Fresh and fast never tasted so good at Europe's Tapa Tapa - a hopping tapas chain that makes you wish we had that kind of "fast food" here in North America!
Sorry about the delay since my last article…hopefully I have been missed. I was just about done with this article (honest) when I lost my 6-month old hard drive. Just like that – easy as…(rhymes with ‘hell’). So I’m back, feeling like my machine is still an alien but I’ll try and persevere.
Back then, I had been relatively freshly returned from Europe and more specifically, my subject for the piece, Barcelona. Now, when Mary Luz and I travel, we do our utmost to mingle with the locals, do what they do and eat as much as we can…errr…as the locals do. Sometimes though, things just don’t work that way, and you do what you must to, well, survive (or at least thoroughly enjoy).
Working up an AppetiteThere we were on Barcelona’s premium shopping strip, alternating between Las Ramblas and Passeig de Gracia, working up a juicy credit card bill and a healthier appetite. By the time it came to choosing between carrying my shopping or my dearest companion, we realised we needed to eat regardless of whether it was a tourist trap or not. We had our dignity though, and would still not entertain the thought of eating at any of the plethora of American chains invading today’s Europe – yes, yes, I know - I’m a food snob…but I digress. We decided that we really felt like tapas, and gazing weakly at the four corners available to us, large line ups at most of the eateries made our minds up for us and we entered a large and churning tapas restaurant called Tapa Tapa. I’m sure I hear groaning somewhere, but at the time, we were both happily ignorant about this place’s reputation as a fast food, Spanish mass-market chain.
I can honestly say that if this was what fast here in Canada tasted like, my butt would be in a drive-thru every second day. The menu at Tapa Tapa is cleverly laid out for tourists who may not understand Catalan in that each item had an accompanying colour photo of the relevant dish. Portions were a decent size and 5 plates did the two of us just fine. The first tasty dishes to arrive were the Patates Braves (potatoes in a spiced tomato sauce) and the Assortit d’amanides (a four salad tasting platter, including a delectable Salad Rousse – Spanish style potato salad), just enough to blunt the appetite but small enough to leave both of us watching a nimble Asian barman named San speak Spanish and distribute the fresh platters from the kitchen- inwardly hoping that the next would be ours.
All About the CarnitasFor those of you who have read my previous missives, you would guess that the next sampler (a Xarcuteria or Charcuterie plate) had my name all over it. And you would be right. The combination of manchego cheese, llonganissa sausage and Serrano ham had me doing the thumbs up in Spanish, Catalan, English and whatever else my hands could muster. In other words, I thoroughly enjoyed it. By the time we had finished this one off, our final 2 plates arrived – a garlicky mushroom and onion dish and triptych of mini-beef patties topped, alternately, with cheese, grainy mustard and sautéed onions.
Yes – hardly standard tapa fare I hear you say, but I can assure you that the manner in which these dishes were prepared was completely different to what one could expect in Canadian restaurants – let alone fast food joints. No super sizing here – just good, wholesome and, importantly in Europe (even London!), affordable fair that we thoroughly enjoyed. And this is what this column is about – the enjoyment of good food in a wonderful location regardless of whether it was the ‘in’ thing or not. We did actually go to a fantastic (and authentic regional) Tapas bar later that week. And it was superb, I can assure you – but that’s another story for another day.
