Tapas with Friends!

Last week I tried so many good tapas for lunch at this wine bar and restaurant called Etiquette.  It is a fantastic feeling to actually be able to take part in shared dishes with friends!  Before I was always concerned with the family style restaurants or shared appetizers because I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to eat most of them.  I usually had to try and make sure that at least one thing we all ordered I would be able to eat.  But not anymore!  I was actually able to try everything we ordered this time which was wonderful.  We got several different dishes some of which aren’t shown in the picture because we gobbled them up so quickly, mainly the chicken dish.  My favorite was the roast potatoes which were really good!  They were nice and crispy on the outside with a little bit of rosemary and spices on the outside and then soft and fluffy on the inside. The mini burgers although small had a lot of things going on.  I still ate about half of it though even with the tomato on it and everything.  I’ve noticed that the bun can get kind of soggy depending on what you have on it and that my preference would be to not have it without ketchup, a sauce or tomato or other thing which would make it soggy.  The chicken dish was like chicken cutlets with the crispy outside part and the chicken cooked well on the inside.  The cheese and charcuterie plate is always solid in my mind and one of the things I normally look for on the menu.  I have tried a lot of different cheese plates and the difference for me this time is actually trying the different charcuteries as well.  The cheeses were all great and I love that Belgium gives you decent size portions of cheese.  I am still getting used to the raw ham, salami and charcuteries.  These seem kind of chewy to me, reminds me a bit of the texture of taffy or fruit roll ups.  We also each had a little salad which didn’t make it into the picture but I tried that as well.  The salad had a couple different things in it with a dressing and I liked the pine nuts that was on the salad.  I still think the lettuce or greens themselves are kind of bitter but I can eat them and am starting to get a little bit more used to them.  Also tried mini croque monsiers which are basically grilled ham and cheese which I have ordered and tried several times now and am much more used to!  Overall, it is such a relief to be able to try all of these new things with friends and really take part in the food sharing culture.