La Puerta, Neutral Bay

Hidden away from the bustling Military Road in Neutral Bay is La Puerta, a great place to dine if you are a fan of Latin American cuisine. The restaurant design features red, black and dark wooden hues with a dramatic mural depicting two dancers in the midst of a tango.

The food is made for sharing and we started with the Tiradito. Thin slices of kingfish have been marinated with Aji Amarillo (a chilli paste), dressed with lime juice and red sorrel leaves. It's similar to ceviche, wonderfully fresh, tangy with a bit of heat.

Tiradito: Peruvian specialty, thinly sliced marinated fish fillet, with Aji Amarillo and red sorrel vein leaves $6p/p

I love my grilled corn and La Puerta’s Mazarcada Corn is just as delicious as the ones I’ve tried at Mamasita or Ms G’s. The corn was topped with a generous amount of grated haloumi cheese and a delicious spice mix.

Mazorcada: Corn on the cob topped with cocktail sauce, finished with grated haloumi cheese and House spice mix $5p/p

For the bigger dishes, we opted for the Grilled giant octopus with chorizo and crispy potato. The grilled octopus almost tasted meaty, and the capsicum chutney together with the aioli made for a great flavour combination. It was definitely a moreish dish.

Octopus Choripapa: Grilled giant octopus and Hot chorizo mixed with crispy potato and grilled capsicum chuney finished with home made aioli $28

Can’t say I’ve tried Pork belly with avocado puree so I was a little apprehensive, but it turned out to be a great combination. The pork was incredibly tender with crispy crackling, and finished off with a chorizo crumb. The smoked potato and avocado puree provided a good balance to the bold flavours of the dish.

Chicarron: Crispy pork belly, with smoked potato, avocado puree topped with chorizo crumbs and micro sorrel red vein sorrel leaf $26

Onto dessert and the Popcorn and soursop ice cream sandwich definitely caught my eye. ​I love the taste of soursop, but have usually only found it in some Vietnamese restaurant as an ingredient to a smoothie. First time having soursop ice cream and it was very refreshing and perfectly offset the sweetness of the dulce de leche-laced popcorn brittle. It was definitely a fun dessert to eat.

Popcorn and soursop ice cream sandwich topped with Dulce de leche ganache $16

La Puerta has a lovely ambience and it's definitely worth a visit to experience some South American cuisine, tapas style. There’s an extensive cocktails and wine list too, featuring mainly Chilean and Argentinian varieties.