La Flamenca

After living for six months in Andulasia as a student, I’ve been in pursuit of a decent Spanish meal ever since I returned to the UK. Upon entering La Flamenca, I was convinced I had found my final culinary resting place.
The restaurant is situated in a white walled cavern, with moorish inspired tiling which really do look like an Andalusian pueblo. Of course, the usual matador tat calls to mind the tackier tourist restaurants of Spain’s beautiful South, but that’s a forgiveable sin.
Why the two star rating then? Unfortunately positive first impressions soon melted away when we entered the restaurant which was almost entirely colonised by a twenty strong group of stag nighters dressed as bull and matadors. More than just making me cringe a little, it was also impossible to hear anything — the acoustics of the cave really don’t lend themselves well to big parties as all sound just reverberates deafeningly round the room.
So we moved into the bar area, which had a far more pleasant and convivial atmosphere. An acceptable bottle of Rioja ordered and we were just beginning on our starters (a tasty enough selection of cured meats), when lo and behold, our main course arrived all at once. The selection of tapas wasn’t particularly warm and all tasted disappointingly like it had been premade and microwaved.
Although the total bill wasn’t wild, it still felt overpriced when the mis-​timed service and mediocre food was taken into account. And so, my quest for a decent Spanish meal outside of Spain continues…

Cosy little Tapas bar in bath. Popped in after visiting the Christmas Market and was immediately warmed by the welcome of the staff and the heating, which was cranked right up (is there anthing worse than being cold in a restaurant? i don’t think so).
The food was delicious (can’t remember everything that we sampled, but i do remember the grilled sardines, baked choritso, meatballs (particularly good), cheese & that thin salty ham & bread (great bread) and really good olives). I agree with Matstars in that the rioja is very good.
Also had a cognac and espresso to finish off. I think that it cost around £100 for three of us, but we were on a pre-​Christmas day out and weren’t holding back (hmm, i might have had two cognacs, come to think of it!).
It was a fabulous lunch and the perfect pit stop. I would go back anytime (and hope to see some Spanish dancing!).

We had an excellent meal in the bar area from the Tapas menu. We arrived early before going on elsewhere and it was fairly quiet but had livened up considerably by the time we left. The value for money was exceptional and the fajita’s were sublime.
The wine list offered a good selection at reasonable prices. We went for a very drinkable house Rioja red. Well worth a visit.