Riad Cabrera (Fatimas) - Sierra Cabrera

Venue:- Riad Cabrera (Fatimas)

Cuisine:- Arabic & Mediterranean

Location:- Above Turre in the Sierra Cabrera

GPS 37.114011, -1.915135

Email :- riadcabrera@hotmail.com

Phone:- 950 092 042 or 617 854 183

Riad Cabrera more commonly known as Fatimas (Fatima Mouhib Housini) is a beautiful restaurant, definitely in the fine dining bracket. To get to it you either follow the signs out of Turre village (from Mojacar direction) to Pastores - a steep left turn before you reach the cemetery , Fatimas is about 5 km along a long winding road climbing into the Sierra - the road is good. If you pass the cemetery either turnaround or carry on to the main entrance to the Cabrera and then follow the arrows to Fatimas - slightly longer journey, road much rougher but very pretty - try going up one way and coming back the other. The restaurant is beautifully laid out in a very Arabic style with very neat white linen tablecloths and blue or white napkins, the seating is comfortable with the chairs also being covered in white - the interior is a delight to behold. The outside area consists of a large open terrace with lots of seating, the style is very Arabic with a nice fountain at the rear and many plants and trees, the place is beautifully lit at night.

The menu has lots of choice of fish, meat and vegetarian - Arabic or Mediterranean, you can also let Fatima devise a sampler menu for you - price according to choice. The prices/courses we tried are typical of the menu as a whole.

Fatima seated us at our table and handed us our napkins with a pair of tongs. The napkins were held by a delightful decorated swirl, the like of which I have not seen before. There was an ‘amuse bouche’ of hommous on Moroccan flat bread - very nice.

Starters - Salmorejo Gazpacho (6.00) - a tasty gazpacho with red pepper, green pepper and onion to add as required - a delicious soup described as beautiful - praise indeed from a person who has gazpacho at least three times a week! Rissotto con fungi (12.00) - excellent creamy rissotto with an assortment of fungi - very tasty. I opted for a Moroccan dish 3 x Brewatte (spelling?) baccalao - an Arabic samosa stuffed with cod and raisins - not as sweet as you might expect, and the pastry I have not seen before, a sort of a bubbly filo, crispy and delicious not brittle like filo - absolutely to die for, more please! But wait mains to follow. We believe all the rolls to be homemade (3.00) for 3 - an assortment of very delicious rolls.

Mains - Tagin de Ciervo (14.00) A venison tagine with carrot, guava, goji berries and pumpkin - a delicious concoction with a lovely ‘gravy’ which was mopped up with some of the bread rolls. The second main was lamb cous cous (12.00) - lamb, cous cous, pumpkin and loads of chick peas were the main ingredients - absolutely scrummy, the juices were superb - the last time anything like this was eaten was in Marrakesh years ago. Finally I had the Carre Cordero al Horno (15.00) - a large piece of boneless lamb served Arabic style with boiled new potatoes in a creamy vegetable mix and some mixed veggies (normally served with pumpkin but I do not like pumpkin). The lamb just fell away and was cooked beautifully, the potatoes mopped up the delicious gravy/sauce. A super choice I thought - I would have it again.

Desserts - Mixed Morrroqui (5.00) a selection of Moroccan desserts - similar to baklava - delicious and different. Tarta de pasas y miel (5.00) - Moroccan dessert, similar to bread pudding as we know it - a lovely taste, thoroughly enjoyed it. Now for my dessert - helado de queso (6.00) - blue cheese ice cream served with nuts and honey - vile you are thinking, Heston Blumenthal must have visited! But no, the blue cheese ice cream (Roquefort) with the honey and nuts were very very tasty, it was truly delicious - I would have it again and again.

Fatima looked after us to start then handed the reins to a very proficient waiter - 10/10.

To finish a couple of Marroqui mint teas at 2.00 a pop - if you don’t like it sweet then ’sin azucar, else it comes very sweet - very minty, very refreshing. We started with a couple of beers and an orange juice and a very fine bottle of Ribera wine at 29.00 - well it is a special place.

Total for the evening was 127.98 for three people - you could pay a lot less, but we thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend the restaurant to anyone. Enjoy - we will be back.