“La Tasca”:http://latasca.com/venue/london-victoria/ is a nationwide chain of tapas restaurants. It was always a great choice for a work’s Christmas lunch or leaving do, as passing and sharing plates helped the atmosphere at what are often painful events when people who don’t normally talk to each other are forced to eat together. There was always a good choice for vegetarians and it was for this reason we chose the branch in the shopping centre, Cathedral Walk, near London’s Victoria Station for a lunch with vegetarian friends.
By 1.30pm on a Saturday afternoon, the downstairs dining area was loud and buzzing and whilst there were a couple of tables near the door, our host said it might be draughty as there was no double door and the wind was howling. We were pleased to be led up to be the quieter, less busy second floor mezzanine.
Service was prompt and we were quickly sipping a white Rioja at a reasonable £19.65. Tap water was automatically offered and arrived in decent sized glasses.
We went virtually down the entire vegetarian section of the menu starting with rustic garlic bread (conveniently in four slices) followed by a festival of mushrooms in garlic and white wine, patatas bravas, tortilla, a creamy potato gratin, with baby spinach and blue cheese, croquettas with goats cheese and spinach and huevos cabreaos said to be a Spanish take on egg and chips which in reality looked rather like an English egg and chips with a fried egg sat on top of straw like chips. Each dish was around £4 and enough for all of us to have a taste.
The total bill for the four of us came to a modest £48.
If you’re a true Spanish tapas aficionado this is probably not the place to go but if you want to share a number of simple dishes in a fun atmosphere its ideal.
