La TASCA (已結業)

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. 继续阅读

同屋企人既生日饭~ pub style环境气氛几舒服，适合倾计小聚~Tapas小食以前系外国常食 对比呢间款式就较少~ 因为佢算系主打饮酒为主，所以系冷盘较多个人推荐: meatball (充满黑椒的番茄酱)，lamb ragout(好香herb 几和味既汁)，squid ring(炸的几酥 配sour cream酱)不错~ chicken roll几得意，好似泰国春卷，不过里面系整块鸡肉同少许黑椒下次可以试patato skin with bacon & cheese 看落卖相几好，此外唔想甘贵散叫可以叫佢d meal set，有烧春鸡 或者 pizza 配 啤酒~ 继续阅读

同一班朋友食野最紧要无时间限制，同坐得舒服服，呢度系一个好选择。装修比较怀旧，侍应系讲英文的，menu中英对照，呢度以饮野为主，可就系咁所以上菜比较慢，不过我地唔赶时间，最紧要好食姐。我地简左：nachos with cheese, 好大的一盘，有满满的芝士，小蕃茄，一边食一边倾，不知不觉食哂有芝士果一层，最低层的无人食。。。洋葱圈就无咩特别，新鲜炸完，热辣辣，味道几好。ribs 系跟幼薯条的，ribs 好易切开，本身味道已经几好，够咸，加bbq 酱就香d不过薯条无咩盐，唔够咸，要点bbq 酱食先得个人推介pizza 同risotto, pizza个底够脆，上面系软软的芝士同salami, 好好食，十分享受咀嚼果一刻risotto 个saurce 系蕃茄，再加海鲜，个酱酸酸甜甜，令人愈食愈多，海鲜无咩鲜味，系雪的 继续阅读

有时候在尖沙咀都不知道到那里吃饭，周围都是连锁餐厅没有新意，走著走著看到这家西班牙餐厅，看上去挺有风味的就进去试试！有室外坐位的可供吸烟，店内有吧枱，也有卡位，店子小小也蛮多元化的。室内灯光幽暗，很适合把酒谈天。我们也点了两杯啤酒，一杯是味道较淡的Estrella Damm Barcelona $46，适合酒量比较浅的我。友人就点了麦味较浓的Bitburger $72，两者的味道有明显的差别。Nachos with beef $92这个送啤酒一流呀！吃了第一口就好像停不了一样，不过一定要快点吃，不然芝士放凉后便会凝固了。Basque Sea Foods Stew　$198知道他们出名的是西班牙海鲜炒饭，但又不想吃饭，所以点了这个海鲜杂烩配面包。用西班牙蕃茄酱烹调大虾、蟹、白蚬、青口和鱼片，所有海鲜都吸收了酱汁，很开胃，再酱汁配面包，一滴不漏的把整道菜清光光！Lamb Ragout with crush potato $155炖羊肉做得非常好，肉质没有因为长时间炖煮而变老，反而很嫰很又入味。酱汁很浓，但又不会把羊膻味全都盖掉，全个配撘都刚刚好。个人是比较喜欢羊肉带点羊膻味，这样才是吃羊嘛！ 继续阅读

朋友生日谂住同佢食餐好嘅, 点知换来一个又一个嘅失望. 一入到大门, 已经嗅到一阵烟味 坐抵叫咗几个前菜, 味道还可以. 但系佢咃D MAIN COURSE就认真唔拈, 猪手炸到又硬又干, 海鲜饭又太油, 而且叫个WAITRESS帮手换碟, 佢又懒懒闲咁样... 下次唔会再帮衬啰!! 继续阅读