Ortiga

LOCATION
Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley only a few minutes walk from the Brunswick Street Mall.

PROFILED BY DE GROOTS MEDIA
Restaurant menus teeter on the edge of exotica and practicality. While “foreign menuese” can make dishes seem far more impressive than they really are, there is always the average punter who will never order a dish they can’t pronounce. Enter stage left – Ortiga: a split-level bar/restaurant offering a menu in Spanglish – a mix of Spanish and minimal English that is labour-intensive for waiters trying to explain the content and confusing for diners who just want something to eat. But Ortiga is worth the effort. The entry-level bar buzzes as Brisbane’s chi chi set throw back cocktails amid mood lighting, hung meats and a drool-worthy wine collection. Downstairs is the epicentre of all things Spanish – think moody, mysterious and contradictory with a very naked kitchen with Pablo Tordesillas at its helm.

The menu is on trend, offering a broad range of tasting plates accompanied by an encyclopedic wine list. We started with some pork rind crisps; a spectacular highbrow version of the crackling “gran used to make” and chips consumed en masse at English bars. The oysters with sherry were spectacular; nature’s gift relatively unadorned to allow the freshness and texture to shine through. Ditto with the pork cheeks bathed in a creamy goodness of almonds and sherry, although these were a little dry. The cured meats were wonderful, but the explanation of “please eat left to right” (i.e. start at the bottom and make your way to the top), unfortunately set an expectation that preceded the taste. As a finale the revuelto of eggs, softly scrambled with a touch of heat, was brilliant. If you can’t find your Spanish phrasebook don’t despair, the food is definitely worth the confusion.

Katrina Meynink