6 Cathedral Walk Cardinal Place, London
Underground - Victoria
Today I was planning to have a real British Fish and Chips lunch at bustling place I walked past earlier in the day.
When I was heading to have my British lunch I walked past La Tasca in a new shopping center. The exterior is most definitely modern but once inside you could imagine that you are in Spain. The space has all the phoney characteristics of a Spanish boodega. The room is decorated with dark wood and sienna walls accented with tiling and all sorts of Spanish trim.
The menu has a huge list of tapas and paellas. Most of the tapas are in the £4 range so you can get 2 or 3 per person depending how hungry you are.
I can't remember all the Spanish names of each item I ordered but I selected 3 dishes, chicken croquettas, a potato tortilla and some marinated pork cubes in a spicy tomato sauce.
Now I would give La Tasca an award for Londons best spanish food, nor would I even compare it to any of the tapas I had in Spain, but it was good enough for a light lunch with a glass of wine.
I particullary enjoyed the "pollo croquettas" which remind me of when I was a kid and my mother would make Swasons Chicken Croquette's in a white sauce. Little did I know back then that a croquette was a Spanish specialty.
The tortilla was also pretty good. Spanish "tortilla" is not one of those thing you use to wrap a burrito. It's sort of like a quiche made with potato, eggs and onion.
I found service at La Tasca to be very friendly and my servicer was very sweet. OK, she pumped my ego by telling me I had a lovely Spanish accent because the British always get it wrong. I told her I think it comes from all my years living in California and New York.
My total bill for 3 plates of tapas and one glass of rioja - £13.05 plus service.
I'd give La Tasca 3 stars for decent food with an edge on good atmosphere and frendly service.
La Tasca is in the vicinity of Victoria Station and Buckingham Palace.
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They were Howard Johnsons, not Swansons
Posted by: | November 22, 2005 at 05:12 PM