La Insula del Principito

Today I ate an amazing three course meal in Alcalá de Henares. The lunch structure of Spain is splendid but I had a lot of disappointing experiences with the food served this year. Today was completely different!

La Insula del Principito has been calling to me for a few months now. I walk past it once a week on my way to the university. Its banner depicts both Antoine's Little Prince AND Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quijote, a double nerd enticement. I sensed deep in my soul that anyone that can manage that double alusion would do something special with their food and drink. The hunch was proved so true!

My first course, since I ordered the menú del día, was a greens salad with goat cheese. I love this combination. The goat cheese was served in delicious thick circles and complimented by a fine olive oil. A variety of small crisp seeds on top of a few slices of red tomato added to the dish and a dash of cranberry preserves made it perfect. After I devoured the salad I sopped up the remaining dressing and seeds with a piece of my fresh baguette.

The second course was called "secreto con chimichurri" and it was mouthwatering. Thick juicy ham cuts that were extremely tender formed the main part of the dish. Fried potato quarters added substance and the chimichurri gave them an exciting flare. Once again  I had a little delicious juice left over to enjoy with a bit of my baguette.

Coffee or dessert is included in the menu. Today I decided to take the dessert and add the coffee on top to experience everything.  I finished my meal with an amazing crema catalana and a comfortingly bitter hot coffee.  The crema catalan is the consistency of pudding and just as sweet as ice cream. The topmost layer is crystalized table sugar.

The waitress was kind and patient and the customers appeared to be all repeat consumers.  I cannot wait for an excuse to return and show someone new the pleasure of this delicious restaurant.