What is the longest lasting dinner you have ever been out to? I had a new record set in Mindelo, Cape Verde at a restaurant named "Nom Gusto" or good taste in Portuguese. This place was recommended to us by an Russian expat we met at Salamansa Beach as being his favorite place to
go out for dinner in Mindelo. Also in his suggestion he said in passing that the service could be "slow". Our reservation was set to 2000(8 oclock pm in boat speak)and we arrived and were seated 15 minutes late. It was 20 min before we saw the menu. Aaron in our party took the note
pad from the waitress in hopes of getting our order more quickly and accurately recorded as she was quiet, very shy and spoke almost not a word of English. Maybe 10 minutes later we had ordered appetizers and bottles of water and wine. The water and wine came possible 10 minutes later
with some small plates of olives and "squeaky cheese", as called by Aaron due to the sound and feeling it makes when you bite into it. This queso is not aged, and so shares that texture with all young cheeses. Aaron likened it to fingers on a chalkboard when he regretfully bit into this cheese cube. To his dismay another piece of this cheese would arrive at the end of dinner some 3.5 hours later on his dessert plate cleverly disguised alongside a banana flambe covered in boozy molasses heavy syrup.
Now two and a quarter hours had passed before our table had finally received 2 plates of appetizers, this only after the server (the only server) came to inform us that the "croquettes" were no longer available as they had run out. Hmm, were they already run out over 2 hours ago when they were
ordered? The brusquetta was crispy thick pieces of white bread toast covered in heavy chunks of raw onion and tomato. I didn't detect much garlic or vinegar normally a part of this dish. One of our dinner guests doesn't like tomatoes, poor luck on that hungry fella. I shouldn't need to express how quickly but equitably the one appetizer disappeared as we were all famished by the late hour of the night. I will tell how many table this restaurant has and so how many orders could possibly be in before ours. On the sidewalk out front sits 4 tables for two of which 3 of 4 were occupied when we arrived. Inside we shared the long table with a party of 3 who ordered just before us. They would be
fed, paid and gone before our entrees arrived. The 2nd table inside this restaurant was a table of 3 who would order after us but get there food at the same time as some of our table but well before all quests at our table had plates. Fast forward three hours from our seating, our entrees begin to arrive. Four of seven at our table get plates. I was not one of the lucky 4, as my arroz con mariscos (seafood rice) would take another 15 minutes to be put in front of me. By that time i was deep in food debt to two of the fellow diners at my table who had grilled dorado and gambas (shrimp). Lianne was the last to receive her lobster after they mistakenly brought her tuna steaks that the table next to us had ordered. She was served more than 3 hours and 15 minutes after ordering her grilled langosta (lobster).
The food was good. Some of the dishes were excellent in fact. The service was so excruciatingly slow that it reminded me of being a child out to a "nice" dinner with adults at a restaurant with white table cloths. The young mind has a different grasp on the passage of time and so waiting and "behaving" in a restaurant setting for any number of minutes feels like some agonizing torture where even an evil and malicious mind has distorted reality in order to slow time down. One of the appetizers and all the desserts were given free "on the house" in apology for our wait. Near midnight our fatigued and beaten party arrived back at Altair. It had been a long day in heat and a much longer wait on uncomfortable wicker chairs while good looking food was taken towards our table only to be delivered to another group. Bob was in good humor about the experience and Boog was attempting to laugh it off but I guessed he was nervous about his restaurant choice for the group that night. In the morning we would leave Mindelo with 75 other sail boats to race across the Atlantic Ocean.
go out for dinner in Mindelo. Also in his suggestion he said in passing that the service could be "slow". Our reservation was set to 2000(8 oclock pm in boat speak)and we arrived and were seated 15 minutes late. It was 20 min before we saw the menu. Aaron in our party took the note
pad from the waitress in hopes of getting our order more quickly and accurately recorded as she was quiet, very shy and spoke almost not a word of English. Maybe 10 minutes later we had ordered appetizers and bottles of water and wine. The water and wine came possible 10 minutes later
with some small plates of olives and "squeaky cheese", as called by Aaron due to the sound and feeling it makes when you bite into it. This queso is not aged, and so shares that texture with all young cheeses. Aaron likened it to fingers on a chalkboard when he regretfully bit into this cheese cube. To his dismay another piece of this cheese would arrive at the end of dinner some 3.5 hours later on his dessert plate cleverly disguised alongside a banana flambe covered in boozy molasses heavy syrup.
Now two and a quarter hours had passed before our table had finally received 2 plates of appetizers, this only after the server (the only server) came to inform us that the "croquettes" were no longer available as they had run out. Hmm, were they already run out over 2 hours ago when they were
ordered? The brusquetta was crispy thick pieces of white bread toast covered in heavy chunks of raw onion and tomato. I didn't detect much garlic or vinegar normally a part of this dish. One of our dinner guests doesn't like tomatoes, poor luck on that hungry fella. I shouldn't need to express how quickly but equitably the one appetizer disappeared as we were all famished by the late hour of the night. I will tell how many table this restaurant has and so how many orders could possibly be in before ours. On the sidewalk out front sits 4 tables for two of which 3 of 4 were occupied when we arrived. Inside we shared the long table with a party of 3 who ordered just before us. They would be
fed, paid and gone before our entrees arrived. The 2nd table inside this restaurant was a table of 3 who would order after us but get there food at the same time as some of our table but well before all quests at our table had plates. Fast forward three hours from our seating, our entrees begin to arrive. Four of seven at our table get plates. I was not one of the lucky 4, as my arroz con mariscos (seafood rice) would take another 15 minutes to be put in front of me. By that time i was deep in food debt to two of the fellow diners at my table who had grilled dorado and gambas (shrimp). Lianne was the last to receive her lobster after they mistakenly brought her tuna steaks that the table next to us had ordered. She was served more than 3 hours and 15 minutes after ordering her grilled langosta (lobster).
The food was good. Some of the dishes were excellent in fact. The service was so excruciatingly slow that it reminded me of being a child out to a "nice" dinner with adults at a restaurant with white table cloths. The young mind has a different grasp on the passage of time and so waiting and "behaving" in a restaurant setting for any number of minutes feels like some agonizing torture where even an evil and malicious mind has distorted reality in order to slow time down. One of the appetizers and all the desserts were given free "on the house" in apology for our wait. Near midnight our fatigued and beaten party arrived back at Altair. It had been a long day in heat and a much longer wait on uncomfortable wicker chairs while good looking food was taken towards our table only to be delivered to another group. Bob was in good humor about the experience and Boog was attempting to laugh it off but I guessed he was nervous about his restaurant choice for the group that night. In the morning we would leave Mindelo with 75 other sail boats to race across the Atlantic Ocean.
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