Tapas at La Tasca Birmingham

Hola! Having been to Gran Canaria over the summer, I got a bit of a taste for Spanish cuisine. I’ve never properly had Tapas; when I did Spanish at GCSE, my teacher used to bring in Tapas on the last day of every term for us to tuck into. I was invited along to La Tasca Birmingham to try out their range of food. I believe it’s a new restaurant and is situated just off Brindley Place in the Barclaycard arena (previously the NIA) I quite like heading to places further out than around New Street as they tend to be a lot less busy but if you do decided to head here, bear in mind they get incredibly busy on nights when there are shows on. Intrigued? Keep reading …

Tapas time at La Tasca BirminghamTapas time at La Tasca Birmingham Tapas time at La Tasca BirminghamTapas time at La Tasca Birmingham

We settled down at our table by the window, over looking the canal and ordered some Sangria. The lovely manger, Jameela, then went through her recommendations with us. It was very difficult to decide what to eat as there was such a huge range on the menu – truly something for everyone. They serve meat, fish and vegetarian dishes so the menu is pretty inclusive as well, perfect if there are a few people eating together. To start we decided to have the Tabla Española which was a sharing platter with traditional Spanish cured meats, bread, manchego cheese, olives and oil. This was a very simple but delicious starter and didn’t fill us up too much. The manchego was strong and the perfect pairing with the spicy chorizo and salami. I’m not a fan of olives but Harry polished them off for me!

Tapas time at La Tasca Birmingham Tapas time at La Tasca Birmingham

La Tasca is one of those places where you can truly make of the meal what you want! We shared a Paella Valenciana La Tasca which was packed with chicken breast, prawns, mussels and squid. You could easily eat one of these on it’s own as a main course for one, but we decided to share this and get some Tapas to go with it to get a taste for the whole menu. The paella was very tasty but I don’t think I could eat just one on it’s own as it could get a bit samey.

For our Tapas, we ordered five between us. First up was the Montadito de cerdo which was toasted bread topped with pulled pork and red chilli salsa. When is pulled pork not a good idea? It wast tasty and tender with a sweet flavour to counter the spicy chilli. Also from the meat section was the Cataluña (Mini hamburgers) to which we added manchego cheese. They were cute but they weren’t anything mind blowing – there was definitely better things on the menu! One of our absolute favourites (though I can’t show you, the picture wasn’t great!) was the Costillas de Cerdo which were baby back ribs in the best BBQ sauce I’ve ever had. The meat melted in your mouth and just fell off the bone. Amazing.

Tapas time at La Tasca Birmingham Tapas time at La Tasca BirminghamTapas time at La Tasca Birmingham

I’d had Gambas before in Gran Canaria so I had to try La Tasca’s version. This was the Gambas Pil Pil – prawns slow cooked in garlic and chilli oil. The prawns had kind of split open and the meat inside was incredibly tender, soaking up the oil giving them a wonderful spicy flavour. Jameela urged us to try the Boquerones en Vinagre; neither me or Harry like Anchovies, but these were so good and didn’t have that strong fishy taste that makes you wince a bit. These were tender and marinated in vinegar which doesn’t sound amazing but they did taste good! They were addictive, and quite nice to keep munching on throughout the meal.

Tapas time at La Tasca Birmingham Tapas time at La Tasca Birmingham

Usually when I go out and review restaurants, I never have room for desserts because we end up eating a lot, but I actually had room for dessert this time! I went for the Tarte de Caramelo y Chocolate – Do I really need to translate? This dense, rich tarte was served with strawberries. Usually not a massive fan of rich chocolate desserts, this was just perfect. Harry was persuaded by the Waffle con Helado de Caramelo y Salsa de chocolate. The waffle was hot which always goes well with ice cream! The chocolate sauce was rich and creamy – heaven on a plate.

Tapas time at La Tasca Birmingham Tapas time at La Tasca Birmingham

It wouldn’t be a Spanish meal without Sangria, would it? We started off with the traditional red wine Sangria and then Jameela surprised me with another of La Tasca’s creations – Cava Sangria! It was so easy to drink and a really nice twist on the traditional Sangria. In fact, they have a whole load of variations so you can go a bit wild at their Bar de Sangria. Extra points for being served in cute mason jars too.

The service was great and the staff were very friendly and willing to answer any questions we had about the menu. In terms of price you could end up spending a fair amount on tapas but if you have a paella and starter to share plus two or three tapas dishes it should work out around £15 per person. They do have a loyalty card system which means you can get fab discounts each month though.

Thank you so much to Jameela and La Tasca Birmingham for having us – we had a really lovely meal and will definitely be heading back again!

Have you ever been to La Tasca?

Tapas time at La Tasca Birmingham

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4 Comments

  1. All this food looks delicious! I’d never really thought about Las Tasca before but I’ll definitely consider it now <3

    Gisforgingers xx

    Posted 10.1.15 Reply
  2. This looks incredible!

    xo, Liz

    http://lipstickandconfetti.com

    Posted 10.1.15 Reply
  3. Jessica wrote:

    La Tasca is one of my favourite places to go I used to end up going every week hahah! I love your outfit you look so beautiful x

    Posted 10.1.15 Reply
  4. Oh my everything looks to die fooooor <3

    Love Vicki | victoriajanex.co.uk

    Posted 10.1.15 Reply