on earth such a huge noise came from such a small piece of kit

It was then our turn, and it slowly got passed around for us all to have a go, some of us with better results than others


Paul, having stated that he didn't think he could do it, actually got really into it and looks a treat with his big cheeky smiles.....

I thought I'd have to fight him for my go LOL

It was great fun

Our meals arrived, and were amazing - Alison and I had the Jordonian spiced Lamb kebabs on a bed of rice with yoghurt dip and salad...... It was nothing like we expected (ie basically cubes of meat on skewers) it was actually about 8 lamb steaks on the bone marinated in spice - I've never eaten so much meat in one meal in my life!
The boys had steaks - once cooked in a whisky marinate, the other in a pomegranate sauce.
We followed all of this up with a plate of baklava - loads of little sample pieces for us to all pick at.
Absolutely fantastic.
Well worth a visit, and we will certainly be going again - YUM!

2 comments:

Lori E said...

Oh my gosh that sounds good...I mean the food not the drumming.

jordiegirl said...

Sounds like a great place, with a really brilliant atmosphere, especially on that stormy night.

I really like baklava. All the food sounded very tasty.