Since our first attempt to have dinner at Rosewater was derailed by weather, we needed a "Take Two". Wednesday was the night. We arrived about 6:30 and were the only people there. We had a great waiter Eduardo who was kind enough to get us orange slices for our Tanqueray and Tonics!! While enjoying our cocktails, we spotted something out in the water!!
It was something that used to be very familiar to see from these resorts in early evening. It was a cruise ship!! Specifically the Celebrity Edge that has been docked in Costa Maya that day. This siting had special meaning since we were on the last sailing of the Edge in March 2020 before the shutdown.
We ordered our meals and food started arriving. This was the scallop aquachile appetizer.
My wife and I started discussing what the difference is between an aquachile and a ceviche since they can look the same on a plate. A ceviche is where raw fish (usually a flaky white fish) is combined with aromatics and an acid, traditionally orange juice but can also be lemon, lime or other acidic fruits. The acid then "cooks" the fish. Left for too long the fish can become tough, rubbery and just unpleasant.
An aquachile is when already cooked seafood, usually a shellfish such as shrimp or scallops are dressed a la minute with an acidic dressing. In this case, it was a pepper infused grapefruit juice. The scallops were just tender and not rubbery. The acidic sauce had a good amount of heat.
Next was the beef carpaccio.
These were delicious thin sliced pieces of raw beef with dollops of a light garlicky aioli. There was also shaved parmesan cheese, hints of ginger and roasted red pepper. A very good presentation of this dish.
Next was something I had never heard of called Meloso rice.
it looked an awful like risotto. I did a little research to find out more about this dish. From what I found, this is actually closer to a rice soup that is cooked down to reduce the broth and make the rice creamy. A bit different than risotto where broth is added a little bit at a time to cook the rice and get the desired consistency.
Whatever the method, this was such a flavorful dish and my favorite bite of the night. There were flavors of red pepper and chorizo along with such a rich creaminess. And a runny egg!!
An egg always can help bring a dish together. There is just some kind of magic with a runny egg yolk!! And thus was served with such a well toasted crustini. Crisp, yet pillowy. I found myself spreading the rice and egg onto the bread for a delicious creamy, crunchy and salt bite!! So good and better than many risottos I have had.
Next was the lobster pizza.
This had a crisp thin crust topped with lots of cheese, a bit of tomato sauce, black olives, mushrooms and the Star attraction Carribbean lobster. This had some good flavors going on. If I ordered again, I think I would ask just for lobster and cheese. I think the mushrooms, tomato and black olives took away from the lobster.
Next up was Frutti de mer - or Fruits of the Sea.
This was thin fettuccine noodles in a light, buttery sauce served with shrimp, scallops and mussels. The shrimp was certainly the star. They were well cooked and plump. The scallops were okay but a bit overcooked. If I ordered again, I would just get all shrimp.
The last dish was the Catch of the Day. This was some really good fish.
There were two large filets of fish. Eduardo said it was grouper but it tasted and looked more like red snapper. In either case, it was simply prepared and delicious. Too often a chef tries to do too much to seafood. Here that was not the case. The fish was simply seasoned with some salt and pepper and grilled. It was perfectly cooked for me. Flaky but still moist. And the chef did something really clever. The fish skin had been removed and then crisped separately. It was then sprinkled as a garnish on top. So for each bite of fish, you could add just a bit of the crispy skin for some additional flavor and crunch. A well designed dish. The fish was served with some pearled potatoes. These mystified me since I had never seen potatoes in such a perfect round shape before. I was thinking that maybe they took a melon baller to a regular potato. They were delicious with the melted butter and dill.
There are a few other items we want to try so we plan to eat one more dinner here before we check out.
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