Tuesday 26 June 2012

La Tasca, Spanish Tapas Bar and Kitchen

COLCHESTER LA TASCA HAS NOW CLOSED DOWN!
(Will keep this up though for reference when visiting other towns)
La Tasca
Colchester
La Tasca Kitchen
14-15 North Hill
Colchester, CO1 1DZ Tel: 01206 768060
 http://www.latascakitchen.co.uk/


The allergy info for La Tasca can be viewed here-

Visited La Tasca this week with vegan friends. This is what we ordered:
  • Berenjenas Gratinadas, (ordered without cheese) which was basically aubergine baked in a tomato  sauce.
  • Superfood salad, made up of  wheat, red quinoa and lentils, with avocado and rustica tomatoes, marinated in infused lemon oil. 
  • Three bean and mint salad, which was kidney, borlotti and cannellini beans, with chickpeas, in a mint dressing.
  •  Almonds- Lightly salted Marcona almonds
We also chose to order a big Paella to share for our "main".
The veggie one was marked as vegan on the online form (yay) .....but being the un-trusting vegans we are we insisted on questioning the waiter on the vegan-ness of the white wine used (it was marked vegan on the ingredients list, but you know you can never be sure!)  The waiter kindly offered to retrieve the bottle from the kitchen for our perusal.  Upon his return he said that the chef doesn't actually use the wine in the veggie Paella, just veg bouillon, so with our minds at ease we ordered.

The waiter told us the  Paella was going to take 20 mins to cook, so in the meantime he brought us out our other tapas, which were all very nice. There was just enough in each little dish for us all to have a taster.  I particularly liked the superfood salad and the Berenjenas Gratinadas.


Then the main event came out-the huge Paella! A huge steaming dish of rice with char-grilled aubergine and peppers, and mushrooms.

It was very delicious!  It was bit pricier than we expected (our big Paella cost £35! -although it was to feed four..!) but I'd definitely still go again.

A quick breakdown of the items marked vegan on the allergy list:
  • Paella Verduras
  • Superfood Salad
  • Three bean salad
  • Mixed olives
  • Almonds

Items that could be veganised with some alterations:

  • Baby leaf salad, if ordered without dressing
  • Berenjenas Gratinadas, if ordered without cheese
  • Note: The Patatas Bravas (deep fried potatoes) look like they'd be ok if ordered without cheese, but closer inspection of the chart reveals they aren't even classed as veggie because they are deep fried in the same fryer as the meat. (although this might not bother some people...)