Soups at Café del Mar are an intricate affair, with the Red Crab & Lobster Bisque ($12) presenting the finest in distilled seafood. A full-bodied thickness is achieved because of the soup's vintage Armagnac, adding flavour to the strong lobster taste of the soup. The crab, shredded so finely that it is barely noticeable, swirls around the creamy soup and adds texture to it. Emphasizing the essence of the soup - the lobster - a skewer of barbequed lobster comes dipped in the soup, spiced up with black pepper marinate.

The Grilled Succulent Lamb Chops ($38), which uses prime Australian rack of lamb, is substantial without being nauseatingly filling. An appetizing sight, the dish presents you with two chunky pieces of lamb chops balancing acrobatically on each other with a colourful tent of vegetable compote on the side. The meat is fabulous: thick, juicy and soft with the dish's salsa sauce exuding sweet, spicy and sour juices on the meat. In true Mediterranean style, the vegetable compote is fiery in both aesthetics and taste.

Move over, Greece, and make way for Spain. Competing with Café del Mar's lamb chops is another main, this time a rice variety - the Spanish Marisco Paella ($32), served not just fresh from the pan, but fresh in the pan. The saffron rice of this dish is baked with seafood morsels and fresh capsicums and tomatoes. Yellow and red characterize the paella, with a perky lobster sitting atop the bed of rice. Firm and sweet, just like the prawns and scallops in the dish, the seafood moderate the salty and moist thick-grain rice.

For dessert, try the Pistachio Cheese Cake ($12), made of pistachio puree, Oreo desserts and cheese. Green with layers of brown, the dessert is as colourful as the rest of Café del Mar's offerings, especially since it is lightly dripped with red raspberry compote. For flamboyant embellishment, a twirled soft cracker is displayed on top of the cake. A little too sweet with a fascinating musky aftertaste, the cheesecake is unique and not to be missed.