Outside may be grey in Nottingham, but inside La Tasca, the full colour made me reminisce about evenings spent sitting off Las Ramblas in Barcelona, gazing at the ocean. Missing out on the location was remedied with the prospect of shoving a load of tapas in our gobs. After being led to our table, our excellent waitress, Valeska, offered us sangria - delicious and soon polished off.
For starters, we opted for sharing bread (£6.95) with a healthy serving of tomato sauce, onions and peppers on top, alongside fat, juicy green olives (£3.95). There’s loads of tapas on offer for veggies, but some of the vegetable dishes are missing the (v) sign because they’ve been fried in the same oil as the fish. It’s all labelled properly, so it’s your choice to take the plunge or not. My friend did, and ordered yummy patatas bravas (£3.35) with creamy aioli - a great remedy to the spice. The smoky berenjenas (£4.95) was a bit heavy on the oregano, but otherwise tasty. The vegetable gratin (£3.75) was perfect, with just the right amount of creamy blue cheese and a good bite to the potato. Sadly, the festival of mushrooms (£3.95) couldn’t quite live up to their nominative determinism.
I had the paella of the day (£4.25) - chicken and chorizo. A nice bite, well seasoned and full of delicious meat. I wasn’t disappointed, which is more than I can say for the new pulpo gratin y queso (£4.65), which featured tough, rubbery octopus - a shame because the lobster sauce was very tasty. The best of my selection was the pollo con crema (£5.25). The succulent chicken thighs were melt-in-the-mouth perfect with the sweet edge of almonds balancing well with the spinach and mustard sauce.
For pud, a gooey fondant de chocolate (£4.95) covered in ice cream. They had no vanilla, so we were offered salted caramel instead. Bonus. We also had a waffle with chocolate sauce and ice cream (£4.95) - similarly yummy. Although obviously not made on site, they were very tasty and along with an excellent coffee, it nicely rounded off the night.
Although maybe not as perfect as some of the independent tapas restaurants for the price, attentive service and atmosphere, it’s well worth a visit, especially if you have kids (they eat free). The disabled access is excellent too.
Penny Reeve 9 Weekday Cross, NG1 2GB. 0115 959 9456
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