{"id":83,"date":"2009-11-08T15:47:00","date_gmt":"2009-11-08T15:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.leilappetit.com\/blog\/?p=83"},"modified":"2011-08-07T21:10:54","modified_gmt":"2011-08-07T21:10:54","slug":"review-tapa-a-hola-lotta-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leilappetit.com\/?p=83","title":{"rendered":"Review – Tapa. A hola lotta love."},"content":{"rendered":"
My friend Lou and I had decided that we needed a bit of a night for a catch up, and so plans were made to introduce her to some of The Shore’s eating and drinking dens. I realised that the summer had passed by , and I’d not been into Tapa for a wee while. It had wholly impressed in its opening months, and I figured this would be a good time to pop in and see how things were going.<\/p>\n

A sign of a busy (read: successful) place is often the way in which your reservation request time is dealt with. A firm – sure, we can do a table for you at 8pm on Friday is a likely indication of the place being under-booked. I enjoyed a very brief, and delicate tango when I tried to negotiate a table for 7pm, and accepted the alternative 6:30pm reservation slot with good grace. To sweeten the rather early dining time, we had a voucher for their November dining promo offering a complimentary bottle of vino, and so understood why the reservations book would be particularly stowed out.<\/p>\n

The staff were as cheery as I’d remembered them from earlier in the year – a good sign that any teething issues of a new restaurant had been taken in their stride. Our bottle of vino blanco was a nice zippy little number and certainly set us up well for the night. Bread and oil arrived simultaneously and we had a chance to look at the menu.<\/p>\n

I have a feeling that it is impossible for a two people NOT to over-order in a Spanish restaurant. Even if your table-mate and you have cloned taste buds and synchronised watches, it’s still rather tricky not to go down the ‘Uh, yeah, we’ll have one of that, that , those , them, these…..’ until the waitress’s eyes spark and show that fear of knowing there’s no way in hell everything’s going to fit on the modestly proportioned table.<\/p>\n

The other night, this came at the magical ‘six items’ mark, so I have to admit it was a helpful cue to reign in los caballo<\/span>s. First to arrive were the rocket salad, and the grilled Chorizo alla plancha. The chorizo had a fantastic barbecue grilled flavour, and I suddenly had pangs for summertime again. The rocket salad, whilst not inexpensive at nearly five quid, was a generous serving, and was a nice light compliment to some of the richer dishes we’d chosen.<\/p>\n

Next up was the hotly-tipped fritura de bacalao, which was three huge chunks of cod, deep fried in a super light batter. This was accompanied by a tangy lime mayo. It had been my fave the last time I’d been in, and definitely held on to the title. The Spanish meatballs (albondigas) are maybe a bit of a predictable choice, but it was a good one. They were a nice texture , not too solid, and came in a tasty tomatoey sauce. Lou had the gambas pil pil, and said the prawns were good if a little too fiery on the chilli front.<\/p>\n

Lastly we had the patatas a la importancia, which is sort of like eating a de-constructed tortilla.It’s a kind of chaotic looking dish, with skinny fries, egg, onion and asparagus all tossed together. It’s crazy looking, but absolutely delicious, nicely seasoned , with soft onions and a really nice quality of asparagus for this time of year.<\/p>\n

We gallantly tried to get through everything, and I had to shed a wee tear about the fact that we couldn’t quite muster the space to accommodate the last half a meatball. Dessert was a no-go as a result, but a very kind gesture of a Spanish liqueur to finish the meal was much appreciated. I decided the hazelnut was the winner, Lou sided with the apple. Both were really fantastically flavoured.<\/p>\n

The review should probably end here, but actually, those two liqueurs made a nice segue into moving on to Tapas’ twin purpose of being both Barra y Restaurant<\/span>e. So, with the restaurante bit out of the way, we moved from the table to take a couple of the high chairs at the bar, and spent the next few hours working our way through an impressive proportion of their not-inconsiderable drinks list. In what can truly be described as no particular order, we went on to enjoy Amontillado sherry, a couple more dynamite liqueurs – the liquor 43 (caramel!) and the Ponche Osborne (oranges!) being so lip-smackingly good and alarmingly moreish. Somewhere between this we also managed to get through a great bottle of Cava Rosado.<\/p>\n

We had a great night, and on the way out, I half-expected to find ourselves on La Rambla when we headed through the door. Hasta luego!<\/p>\n

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