Auberge, Benijofar

Auberge has been open about three weeks now and we´ve been there twice. It´s a mid-price restaurant, serving excellent food. Everything is home-made, even the bread and ice cream.

They have an interestingly different menu with specials. Drinks are unusually cheap for a class restaurant as well, which means that the bill isn´t too scary. Five of us ate there (two had three courses and three had two courses, plus a bottle of wine, some beers and a G&T) and the bill came to about 20€ each.

It´s one of those restaurants where, because the food is mainly cooked to order, you have a leisurely meal and they don´t book two sittings at a table.

The decor is beautiful too.

You can find it on the CV905 Calle Federico Garcia Lorca. It´s tucked away in a courtyard.

Irene

Thank you for telling us about Auberge, Irene, we believe we know where it is but haven't heard from anyone who's been.

Did you go in the evening? What did you all have? (I'm very nosy! )

Do they open for a lunchtime MDD, can you tell us more?

We are going out in a few days & will definitely go after what you have posted, many thanks!

Hope you & Alan are well.

Hi More

Remember it has only been open about a month, so it´s not surprising that you haven´t heard from people who have been.

We went in the evening (they are only open in the evening).

I had salmon mousse, slow cooked beef in red wine and lemon tart with homemade icecream.

Here´s their current menu....

 Starters
Soup of the Day... Made with fresh seasonal ingredients accompanied by “our daily baked fresh bread”.3.95
Prawn and Mushroom Skillet ...Pan fried prawns and button mushrooms finished in a garlic and crèam veloute. 5.50
Salmon Mousse ..A delicate mousse flavoured with capers and dill served on a bed of leaves. 5.50
Chorizo with Pork and Lentils ... Slow cooked with peppers, onions, wine and tomatoes to form a warming stew. 4.95
Oven Baked Brie ... French cheese oven baked in herb breadcrumbs served on a bed of leaves with a cranberry coulis.4.95
Vegetable Tower ...A tower of roasted vegetables served with a leaf salad 3.95

Main Courses
All main courses are served with a selction of fresh vegetables including Potato of the Day

Meat

Slow Cooked Beef ... Lardons of beef marinated in red wine and thyme, slow cooked and finished with button mushrooms and bacon. 9.50
Stuffed Breast of Chicken ...Breast of chicken filled with pate wrapped in bacon and oven baked. Served with a red wine jus. 9.50
Pork Escalopes ...Medallions of pork pan fried with onions and finished with a brandy, cream and mild mustard sauce.8.95

Pasta

Lasagne ...A traditional recipe served on a tomato sauce topped with béchamel and melted cheese. 7.50
Tagliatelle ,...Fresh tagliatelle served with pan fried seasonal vegetables on a tomato sauce, finished with a splash of pesto. 7.50

From The Grill

Red Pepper Chicken ... Char-grilled breast of chicken served with a cream and red pepper sauce. 9.00
Sirloin Steak ... Prime cut of beef cooked to your liking accompanied by button mushrooms and a sauceboat of brandy and peppercorn sauce. 16.00

Fish

Oven Steamed Salmon ...Fresh salmon fillet cooked with lemon and dill, Served with a light pernod jus. 10.25
Pan Fried Trout Fillets... Served with a prawn, caper and tomato salsa. 9.50

Desserts
All our deserts are made fresh daily on the premises using only the finest ingredients and are free from all additives and preservatives.

Lemon Tart Served with vanilla ice cream... The Chefs recommendation to finish your meal. 3.50
Baked German Cheesecake ... Served with a warm cherry sauce. 3.50
Hot Chocolate Fudge Cake ...  indulge yourself , not for the calorie conscious. Served with cream or ice cream. 3.50
Panetone Bread and Butter Pudding...  A luxury version of an English classic. Served with vanilla ice cream or custard. 3.95

Cheeseboard
A selection of cheeses for you to choose from. 4.95

Hi Irene

it was really kind of you to write all that for me, thank you!

It's always good to hear about new restaurants & Benijofar has some very good ones & we must try more.

If you haven't tried Maite's, a typically Spanish one that has a lunchtime MDD around 8 - 9€ you could be pleasantly surprised there. As you come from Quesada down towards the cobbled church area it's down a side road on your left just before the church. You should (depending on parked cars) see their board, placed outside the restaurant by the roadside, from the main road just bringing it to peoples attention that they serve a MDD & the price but you need to go in to enquire what's on that day. There's a very pleasant lady who speaks good English. If they're doing a paella you are asked to return at 2pm when it's ready so I would think Spanish workers may frequent it at that time, we've been earlier with friends.

There's a new restaurant on El Raso called The Hot Stone that is where The Pantry was (next door to where Cambank WAS) & it does what seems an interesting MDD for 9.95€, you may have been to both Maite's & The Hot Stone.

Again, thanks!

Oh, BTW, whatever was after the 4.95 is just a square with a red X in it.

If i am coming from Quesada into Benijofar where abouts on the 905 and on what side of the road is Auberge,i know you said it is in a courtyard but can you give me a building on the main road i can use as a landmark . Thanks.

Sorry I didn´t see this post and I didn´t get an email to tell me someone had posted on it (Justin - shouldn´t I have had one?)

Anyway, from Quesada, if you haven´t already found Auberge... it´s on the right. There´s a part of the road that has a kind of slip road which is higher than the main road... well when you go past that, you´ll be in the right area.

Irene

We went to Auberge a couple of weeks ago. The food was lovely, good value for money as we had the menu del noches. It was 4 courses  I think the cost was €13.99, wine was reasonable too. Service was good and the couple who run it are realy nice. I would recomend a visit, we will be going again next time we are in Spain.

Trevor & Vanessa

I would agree ,we went to Aubere last week and we where both impressed with the quality of the food ,value and service, we will without doubt be paying another visit.

We went to the Auberge restaurant this evening as a foursome. Some parts of the meal were fine but my husband and a friend had the same chicken with red pepper sauce for the main course and the chicken was HARD - my husband's so much so that he couldn't eat it. A replacement was offered but as the meal took so long to come anyway he refused this as the rest of us would have finished our meals by the time it would be ready as everything is apparently freshly made. He said he would just not pay for the main course. The panettone bread pudding is a farce and the German cheesecake tasted only of the overcooked base.

When we asked for the bill the head waitress said to my husband that the chicken he had sent back was actually fine but he saw her binning the meal as soon as she had taken the meal away. She remained calm-voiced but adamant that the chicken was perfect, i.e. disputing this with my husband - not the way to treat customers at all.

We won't be returning and won't be recommending this restaurant - it will be interesting to see if it survives after a few months considering the vast number of other good restaurants in the area that we have been to.

Of course, you are entitled to your opinion, but we have been there several times and taken lots of different people there. We´ve had good meals every time.

Yes, you do have to wait for your food - that´s because it´s fresh and not just microwaved.

... and why wouldn´t they bin the meal you rejected? Surely you wouldn´t expect them to keep it and serve it to someone else?

I´d be interested to know who the waitress was - can you describe her? I bet it wasn´t the owner´s wife because she would never have dreamt of arguing with you.

Yes, everyone is entitled to their opinion based on their experience. I assume this review is not just for glowing reports. We were just unlucky and unfortunate that night I guess.

Waiting for freshly prepared food is absolutely fine but inconvenient when waiting for a replacement meal when your companions will have well finished their meals by the time the replacement arrives.

The point about binning the meal straight away is that the waitress/chef didn't even sample the returned chicken breast so how could they have disputed with my husband later that it was absolutely fine - how could they know? I most certainly would not expect them to serve it to someone else.

Having read the menu on this review I was looking forward to a salmon mousse starter but was told this was "off" with a mumbled excuse about there being a problem with the fridge! The alternative prawn and mushroom skillet would be much improved with a couple of large prawns that you can taste as opposed to the half dozen miniscule prawns I received - especially in Spain.

The waitress was slim and attractive but I don't know if she is the owner's wife, although she seemed to be in charge. We would have given the restaurant another chance were it not for the fact that our complaint was disputed and belittled when it came to paying.

Enough said.