One of these lovely summer nights, make it over to El Patio to sit out on one of their terraces–they’re great for both date nights or dinner with friends. We strolled over around noon to catch their lunch special–a small but decent selection of starters, mains and desserts, including their house gazpacho and delicious unlimited bread rolls. Lunch deals range from RMB68 to RMB128.

We started with soup and salad. The gazpacho is a smooth purée topped with tiny croutons. It’s tasty but not traditional. Pass on the boring bacon mushroom spinach salad and instead try the chickpea salad, a generous portion of chopped black olives, green peppers, tomatoes, red onion and tiny chickpeas topped with cod and pine nut tomato vinaigrette. The veggies are fresh and crunchy and the cod soft and salty, a great balance of texture and flavor. It pairs well with their tart, fresh grapefruit juice (RMB48).

The baked cod and roasted vegetables main we picked out was enough to share for lunch. The hearty portion of roasted veggies looks and tastes more like a stewed ratatouille, but it’s a nice bed for the fish. The cod needs hardly any extra seasoning and is baked perfectly: soft and tender yet flaky.

We ended our meal with the cheesecake with red fruits. The sloppy rectangle had what appeared to be an overbaked, curdled cheese top and is served alongside a ambiguously sour berry garnish; we had to push it aside after just one bite. Our iced coffees (RMB40) were no more exciting; they’re too weak to give us the caffeine buzz we were looking for. Nonetheless, we’ll be back, and next time, we’ll finish our meal with the chocolate brownie instead.

DETAILS

What: El Patio

Where: 110 Fenyang Lu 汾阳路110号

Tel: 6437-5839