Carmen - enjoying a Spanish feast

A while ago some friends and I got together for some Spanish tapas at Carmen and I've been meaning to post but... life has been a bit stressful and I haven't had the energy to write.  Things are still stressful, but I missed blogging so here is my first food post in a long while.

A number of my friends had gone on a Mediterranean tour starting in Barcelona so they were hoping to re-live a little bit of their wonderful trip.  I was tagging along, cause, well...I can't say no to good food!  

We had an early dinner reservation and started out with a number of tapas...

Ceviche with coconut...it was more coconut than fish unfortunately.

Serrano ham and manchego cheese croquettes...

Dates wrapped in bacon...sooooo good!  (Sorry that this pic is so dark but it's a trade off for the candle-lit atmosphere.)

And my favourite tapas of the night, grilled octopus with chorizo...everything about it was very good from the texture to the taste.  Loved the bread!

Then, since we could see the kitchen from our table, my friends noticed some grilled shrimp and added that before our paellas.  We ended up getting 3 orders so each of us could have two!

The paellas (2 to share) arrived at the end of our tapas feast (pictured at top) which was the classic Paella Del Carmen and it was very flavourful!  The seafood was cooked nicely and not overcooked. The rice has to be done well, not burnt and with enough seasoning to be a good paella and it was!  My only complaint was it would have been nice to have a little more rice for the price.

Expect to spend about $50 a person if you are going to get tapas and a paella.

Overall, flavour dishes and great service.

Carmen
922 Queen Street W.
Toronto, ON M5T 2L9
T: 416-535-0404
http://carmensayz.com/