One night in downtown Hermosa Beach, I wanted to try something different. This is exactly what I got at Mediterraneo.

The menu layout was slightly confusing at first and this is because the restaurant mostly sells Tapas, or basically a bunch of little appetizers, you order from a variety of small unique dishes, and get to taste as many as you want. You receive a little golf card like menu on which you check off with a pencil each dish you would like to try. Each being a small hunk of money of course.

I asked the waitress which of the tapas did she believe was the strangest, the most unique. To which she replied the Seafood & Fennel, 8 dollars. I had to try it.

When I received the plate, my first thought was that it was one of the most beautiful arrangements of some of the most disgusting things I had ever seen. Comprised of calamari, shrimp, and shaved fennel, in a kind of cold, salty and sour dressing, this salad was as much a surprised to my eyes as it was to my tongue. I loved it! I am always thrilled when a restaurant has real ethnic food to offer, and this plate delivered that thrill 100%.

The waitress then suggested that for my next plate I try the sweet Baked Brie with honey, 9 dollars (not pictured),  as a perfect complement to the cold salad I had just enjoyed. This dish was an interesting and great twist on traditional brie, the only thing I didn’t like about it is that I burned all the tastebuds off the tip of my tongue on the first bite. Be careful, it’s hot.

I next decided to try a more “close to home” menu item for some of you out there that may not be into the whole octopus tentacles and what not. The Gambas, 7 dollars, or grilled tiger shrimp in paprika oil, is what I ordered next.

These tasty morsels came hot and full of flavor poked straight through the center on a skewer. I asked for a lemon and squeezed a couple drops right onto the shrimp before plucking it off the skewer and devouring them. The salty and sour combination was the perfect flavor for these big juicy shrimp.

Now, I could go on and on about the different things on the menu, some that I tried, some that I dared not, but that takes some of the experience out of this restaurant. Besides the delicious food, the fun of Mediterraneo is getting to explore the menu, pick out your own Tapas, and try new things. Don’t be scared away by the strange food, think of it this way, your All-American cheese burger is probably considered strange by the Mediterraneans. This restaurant has great food, a great environment on the boardwalk of the Hermosa Beach pier, I insist that you try it out.