La Tasca

...in my mind to visit La Tasca but I only got around to it on Friday night. My friend Jen and I both stuck for something to do, so why not check it out?? Good plan indeed.

The place is a converted bank, and from the outside looks small, like one of those old fashioned family run places that made you feel like you were eating in someone's front room. I am not sure if this is deliberate, I am sure it instils pangs of nostalgia from people ...
...hospitality. I wonder if the La Tasca management offer some kind of training course, 'How to make people feel like they are in Spain' with advice on punctuating speech with little Spanish phrases 'moy bien' 'mucho mucho' etc. I am always wary about foreign appearing waiting staff. Other chains pretending to offer Mediterrannean hospitality employ anyone with a none English accent, thus on a previous occasion at another place I was served by someone ... more

I am in love with Spain. I am not talking about the concrete sprawls of the mediterranean inhabited by pot bellied English people with their 'English' pubs and packs of youths in football shirts causing trouble and passing on pregnancy scares to naive teenage girls, I am talking about the Spain you really don't have to venture very far to find. This is the Spain of the whitewashed villages with moorish architecture. Achingly beautiful raven haired girls with their huge brown eyes and cute accents, orange juice and fresh fruit in abundance, the blazing sunshine that gives the place its beauty and its attraction for us English stuck in our own rain sodden urban sprawl, not to mention the gorgeous red wine that they drink as if it came out of the tap, and their lifestyle, lots of healthy food, seafood, red wine and a nice sleep every afternoon and partying till late. No wonder they have some of the healthiest and longest living people in Europe.

I was delighted when 'La Tasca' opened up in town. I actually thought it was a one off restaurant and was disappointed to discover it is one of a chain. So it goes, chain living is part of the English suburban lot. I will eat my hat if I find a decent restaurant in this town that is an original, but that taken into consideration it was always in my mind to visit La Tasca but I only got around to it on Friday night. My friend Jen and I both stuck for something to do, so why not check it out?? Good plan indeed.

The place is a converted bank, and from the outside looks small, like one of those old fashioned family run places that made you feel like you were eating in someone's front room. I am not sure if this is deliberate, I am sure it instils pangs of nostalgia from people of my parents' age of a time when eating out meant a friendly Italian run by a tubby couple in an old shop window with about three choices but always high quality food and great service.

Entering the place you are immediately hit by the manufactured atmosphere. The Spanish latino salsa style music, and the smell of assorted dishes. Jen and I chose to have a G and T sat at the bar, which was a great opportunity to glance around and take in the place properly. It's a fair size but either to promote the atmosphere of a small Spanish tapas bar or merely to improve their economy the place is crammed with diners. Waiters rush around, all of whom appear to be Spanish, they seem energetic and full of traditional Spanish hospitality. I wonder if the La Tasca management offer some kind of training course, 'How to make people feel like they are in Spain' with advice on punctuating speech with little Spanish phrases 'moy bien' 'mucho mucho' etc. I am always wary about foreign appearing waiting staff. Other chains pretending to offer Mediterrannean hospitality employ anyone with a none English accent, thus on a previous occasion at another place I was served by someone who was clearly Russian or something, pretending to be Italian saying things like 'Molto Bene' but sounding like Rosa Klebb.

La Tasca offers a good 'Tapas' style menu where you can pick and choose what you like, there are around twenty or so dishes, however Jen and I went for the set menu at £15 each. With this you got six tapas dishes and a dish of paella to share. At this point I should warn you that Jen is a vegetarian, although she sometimes eats fish. A slight incongruity there, but thats just what she is like. Therefore we were limited to what we could choose. However agreeing to foresake the red meat options we were bombarded with plate after plate of delightful goodies. Blocks of spanish cheese with huge bright red tomatoes drizzled with olive oil, lots of fresh olives (Jen hates them), followed by a fresh green salad with as much bread as you could stuff your face with. After that we had a omelette type thing with more salad and then even more to come, a plate of spanish sausage in wine (which I enjoyed solely) and then a dish of chicken in garlic white wine sauce and a veggie thing for Jen with potatoes and roast veggies. By this point we were well and truly stuffed. Yet there was even more to come. The vegetarian paella arrived. Let me just say that again. Vegetarian Paella. I imagine any real Spaniard worth his Rioja will be laughing his balleros off. Vegetarian paella is just an oxymoron. I remember being twelve years old having this dish for the first time in a back street restaurant in Malaga, with the staff communicating with my parents through sign language. It was gorgeous, loads of fresh seafood and lovely chicken. Paella just isnt paella without the flesh. It is one of my favourite dishes, something I have failed spectacularly to recreate on several occasions, and I felt a bit cheated that Jen's faddish dietery preferences denied me the chance to taste what was probably the most authentic I could get this side of the Bay of Biscay.

What would have been more perfect than quaffing a couple of bottles of fine Rioja with all these culinary delights?? Well Jen doesn't drink red wine. Like most women she prefers white. I only drink red as a rule, other than champagne so looking at the extensive wine list I decided reluctantly to stick to beer not wishing to spend £15 or so on a bottle just for me. Damn!! If I find a woman with a similar fondness for red wine I swear I will marry her! But not Jen..only a couple of glasses of house white for her 'I have got loads to do tomorrow' 'But its only 9pm woman!!' I think this is the reason Jen and I remain 'good friends' I would die of frustration otherwise...

After eating enough to solve the famine problems of a medium sized African country we decided to peruse the dessert menu. Lots to have and reasonably priced. We had a good laugh at the coffee and liqour menu. Some description of a brandy with captions like 'delightfully smooth a sensual experience on the tongue' and 'wonderfully creamy, deliciously warming' etc etc (these are approximates I didnt bring a menu home, but it made us laugh. A lot.)

The main problem was the size of the tables and plates, there was just not enough room and it took ages to move everything around to make it comfortable enough to eat. The staff were excellent although were a little over the top. La Tasca aims to create a little bit of Spain in whatever English town you are in, it works up to a point but you still have to walk home in the rain.

At £15 a head plus drinks and tip it was definitely great value. I would go again, just as soon as I find a girl who loves red wine!! 

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