La Tasca

7^th November 2012

Where we went: Don Pepe and La Tasca

What we ate: Olives (for starters), A Festival of Mushrooms, Calamares Fritos, Pollo al Limón and Paella Valencia.

What we drank: Sangre Del Toro wine.

Flo and I decided our next outing would be to Don Pépe, a Spanish restaurant that was recommended by the waitress we met in El Torero.

My first impression when we walked through the door was that I was in a standard English pub. The ceilings were low and the sofas had red velvet on them. The only thing that told us it might be Spanish was some tacky wall hangings of flamenco dancers and Picasso’s Guernica.

The landlady was Spanish, and cut a very matronly figure – and not in a good way! She brought us two very small glasses of wine which, apart from being very expensive, were not satisfactory in the slightest.

We quickly moved on to La Tasca, a restaurant we knew as being fairly anglicised. The food turned out to be very good; however the atmosphere was very English. The waitress was clearly English and it did not seem likely that she would know much about where the food and wine came from or Spanish culture.

We had a lovely evening in general, and really enjoyed the food. However, it was interesting to notice that the English restaurant was more Spanish than the well-known Spanish bar. I would venture to note that this is because the Spanish expect the English people to want to have the typical aspects of Spanish culture as they eat the food and drink the wine. The Spanish owners would try to make it seem as interesting and exotic as they could in order to attract more customers. The more English restaurant was more Spanish, possibly because of the food but also the tackiness was non-existent.