Dinner at Agua

Day two on Grand Cayman started at the ripe hour of 7:30 AM, with a quick jaunt to the dive store so my scuba gear could be serviced. This allowed for the rare occasion to grab a legit breakfast, and so we found ourselves at Cimboco for a morning bite. I opted for the "Spice up your life" frittata: three eggs, jerk chicken, bell peppers, onion, tomatoes & mozzarella cheese served alongside herb roasted potatoes & white toast. The jerk chicken added both sweet and Caribbean notes, while the bell peppers and onions lent their flavors to the overall palette. With a couple dashes of hot sauce, and perfectly cooked potatoes on the side, and my morning was set for success.

"Spice up your life" frittata
2017 Cimboco. Grand Cayman, BWI

 The remainder of the day was spent lounging on the beach, and writing the recap for last night's meal at Catch. After watching the sun set with G&T in hand, the Madre and I cleaned up and head to the evening's dinner venue: Agua. Located in the Galleria Plaza right on West Bay Rd., Agua is walk-able from many of the top hotel/condo locations. A boon to the traveler who wishes to forego driving on the left, but a pain for those looking for a quieter/more intimate setting.


Agua's concept is somewhat interesting, as a blend of Italian, Caribbean and Peruvian cuisines. Upon entering Agua, one comes to an foyer area with the main dining area to the right, and bar/lounge/outdoor area to the right. The color palette for the restaurant consisted of various shades of light blue, with a white ceiling, and woods of various colors serving as accents. The Madre and I were brought to a white linen two-top of generous length, and were promptly provided a menu and wine list.

Reviewing the menu, we opted to share two appetizers: polpo anticucho and frito misto. We actually picked the same entrée: wasabi tuna; and ordered a half bottle of Rombauer chardonnay to share. While waiting for the appetizers, I reflected at how loud the venue was. After asking one of the passing servers, apparently a large party rented out the outdoor area so they had to put a few more tables inside. Understandable, but it did make for some difficult conversation over the course of the evening.

Polpo anticucho
2017 Agua. Grand Cayman, BWI

Both appetizers were brought out at the same time, and placed side-by-side in the the center of the table to be shared. I first sampled the polpo anticucho: grilled octopus, sautéed parsley potato, and aji panca pepper sauce. Unfortunately, the octopus was inconsistently cooked, with one tentacle being slightly over-charred and thus difficult to cut, and the other under-charred and thus missing most of that beautiful charcoal flavor. The part of the tentacle that was cooked just right was excellent, with great mouth feel and solid  buttery notes.

The aji panca pepper sauce had good flavor, but I found it to either overpower the other flavors, or the dish completely lacked flavor diversity from other ingredients. A great example of octopus with a diverse flavor profile was the appetizer from L'Abbatoir in Vancouver that I had the luxury of tasting in the summer of 2016. That dish had a black bean glaze on the bottom to lend earthy tones, the pickled cucumber and spice sauce lent sweet and spice, while the octopus had good texture and a nice char that enhanced the buttery notes of the flesh. Contrast this with last night, which had decent texture and buttery charcoal flavor in spots, but the remainder of the flavor profile was overly concentrated in the aji panca pepper sauce. An okay appetizer, but nothing special to say the least.

Frito misto
2017 Agua. Grand Cayman, BWI

While the octopus at least had decent flavor, the frito misto (fried calamari, shrimp and scallops) was sadly mundane. Akin to the Crispy Blowfish tails at ESCA this past Thanksgiving weekend, the seafood was overly battered using a breading that was devoid of any depth of flavor. Furthermore, the accompanying wasabi mayo lacked any kick in the wasabi department, and honestly I considered it was replaced with a type of tartar sauce until confirmed by a passing server.

One of the saving graces was the large lemon the dish came with, which provided some nice citrus notes to the fried seafood. Also, the seafood was fried to perfection. It was not overly greasy or rubbery, but firm with decent chew. In truth, the preparation was excellent, but the recipe just lacked flavor to showcase the work in the kitchen properly.

Wasabi tuna
2017 Agua. Grand Cayman, BWI

The appetizer plates were cleared, and then after a brief respite, the main entrée was served. Wasabi tuna was Japanese marinated seared local yellow fin tuna, potato croquette, green bean tempura, with wasabi and chili mayo. At first glance the presentation was nice, but the portion of tuna was incredible. It could have been half the size, and I would have been just as content.

Taking the first few bites, I noticed the seared preparation was a bit inconsistent. A bite here and there actually had a cold center, instead of a warm but still raw center. Furthermore, the mouth feel of the tuna was a bit underwhelming. The preparation did not use anything - sesame seeds, rubs, etc. - to break up the texture of the fish. Because of this, I found the subtleness of the marinade's flavors to be disappointing, as I expected the dish to dial up the flavor in the marinade if it was going to forego any rubs or toppings.

The wasbi mayo had more wasabi flavor than that in the frito misto, yet I still found it underwhelming. The chili mayo was nice, and did pair well with the tuna. But like with the octopus, the dish's flavor palette was somewhat mono-flavored as the pepper mayo overpowered the subtleness of the Japanese marinade,

Chocolate-hazelnut mille-feuille & pistachio gelato
2017 Agua. Grand Cayman, BWI

The accompanying vegetables were cooked perfectly, though I found the croquette to be slightly out of place with an Asian-influenced tuna dish. Still the croquette was prepared well, with crispy exterior and soft interior. Finally, the other vegetables were cooked well and added nice fresh flavors to the dish.

The final course was desert, which consisted of a chocolate-hazelnut mille-feuille, and an order of pistachio gelato. The mille-feuille -  a desert consisting of many layers of puff pastry sandwiching dark chocolate and hazelnut mousse - had both great flavors, yet was nice and light. Hazelnut mousse added its richness, tempered by the dark chocolate notes.

By far the best part of desert was the pistachio gelato. And to be honest, it was more akin to ice cream than gelato: lacking the traditional creaminess of the Italian desert. What made it so awesome was the bits of pistacio toffee mixed into the desert. It was a total surprise, and as one who has a weakness for toffee, was definitely welcome.

For the most past, I was disappointed with the night's cuisine. The entrées were either inconsistently prepared, lacked diversity of flavor that hallmarks outstanding cuisine, or in some cases both. It's disappointing because the service was impeccable, and the staff friendly as can be. While apprehensive of making a return call immediately, I will certainly be keeping my ear out in the future to justify another visit.