La Maleta:
Carmen Miranda's on the case
Pro Lots of interesting things to try.
Con Biiiiig portions, so, unless you're in a group, you'll not get to try too many dishes in one visit.
Pay
€€€
Per Person €25 Two beers, glass of blue (we can say that again if needs be) wine. Three shared dishes & one dessert. El tenedor offers available. Gratis: salted almonds.
Find
Now operating, with a different menu, under the name Macuto Restobar
Access Step in from the door.
In Short
Hopes. Easy-going dinner after a long day.
Reality. Eclectic range of excellent Latin American ideas.
First Impressions. Beach club meets Bogota.
USP? Widest Latam offer in Malasaña, probably. And Blue wine. Yes, really.
The offer in three words. Loads of flavours.
Service! Quick and helpful.
Friend friendly? A decent spread of V-friendly dishes by the look of the menu.
Rating for dating. Pretty much covers the bases,so it's up to you to aim for first or further.
Tip? 5%
Change one thing? A chupito offer would have me composing a musical version of this review. Singing their praises.
Revisitability. We only say we're going back when we mean it.
Compare & Contrast
La Prodiga's Argentinian offer.
In Pictures
On Google Images
What's the story?
Well, lorks, here's a good one. A really enjoyable dinner awaits at La Maleta. Unprepossessing on the outside, for whatever reason we'd long had La Maleta down as a burger and sandwich place, but soon learnt there's much more to the story.
Truth be told, it'd been a long day and we were after a straightforward bit of nosh, but what we found was a terrific tour of Latin American flavours and combinations. It's so enjoyable we're already working on another visit.
It's a lengthy menu, and we were right - there are burgers lurking towards the bottom, but there's a whole load of dishes from Peru, Chile and Venezuela to get a grip on. So, is it the South American Way? Adelante, Carmen!
We kicked off with a pair of empanadas. Expectations, prepare to be challenged! Chilean (on the left), Columbian (ooh! interesting!) on the right.
Chilean is pretty much as you'd expect from a patagonian pasty, but the Columbian is a totally different story. For a start, it's a corn dough. For a second, the filling's melted cheese and shredded pork. Both pastries are bigger than you'd expect and feel freshly homemade. Two could easily make a shared starter for three. Acidic cream and some commendably spicy tomato and onion salsa add interest and balance some of the starchiness in the differing doughs. Recommended.
Already slowing down after the empanada experience, the next two dishes didn't change things. Patacon brought more shredded pork, a load of melted cheese on a bed of plantain with a little drift of nachos nonchalantly perching in a corner. This is a filling, moreish plate of food, ideal for omnivores to share. The meat flavours are as intense as you get from slow cooking and the melted cheese is pleasingly non-greasy. Plantain makes a very pleasant change to potato, and balances well with the other components.
Looking almost like something my mum would have knocked up on a Thursday night in the 1980s, Pollo Sweetpicanto held yet another surprise. The innocent-looking gravy held a hot secret; a chilli finish that'll have you reaching - happily - for your beer. Should add, the biggest of the three legs arrived with a bit of pinkness, but we went back to it after the other two and it had actually finished cooking itself - the bonus of a bone. So it's worth giving this dish a couple of minutes to sort itself out if you're in doubt.
So, let's take stock. That's four entirely new dishes, and four successes. Doing well, La Maleta! If we were being really picky, a couple of table sauces would be a nice addition for a bit of flavour-making fun, but, look, we're struggling for creative constructive criticism, here.
After that lot, one dessert was as much as we could imagine, let alone manage. More like a condensed milk pie than most cheesecakes, it's still a winner. Warm and pleasingly mushy, the acidy fruit compote helps round it off properly, adding a bit of flavour balance. It hardly needed confirming, but the server volunteered that they'd baked it at 5 that afternoon.
Service was excellent, although a chupito would have really made the evening and gosh did we need one when we got home, entirely due to our (over)enthusiasm in ordering. We stayed on beers this evening and the Quilmes shouldn't really run out after three bottles, but we got to try a Venezuelan brand, which was a first for us.
Also new was that blue wine, which the menu's keen to point you towards. For a verdict, it's over to our special correspondent on matters azul.
"I'd suggest you don't wish it away. Certainly don't look at it like it's forever. It's just one glass, after all. Can you guess why they call it the blues? Think a very light brut cava and you're there. Whether it leaves you rolling like thunder under the covers is between you and your duvet.
Decor is distinctive, with various blues (well, I guess that's what we call them) dominating and giving a very summery, almost beach bar atmosphere. Lighting is pitched right. Tables are well spaced, and broken up by high stools in the window and a loungey cocktail area near the entrance. If we're hunting for comments (and we really are having to look hard) larger serviettes would be good for dining purposes. Cocktail-sized ones are fiddly with food.
But there we are, the best - worst - we can do is quibble about napkins and extra sauces to enhance some excellent dishes. So we're happy. There are half a dozen other dishes on the menu we want to try and we're thinking of a return for the interesting brunch menu, too.
So, La Maleta?
Kind of crazy? Blue wine is a bit hazy.
Grand and glorious? The portions are ginormous.
Ai ai, it's the South American Way!
Carmen Miranda's on the case
Pro Lots of interesting things to try.
Con Biiiiig portions, so, unless you're in a group, you'll not get to try too many dishes in one visit.
Pay
€€€
Per Person €25 Two beers, glass of blue (we can say that again if needs be) wine. Three shared dishes & one dessert. El tenedor offers available. Gratis: salted almonds.
Find
Now operating, with a different menu, under the name Macuto Restobar
Access Step in from the door.
In Short
Hopes. Easy-going dinner after a long day.
Reality. Eclectic range of excellent Latin American ideas.
First Impressions. Beach club meets Bogota.
USP? Widest Latam offer in Malasaña, probably. And Blue wine. Yes, really.
The offer in three words. Loads of flavours.
Service! Quick and helpful.
Friend friendly? A decent spread of V-friendly dishes by the look of the menu.
Rating for dating. Pretty much covers the bases,so it's up to you to aim for first or further.
Tip? 5%
Change one thing? A chupito offer would have me composing a musical version of this review. Singing their praises.
Revisitability. We only say we're going back when we mean it.
Compare & Contrast
La Prodiga's Argentinian offer.
In Pictures
On Google Images
What's the story?
Well, lorks, here's a good one. A really enjoyable dinner awaits at La Maleta. Unprepossessing on the outside, for whatever reason we'd long had La Maleta down as a burger and sandwich place, but soon learnt there's much more to the story.
Truth be told, it'd been a long day and we were after a straightforward bit of nosh, but what we found was a terrific tour of Latin American flavours and combinations. It's so enjoyable we're already working on another visit.
It's a lengthy menu, and we were right - there are burgers lurking towards the bottom, but there's a whole load of dishes from Peru, Chile and Venezuela to get a grip on. So, is it the South American Way? Adelante, Carmen!
We kicked off with a pair of empanadas. Expectations, prepare to be challenged! Chilean (on the left), Columbian (ooh! interesting!) on the right.
Chilean is pretty much as you'd expect from a patagonian pasty, but the Columbian is a totally different story. For a start, it's a corn dough. For a second, the filling's melted cheese and shredded pork. Both pastries are bigger than you'd expect and feel freshly homemade. Two could easily make a shared starter for three. Acidic cream and some commendably spicy tomato and onion salsa add interest and balance some of the starchiness in the differing doughs. Recommended.
Already slowing down after the empanada experience, the next two dishes didn't change things. Patacon brought more shredded pork, a load of melted cheese on a bed of plantain with a little drift of nachos nonchalantly perching in a corner. This is a filling, moreish plate of food, ideal for omnivores to share. The meat flavours are as intense as you get from slow cooking and the melted cheese is pleasingly non-greasy. Plantain makes a very pleasant change to potato, and balances well with the other components.
Looking almost like something my mum would have knocked up on a Thursday night in the 1980s, Pollo Sweetpicanto held yet another surprise. The innocent-looking gravy held a hot secret; a chilli finish that'll have you reaching - happily - for your beer. Should add, the biggest of the three legs arrived with a bit of pinkness, but we went back to it after the other two and it had actually finished cooking itself - the bonus of a bone. So it's worth giving this dish a couple of minutes to sort itself out if you're in doubt.
So, let's take stock. That's four entirely new dishes, and four successes. Doing well, La Maleta! If we were being really picky, a couple of table sauces would be a nice addition for a bit of flavour-making fun, but, look, we're struggling for creative constructive criticism, here.
After that lot, one dessert was as much as we could imagine, let alone manage. More like a condensed milk pie than most cheesecakes, it's still a winner. Warm and pleasingly mushy, the acidy fruit compote helps round it off properly, adding a bit of flavour balance. It hardly needed confirming, but the server volunteered that they'd baked it at 5 that afternoon.
Service was excellent, although a chupito would have really made the evening and gosh did we need one when we got home, entirely due to our (over)enthusiasm in ordering. We stayed on beers this evening and the Quilmes shouldn't really run out after three bottles, but we got to try a Venezuelan brand, which was a first for us.
Also new was that blue wine, which the menu's keen to point you towards. For a verdict, it's over to our special correspondent on matters azul.
"I'd suggest you don't wish it away. Certainly don't look at it like it's forever. It's just one glass, after all. Can you guess why they call it the blues? Think a very light brut cava and you're there. Whether it leaves you rolling like thunder under the covers is between you and your duvet.Decor is distinctive, with various blues (well, I guess that's what we call them) dominating and giving a very summery, almost beach bar atmosphere. Lighting is pitched right. Tables are well spaced, and broken up by high stools in the window and a loungey cocktail area near the entrance. If we're hunting for comments (and we really are having to look hard) larger serviettes would be good for dining purposes. Cocktail-sized ones are fiddly with food.
But there we are, the best - worst - we can do is quibble about napkins and extra sauces to enhance some excellent dishes. So we're happy. There are half a dozen other dishes on the menu we want to try and we're thinking of a return for the interesting brunch menu, too.
So, La Maleta?
Kind of crazy? Blue wine is a bit hazy.
Grand and glorious? The portions are ginormous.
Ai ai, it's the South American Way!
