La TASCA (Closed)

I was very disappointed with this restaurant. I was in the mood for tapas and was expecting good things given the decent ratings and reviews on OpenRice. The place was less a restaurant and more a bar, which is fair enough as it is called La Tasca, which is Spanish for a bar that serves food.I had a bad feeling as soon as we walked in as it was completely empty. It was quite early at 6.30pm so maybe it was only to be expected, but I had called two other Spanish restaurants in TST before this one for a table for two for the same time and they had said they were fully booked. Only one other table had come in by the time we left at 8pm. More warning bells rang when I looked at the menu and I should have gone with my instincts at this point and walked out. The menu was a plastic laminated sheet with blurry pictures of the dishes with a name and a price, the kind of menu you would expect to see in a cheap tourist trap eatery. One side had the tapas dishes along with pasta dishes for some reason. There was a fair number of tapas dishes, maybe 20 or so, but many of the dishes you would expect to see on a tapas menu were missing - no patatas bravas, albondigas or croquetas de jamon. Tortilla, or as it was presented on the menu, Spanish omelette was there. Several of the dishes were just bowls of olives or plates of various sliced meats. The other side had a list of about 6 mains, but with no pictures this time. Given the space, they could have provided a brief description of the dishes, but instead they used a extra large font and had descriptions such as “Lamb ragout with crushed potatoes”. The two sides of the menu looked liked menus from 2 different restaurants with no consistency in layout or style. We really should have walked out, but we were short on time and decided to give it chance and after ordering some drinks (a sangria and a lemonade), we went with the pork ribs and the garlic prawns from the tapas menu, and the lamb ragout from the mains.While we were waiting for the dishes, we were given a bread basket with butter. The bread was a couple baguette slices and one bite told me they had been warmed up in a microwave. The first dish to come out was the pork ribs, which were 4 large spare ribs served on shredded lettuce and a side of tomato ketchup. Serving a dish with tomato ketchup is just lazy and mildly insulting. Surely, the kitchen could have come up with a more interesting sauce to accompany the ribs. Even if it is store-bought, something that I would not normally have in my own home would be nice. It turned out the ketchup was actually needed to physically eat the ribs, as they were very tough and dry. I suspect they had been cooked many hours beforehand and reheated in a microwave. However, the ribs themselves tasted fine, nothing particularly special but not Spanish in any way. We did not finish this dish.The garlic prawns, peeled prawns cooked with slices of garlic and chili in olive oil, looked more like a tapas dish and was a pleasant surprise. The prawns were plump and juicy and the oil had a nice salty kick The garlic was soft with a warm sweet flavour, and could be eaten on its own. This dish was the only dish that evening that gave the impression that it was cooked fresh to order.The lamb ragout was served with a side of of mashed potato. The ragout consisted of chunks of lamb in a oily tomato based sauce, no vegetables could be discerned in the sauce. The dish came garnished of a thick slice of cucumber topped with two halves of a cherry tomato. If you are going to put this little effort in the garnish, it’s better that you don’t bother at all. Actually, the lamb ragout tasted good with a rich tangy sauce, but yet again, I got the feeling that the dish had been pre-cooked and reheated in the microwave. One would expect a dish like this to be pre-cooked as slow cooking would be needed to tenderise the meat, but I don’t think that this was the case. More likely, the dish was cooked quickly hours, or possibly days, earlier and then simply reheated to order. The meat was tough and chewy instead of tender and juicy. In fairness, this dish was tasty enough and was finished off, all apart from the garnish. It could have been so much better had it been cooked and presented with more care.The bill came to $488, which is more or less what you would expect for Western food in Hong Kong, but it was way too much to pay for this quality of food, Western or otherwise. To cap it all off, my dinner companion had stomach pains after the meal, so it left a lasting impression for all the wrong reasons. continue reading

同屋企人既生日飯~ pub style環境氣氛幾舒服，適合傾計小聚~Tapas小食以前係外國常食 對比呢間款式就較少~ 因為佢算係主打飲酒為主，所以係冷盤較多個人推薦: meatball (充滿黑椒的番茄醬)，lamb ragout(好香herb 幾和味既汁)，squid ring(炸的幾酥 配sour cream醬)不錯~ chicken roll幾得意，好似泰國春卷，不過裡面係整塊雞肉同少許黑椒下次可以試patato skin with bacon & cheese 看落賣相幾好，此外唔想甘貴散叫可以叫佢d meal set，有燒春雞 或者 pizza 配 啤酒~ continue reading

同一班朋友食野最緊要無時間限制，同坐得舒服服，呢度係一個好選擇。裝修比較懷舊，侍應係講英文的，menu中英對照，呢度以飲野為主，可就係咁所以上菜比較慢，不過我地唔趕時間，最緊要好食姐。我地簡左：nachos with cheese, 好大的一盤，有滿滿的芝士，小蕃茄，一邊食一邊傾，不知不覺食哂有芝士果一層，最低層的無人食。。。洋蔥圈就無咩特別，新鮮炸完，熱辣辣，味道幾好。ribs 係跟幼薯條的，ribs 好易切開，本身味道已經幾好，夠鹹，加bbq 醬就香d不過薯條無咩鹽，唔夠鹹，要點bbq 醬食先得個人推介pizza 同risotto, pizza個底夠脆，上面係軟軟的芝士同salami, 好好食，十分享受咀嚼果一刻risotto 個saurce 係蕃茄，再加海鮮，個醬酸酸甜甜，令人愈食愈多，海鮮無咩鮮味，係雪的 continue reading

有時候在尖沙咀都不知道到那裡吃飯，周圍都是連鎖餐廳沒有新意，走著走著看到這家西班牙餐廳，看上去挺有風味的就進去試試！有室外坐位的可供吸煙，店內有吧枱，也有卡位，店子小小也蠻多元化的。室內燈光幽暗，很適合把酒談天。我們也點了兩杯啤酒，一杯是味道較淡的Estrella Damm Barcelona $46，適合酒量比較淺的我。友人就點了麥味較濃的Bitburger $72，兩者的味道有明顯的差別。Nachos with beef $92這個送啤酒一流呀！吃了第一口就好像停不了一樣，不過一定要快點吃，不然芝士放涼後便會凝固了。Basque Sea Foods Stew　$198知道他們出名的是西班牙海鮮炒飯，但又不想吃飯，所以點了這個海鮮雜燴配麵包。用西班牙蕃茄醬烹調大蝦、蟹、白蜆、青口和魚片，所有海鮮都吸收了醬汁，很開胃，再醬汁配麵包，一滴不漏的把整道菜清光光！Lamb Ragout with crush potato $155燉羊肉做得非常好，肉質沒有因為長時間燉煮而變老，反而很嫰很又入味。醬汁很濃，但又不會把羊羶味全都蓋掉，全個配撘都剛剛好。個人是比較喜歡羊肉帶點羊羶味，這樣才是吃羊嘛！ continue reading

朋友生日諗住同佢食餐好嘅, 點知換來一個又一個嘅失望. 一入到大門, 已經嗅到一陣煙味 坐抵叫咗幾個前菜, 味道還可以. 但係佢咃D MAIN COURSE就認真唔拈, 豬手炸到又硬又乾, 海鮮飯又太油, 而且叫個WAITRESS幫手換碟, 佢又懶懶閒咁樣... 下次唔會再幫襯囉!! continue reading