Category: Spanish

Tapas and paella are the hearts of Spanish food. People would also be familiar with the famous Sangria. These three defines the essence of Spanish cuisine.

Bórn by Tapavino

It’s been more than 2 years since I last wrote about my experience dining… around the first time the pandemic hit this world 🙁

We are slowly moving back to the new normal and started to eat out again with friends and families… even coming to the office on a more regular basis.

For this edition, I went to Born by Tapavino, for a company lunch. Born by Tapavino is located in Barangaroo, Sydney.

The Menu at Born by Tapavino

Their lunch set menu is priced at $65 pp with an option to add Jamon Croqueta for $6 pp.

They provided a shared-plate set menu that consisted of 1 snack, 4 tapas, and 1 substantial with a side. There was also the dessert of the day: Pavlova 🙂

They also have the a la carte menu available if you’re not really with a big group of people.

Jamon Serrano with Sourdough bread

For the group, they actually served a very generous amount of Jamon Serrano!

The sourdough bread was the one that stole the show for us. They were so very warm and delicious that we actually had to order some extra!

Manchego Churros, Tomato Jam

I believe the churros were the fastest dish devoured by the group on that day!

They were very nice and perfect bite size… it’s a shame we couldn’t have some more extras like the bread 🙂

Galician Octopus, Kipfler Potatoes

I love how they cooked the octopus, Galician style with generous sprinkles of paprika!

They also put substantial amount of potatoes on the plate… which made us struggle towards the end to finish the set menu… good struggle tho 🙂

Gambas al Ajillo, Garlic Prawns

This dish doesn’t need an introduction. Pretty much a staple in most if not all Spanish Tapas.

Did we say we order extra bread? To dip into the garlic sauce!

Char-grilled Chicken + Patatas, Chilli Salt and Sherry Mayo

More potatoes… different kinds but equally good!

The chicken was super juicy with very tasty salsa sauce!

Dessert del Dia – Pavlova

I couldn’t really enjoy this to the fullest because I had to go to another meeting. However, the one scoop I had was very good!

The Final Verdict for Born By Tapavino

It was a very good lunch set menu at Born By Tapavino.

Do you think I should go?

If you do it on a weekday, you might want to clear out the rest of the day for meetings. The set menu was super filling and it might take a while to go through them all.

Rating:

Una’s Darlinghurst

8.5 / 10

Taste: 8.5 / 10

Price: $65 Lunch Set Menu

Place: 8.0 / 10

Details:

9A 23 Barangaroo Avenue, Barangaroo NSW 2000, Sydney

+61 2 8072 7387

https://www.borntapavino.com.au/

Sep 29, 2022
Mi Mamasita

Mi Mamasita Review:

Mi mamasita is one of the new establishments popping up in Rosebery in the last few months. Being pretty close to the office, I’ve had lunch there a few times. There were ups and downs with the biggest disappointment was one of our colleague’s order didn’t turn up 30 minutes later. However, they seemed to be refining their services. In our last visit, they took our orders from the table and the order arrived in an acceptable time frame.

Their menu is mostly consisted of Latin American dishes with a handful of typical Australian brekkie.

Soup of the day – homemade Mamasita style – $9.50

I did not order the soup but my colleague said the soup was nice. It was also recommended to take the extra bread roll option for $1.50.

Beef Asado – $17.50 – Asado, beef ribs in a dry rub of Argentinian spices, slowly braised in a beef and wine stock, coated with Chimichurri, accompanied with Patatas Fritas and a Side salad.

The description was quite mouthful. In simple terms, beef asado is BBQ beef, Spanish-style. Instead of BBQ, the Spanish bbq beef uses chimichurri as its sauce. I am used to eat this in abundance in a Churrasco restaurant, so having only a piece might not be the best decision I’ve made. The beef asado was pretty filling for lunch tho.

Huevos La Flamenca – $14.50 – Poached eggs, chorizo, Jamon Serrano, Rich Tomato sauce, served with toasted house bread

To be honest, I was expecting some kind of breakfast-y dish for this. However, Huevos La Flamenca was more of a tomato soup with crispy Jamon Serrano noticeably stood out. It reminded me of Tunisian/Middle Eastern Shakshuka dish.

El Grande Burger – $16.00 – Beef, cheese, fried egg, caramelised onions, smokey bacon, gherkins, cos, tomato & chipotle mayo, served with Patatas Fritas

El Chopete – $16.00 – Pulled pork, slow braised in apple cider with fennel, layered with Mi Mamasita slaw and jalapeno, served with Patatas Fritas

The final verdict for Mi Mamasita

Mi Mamasita has the potential to be a nice restaurant if they can fix the wait time and also pay more attention to the customers’ orders. Their breakfast and lunch menu was actually pretty good!

Rating for Mi Mamasita:

6.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $6.50 – $17.50

Place: 8.0 / 10

Details:

C206/28 Rothschild Avenue, Rosebery NSW 2018

+61 434 485 679

Mi Mamasita on Facebook

Sep 21, 2016
Black Coffee Lyrics

Review:

This week’s review comes from a restaurant in the Gold Coast called Black Coffee Lyrics. It was an interesting experience coming into this restaurant. It is actually a tapas-style bar without your usual Spanish dishes (the restaurant name doesn’t sound to Spanish-y, does it?). The restaurant was located in quite a dodgy-looking building in the middle of Surfers Paradise. When we came in it was quite dark with bar-type décor.

And the food… well, you can see it for yourself.

Alto Olives – $6.50 – Marinated, hand-picked and Australian-grown olives.

A simple assortment of olives is always pretty good to start the night with. The added decoration/enhancer orange rind was a nice touch!

Super Crispy Calamari Ribbons – $16 – Caramelised ginger and coriander pesto with fresh green peppercorns.

In line with its name, I think the calamari is super surprisingly good! Definitely one you must order!

Flat Bread – $6 – Charred flat bread, confit garlic, cumin and coriander salt, bocconcini and marjoram.

I actually did not get the bread. However, everyone said it was a really good bread.

Onion Bhaji – $8 – Tempura fried onion and vegetables, curry yoghurt, charred lime and curry leaves.

To be fair, it was a very different onion bhaji than the ones I tasted in Indian restaurants. However, I actually liked this version better. It was crunchy and a lot less dough-y.

Pork Belly – $18 – Vietnamese-style pork belly, coriander, chive, pickled carrot, cucumber and shallot salad, sweet chilli and crispy crackling.

My friends told me that the pork belly was very good and tasted pretty sweet. The crackling was already separated from the meat and there was quite a lot of fat!

Beef Short Rib – $18 – Slow stout-braised beef short rib, coffee sauce, deep fried shallot rings, carrot puree and horseradish crisp.

There were quite a lot of interesting ingredients in this dish: coffee sauce and carrot puree, anyone? Also, whenever you need no extra help from a knife, it means you have eaten a very good slow-cooked dish.

Beef – $36 – Scotch fillet, parsnip puree, beetroots, wilted kale and wholegrain mustard sabayon.

Size wise, it wasn’t that much bigger than the beef short rib (If size does matter, buy two ribs instead of this). However, the scotch fillet was more of a ‘complete package’ when compared to the ribs.

Charred Prawns – $15 – Charred king prawns, corn polenta, oregano, red capsicum and lemon butter.

In a tapas place like this, getting three king prawns for $15 was a pretty good deal. If you are not a big eater, I think this is a decent plate for a night out.

Vegetarian – $22 – Tomato base, confit garlic, caramelised onions, mushroom, spinach, walnuts and chili glaze.

Apologies… Obviously someone has taken one slice before I managed to get a snap! The vegetarian pizza was actually quite nice. The absence of meat actually got us to appreciate the pizza more.

The final verdict for Black Coffee Lyrics

What can I say? Black Coffee Lyrics surprised us… in a very good way!

Did you know?

As a bar, they have quite a few selection of beers and hard liquors.

Rating for Black Coffee Lyrics:

8.0 / 10

Taste: 8.5 / 10

Price: $15 – $36 per dish

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

Shop 41, 3131 Survers Paradise Blvd, Gold Coast

+61 402 189 437

http://blackcoffeelyrics.com.au/

Jan 18, 2016
El Bulli Surry Hills

Review:

11 courses dinner, $60 price tag, for two people… I will let that sink in for a minute… To put it into perspective, each tapas at the restaurant ranges between $8.50 and $26.50.

That was the Groupon winter special at El Bulli Surry Hills. Instead of the full recommended retail price of $153, we get all of these tapas below for just $60!

Chickpea & Chorizo – a tasty broth of chickpeas, coriander and chorizo served hot

The usual plate of tapas with chickpeas and chorizos on tomato broth.

Pan con Queso y Jamon – toasted ciabatta served with a wedge of manchego cheese and slice of jamon on the side

Aceitunas Mezcladas – a selection of black, green & stuffed olives spiced up El Bulli style, wait for the kick!

These two were served together with the bread on the side. Jamon and cheese were the perfect pair for the bread. Also, loads of different olives in a bowl… love it!

Croquetas de Jamon – croquettes filled with white sauce & ham rolled in breadcrumbs, lightly fried & topped with alioli

Salt & Peppered Chipiones – lightly seasoned salt and pepper crispy squid served with lemon and alioli

Another jamon dish, but this time it was made into little croquettes. It was paired with salt and pepper squid and alioli (pay attention to the word ‘alioli’, it’s not a typo).

Patatas El Bulli – deep fried chat potatoes served with an emulsion of fritas & bravas dressing – house favourite

Patatas bravas is one of the most common dish in a Spanish tapas restaurant. It was also one of the first tapas dishes I’ve ever tried, made by a Spanish friend a long time ago! El Bulli spiced it up a bit and called it Patatas El Bulli.

BBQ Alitas – bbq hot and spicy chicken wings marinated in chimichurri & peri peri sauce

I usually liked chicken wings. However, I was not a big fan of this. Probably overshadowed by the other ten dishes on the night.

Medallon del Rey – eye fillet medallion on a bed of caramelised onions topped with a creamy blue cheese butter

Pinchitos de Gambas – grilled prawns skewered and infused with a Mediterranean saffron and cinnamon sauce!

It was interesting to see that they decided to bunch up two of (what I thought to be) the highlights for the night in one dish. Both the eye fillet and prawns were nicely done.

Mejillones en Salsa Picante – Giant pot of chilli mussels cooked in a traditional Spanish salsa, pumped up with shallots, basil, chilli & garlic

It took a while before the last two dishes arrived.The first want was rather spicy with quite thick salsa.

Almejas Tallarinas con Jamon – South Australian Pipis pan fried with jamon served in a white wine and lemon sauce with a dash of cream

The pipis was a little light on the cream.

The final verdict for El Bulli

Would we pay a full price for these tapas at El Bulli? Possibly No! However, $60 for 11 tapas is a hell of a deal!

Did you know?

To our surprise, El Bulli Surry Hills is actually a pretty big restaurant. The interior was very dimmed with virtually no sunlight in the venue.

Rating for El Bulli Surry Hills:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $60 for 2 people

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

504 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills 2010

02 9319 5199

http://elbulli.com.au/

Nov 10, 2015
Velero Spanish Restaurant

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Unfortunately, Velero Spanish Restaurant has closed its doors.

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Rating:

8 / 10

Taste: 8.5/10

Price: $36 per person

Place: 8/10

Review:

Velero Spanish Restaurant is one of the many restaurants reside in Woolloomooloo’s picturesque wharf. There was an atmosphere of nice fine dining and the waiters behaved in a professional manner. Since we’re in a nicer restaurant, we might as well go for the unusual tapas (it meant we skipped the Chorizos, or the other usual suspects) in Spanish Restaurant.

For our first tapas, we had Murcia al Vino. It’s a slice of goat cheese that was complemented by bread, dates, olive oil, and jam. The sweet and savoury combination was a good start to our evening. Our next tapas were the tummy-filler of the night, Patatas Bravas. Basically, it was diced potatoes with sauces of cream and tomato. It was one of the nicest patatas I’ve ever tasted.

Then, there was Pulpo. Lightly grilled octopus on a bed of tomato salsa topped with watercress sprouts and fried onion! The fried onion was a curious addition to the dish and it actually gave a crunchy accent to otherwise a soft dish. Next was Carne Carrillera. It was a beef cheek wrapped in grilled capsicum with a side of onion paste and fried onion. The cheek was incredibly tender. Lastly, we have Entrana. Medium rare wagyu beef served with olives, pimento, and (possibly onion) at the bottom. You must use the bottom sauce bit or it would be quite a sour dish.

The main attraction for the night was Paella de Mariscos. It was really a delightful sight – a choked full of seafood in such a ‘tiny’ plate. There was only 2 halves of scampi, so you’d better hurry for them! We could also taste the saffron in the paella, which can only mean a good thing. Btw, we ordered paella for two, even though there were four of us.

We also ordered 2 desserts for the night. The first one was Arroz al Horno, which was a rice pudding with caramelized almond, soft cream, and rhubarb. I really love the cream and the almond. It was the right thickness and it blended in nicely with the rice pudding. The size might be too small to be shared by four people. The second one was the always famous Churros. Unfortunately on this instance, it wasn’t that great. The chocolate was too bitter and runny and the churros had too much cinnamon sprinkles.

The final verdict: We were actually surprised that the evening turned out to be a memorable one. The food they served was amazing. Two dishes that stood out were the Patatas Bravas and Paella de Mariscos. I also advised you to try the first dessert. With the scenery, great table service, and nice food, I think this restaurant was my new favourite Spanish Restaurant.

Did you know?

In the same wharf, there are plenty of nice restaurants to try. Some of them were also featured in the TV show, Masterchef.

The total bill for this restaurant can be reduced by up to 25% (or $40) when you used the Entertainment Book. You can get this book from participating Cancer Council or any other non-profit organisations. I strongly recommend you to get this book because in addition to donation for good cause, you also enjoy thousands of discounts.

Details:

2 / 6 Cowper Wharf Road, Woolloomooloo, NSW 2011

02 9356 2222

www.velero.com.au (This website is no longer available)

Aug 23, 2011
Spanish Tapas Restaurant

Rating:

7 / 10

Taste: 7/10

Price Range: $12 – $90

Place: 8/10

Spanish Tapas Restaurant review:

Before you freak out after looking at the price range, I must tell you that the $90 is super-massive Paella to be shared with four (or more) people. Most of the tapas are in the region of $15 and the main course menu (if you don’t order Paella) would be around $25.

We actually managed to go to Spanish Tapas restaurant by pure curiosity. We always love to hang out at the café opposite the restaurant. We were surprised by the fact that it was a really nice and cosy atmosphere. The food itself was generally alright, borderline good.

Since it’s a Spanish restaurant, we ordered 3 tapas and 2 breads. The first two were the all-time favourites, Chorizos and Tortilla Española. Chorizo is the grilled Spanish sausages. The other one was Spanish omelette with a big chunk of potatoes. Very nice start to fill up the tummy to match the strength of Sangria!

The last tapas of the day was sliced smoked lambs with Olives. It is a very nice to get our tastebud going before the Paella arrives. It also came with two gigantic loaves of garlic and herb breads.

After 30 minutes, our main dish was out, Paella de Marisco. Description on the menu only listed it as Rice & Seafood. It is a lot more than that. It was served on a massive pan, a bed of rice in saffron with green veggies and tomatoes. Then, layers of calamari, mussels, clams, prawns covered it all.

For drinks, like in any other Spanish restaurants, we ordered the Sangria. This one is a little bit of a letdown because it wasn’t strong and a bit watery. We also didn’t want to get desserts and chose to go elsewhere that we were more familiar with.

Did you know?

There is a very nice Churros place in Glebe, called Chocolateria San Churro. It is actually a franchise (like any other places in Sydney), but it serves a warm and crunchy churros. I just realised that there was also a churros menu at this restaurant that I didn’t get the chance to taste. Btw, if any of you is wondering wtf churros is, then click here for the answer.

I also found that there’s a café, named Badde Manors, in Glebe that serves the best homemade Tiramisu.

Location:

26 Glebe Point Road, Glebe 2037, Sydney

http://www.spanishtapas.com.au/

+61 (02) 9571 9005

Aug 15, 2010