The Gossiping Gourmet: Take a trip around the world at Sapphire

Sapphire is following the trend of the moment by offering a menu of appetizer-sized portions, called “spice plates.”

We wondered why they call them “spice plates” instead of “small plates,” which everybody else in town is doing, but as soon as we tasted our first one, we knew.

It was all about spices. In fact, this review will also serve as a little primer on spice mixtures from far off places.

Azmin Ghahreman “” citizen of the world, born in Iran, educated in Switzerland “” has cooked almost everywhere, in places as far-flung as Istanbul, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Sydney and Maui.

His knowledge of spices is equally international and is given its fullest expression in this new menu, which offers a trip through the spice markets of the world.

If you are not in the mood for their dinner menu, or just want a bite to accompany a drink or, like us, want to try as many different tastes as possible in a single meal, this is an exciting way to go.

It was too cold, even with their lovely fire pit, to sit outside on the ocean-view patio, but it is equally pleasant sitting inside the refurbished shell of the old Pottery Shack with its high ceiling, rustic woods, unique contemporary glass lighting fixtures and comfortable upholstered chairs.

We happily managed to eat our way through more than half of the 12 offerings on the spice menu. Because we were writing a review, we decided to order exclusively from this menu, much to the dismay of our sweet, young waiter who was concerned about our nutritionally unbalanced meal and suggested that we might want to order a salad. When Elle told him that she had eaten Swiss chard and carrots for lunch, he felt much better about our choices.

We began with gambas a la plancha. This Spanish-inspired dish had two well-seasoned, grilled jumbo prawns that arrived in a fascinating sauce of sweet and hot paprikas, cracked coriander and olive oil. We sopped up every last bit of it on our plate with their famous cheese bread (note about the bread: it usually comes warm and is irresistible but ours was not so hot).

Our next plate took us to Africa with red curried swordfish. The distinctive taste of this fish paired nicely with the complex curry sauce enlivened by a touch of cayenne and the sweet hint of mango. The red splash of the finishing tomato relish was a nice decorative detail.

The United Nations in a dish was a Creole spiced seared ahi with a beer, shoyu mustard sauce. Creole spices are a mixture of Spanish, French and African influences (paprika, thyme, basil, cayenne, filé powder, chili powder). A rub of these spices zipped up the Japanese-style seared ahi, which rested in the brash mustard sauce. Although it was strongly flavored, it didn’t overwhelm the excellent sushi-grade tuna.

The next dish would have been unidentifiable without its title on the menu “” Filipino coconut banana fish wrap. All we knew was that it was a deep-fried ball. The coconut batter dominated. Inside was a bit of fish around something soft and creamy, which must have been the banana. It tasted pretty good, especially when dipped in the accompanying Jufran sauce (spicy Filipino banana “ketchup” that contains no tomato but is bright red with food coloring).

On we go to Indonesia with chicken martabak. This street snack is popular in Malaysia and the Middle East as well. It looks very much like a spring roll. A seasoned, ground chicken mixture with bits of carrot and lentil is wrapped with a thin filo-like pastry and deep-fried. Rather than the traditional dark sweet and sour sauce, Azmin goes to India for a yellow split pea dal, redolent with garlic, cumin, mustard seeds and tumeric which was a lovely variation that made a great sauce for the chicken roll.

Tunisian Merguez (lamb sausage meat) is used to make a kebab, seasoned lightly with tabil (coriander, garlic, caraway and cayenne). The spicy meat was delicious on its own but the sauce, a mixture of tomatoes, capers and harissa (Moroccan hot sauce) was a bit too strong and acidic.

We continued our world tour with Middle Eastern falafel. For those not familiar with these deep-fried balls, they are made with ground garbanzo beans, onions, garlic, coriander, cumin and parsley. They are usually stuffed into pita bread and topped with tahini (sesame seed paste) or yogurt. Here, these are served on their own with a minty yogurt sauce seasoned with zahtar (a blend of thyme, oregano, marjoram, sesame seeds and salt; regional variations add fennel, cumin, coriander and sumac).

Sapphire’s falafel were a bit under seasoned and the outside was over-cooked making it too thick and heavy but the refreshing yogurt sauce helped to make them tastier.

Other places Azmin can take you are: Oaxaca, for a duck mole quesadilla; China, for Szchuan pork and tofu egg noodle; Israel, for apple curried chicken liver with crispy lavash; or the good old U.S., for a steamed cheeseburger with spicy mayonnaise. Azmin reserves the right to travel anywhere he pleases for his nightly chef inspired dish, which changes according to whim.

We ended our world tour with dessert from New Zealand (even though it wasn’t on the spice plate menu). Pavlova is a dessert named after a famous ballerina and is as light as a tour jeté; two cloud-like layers of meringue filled with custard, topped with whipped cream, drizzled with raspberry sauce and covered with blackberries and raspberries. What’s not to like?

If You Go

What: Sapphire (949) 715-9888

Where: 1200 S. Coast Hwy.

When: 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday; brunch 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., dinner 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. Sunday.

Prices: Spice Plates: $7 to $9.50

Wine:

Bottles: $26 to $510

Half-Carafe $17 to $43

By the glass: $8 to $22

Corkage Fee: $25

ELLE HARROW and TERRY MARKOWITZ owned a la Carte for 20 years and can be reached at themarkos755@yahoo.com.