A taste of Spain in Victoria Square - La Tasca

Yesterday I was up in Belfast with Joanne, I was there to have my iPhone fixed and maybe pick up some food in Sainsburys( I fricking love that shop incidentally). Anyhoo, the minute I knew we were going to Belfast there was only one place I wanted to go for Lunch and that's La Tasca! I love this place I was here back in March with Joanne(thelandofbargains), her sis Karen (lovelygirliebits) and their Mum. Its a Spanish tapas restaurant. Its so yummy and very reasonably priced, we got 2 diet cokes, and 7 tapas between us for £30, which is excellent.

For people who dont know what tapas are, here is Wiki explanation for you :)

Tapas is the name of a wide variety of appetizers, or snacks, in Spanish cuisine. They may be cold (such as mixed olives and cheese) or warm (such as chopitos, which are battered, fried baby squid). In select bars in Spain, as well as some parts of North America and the United Kingdom, tapas has evolved into an entire, and sometimes sophisticated, cuisine. In Spain, patrons of tapas can order many different tapas and combine them to make a full meal. In some Central American countries such snacks are known as bocas.

The serving of tapas is designed to encourage conversation because people are not so focused upon eating an entire meal that is set before them.^[Also, in some countries it is customary for diners to stand and move about while eating tapas.

I will admit that in all the years I have been to Spain I have never had tapas , and I have been to Spain alot! That all changed when I met Joanne, she introduced me to the Port House in Dublin city , which itself is amazing (that reminds me I need to go there soon and write a review, but dont go to the Port House in Dundrum, I dont rate it all) Anyhow I digress, the food in La Tasca is so tasty, we had :

Garlic Bread

Montanitos De Tomato(Bruschetta with a salsa of tomato, cucumber and onion)

Paella Del Carne (Paella with Chicken )

Patatas Bravas (Fried potato in spicy tomato sauce)

Patatas A La Pobre( Fried potato with peppers and onions)

Pescado Blanco Frito (Crispy white fish in San Miguel beer batter)

Albongidas Ala Jardinera ( Pork and beef meatballs in tomato sauce)

The meal was absolutely gorgeous, and the staff are lovely in there. But I feel there is something about people in Belfast they all seem very nice and accommodating be it in a restaurant or shop. Everyone greets you with a hello when you enter the shop and asks can they help, its little things like that make the customer feel wanted, not the usual sneering look or grunt you get in some places in the Republic. Anyways rant over and back to the food, the only thing that was missing from our spanish feast was a glass of good rioja or maybe a Mahou to wash the gorgeous food down.

Note to self: get the train to Belfast the next time I want to go to La Tasca. We both came away from here so full and happy. Thats the thing about tapas, you think 7 small dishes would not be enough food but it really is, they fill you up. Joanne said something yesterday and I think she might be right hehe "Wouldn't it be great to work in the area you can come to La Tasca for lunch everyday" she is right I could eat here every day of the week.  However when I compare it to the Port House on South William st Dublin, there are differences, The Port House is slighty different in the sense it has a unique authenticity and tapas that vary from standard tapas dishes.

Also as much as I love La Tasca it kinda falls in to the Nando's, Spur and other themed restaurants bracket. Now dont get me wrong this is not a bad thing, because La Tasca do this very well , fantastically in fact. I know I will be back when I am in Belfast again thats for certain. The experience all round is excellent. Ok I am bringing back the ladles rating system, I would give La Tasca 4 out of 5 cooksbelly ladles.

So if you are up in Belfast  give La Tasca a go :)

Thanks for reading 

Will

Chicago Style Pizza

I would love the recipe to this it looks gorgeous, I must attempt it. Its a deep dish pizza with meatballs :)

Will's Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

Its a bit of revelation this cake so bear with me. Right, I firstly started out wanting to make choc chip cookie cake bars, but it subsequently diverted from that path. I have adapted this recipe from "Heat Oven to 350" , I say adapted I converted to grams and also up'ped the ingredients and used a different dish to cook the cake in.  These cakes taste like cookie dough brownie's, I generally dont eat my own produce and rely on family and friends to tell me what they think but today I could not resist , these taste absolutely beautiful!


Ingredients:

450 grams of Unsalted Butter
360 grams Brown Demerara Sugar
200 grams Granulated Sugar
4 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Tsp Salt
2 Large eggs
480 grams Self Raising flour
200 grams Sugar
2x250 gram packs of Cream Cheese
400 grams of Chocolate chopped in to small pieces

Method:

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugars, vanilla, and salt. Beat in the egg, then add the flour. Stir in the chocolate pieces. Divide the dough into two equal portions and set aside.

2. In a medium mixing bowl cream the cream cheese with the sugar until thoroughly combined. Beat in the egg and vanilla. 

3. In a lined 12cm x 6cm dish (4 cm deep) spread 1/2 of the cookie dough mixture evenly across the bottom. (This is somewhat tricky to do. I find it easier to add dollops of cookie dough throughout the pan and then spread all the dollops together. Spread the cream cheese mixture on the top of the cookie dough. With the remaining cookie dough scoop blobs on to the top of the cream cheese.

4. Bake at 350f/180c for 1hr 30 mins until cooked through. Cool completely and store in the refrigerator.

Sit back and enjoy eat one of these days :) they taste amazing. Thanks again to "Heat Oven to 350".

Will

Licorice mmmm

Any one else love Licorice, I love the stuff maybe its cause my dad loves the stuff and is very popular in Holland. I picked up some Danish licorice yesterday ,  love that aniseed flavour :)

Unglert's Strudel

I felt I needed to share this pic, of the strudel we also picked up yesterday at Unglert's Bakery

Absolutely Delicious!

Maggi So Juicy

Maggi so juicy are cooking bags for chicken , this video sums it up :

The video should some up Maggi so juicy perfectly. I will admit as Joanne will attest to, I was very skeptical of said bags, but god damn the chicken comes out beautiful. Will be having these again, they take 30 mins at 180c , so so simple to make and easy to clean up, a winning combo on a weeknight.

Try them out , as far as I know you can only get the Maggi ones in SuperValu. I believe you can get Colmans or Knorr Season n Shake, and this is the same concept. Me and Joanne had this Thursday evening with a salad and some chips, very impressed.

Unglerts Bakery Ennistimon

This little bakery is situated just before the bridge in Ennistymon Co.Clare. Its an amazing little bakery, the breads look beautiful, and the cakes are delicious. I picked up two danishes and they were eaten before I had even left the shop. Its run by a guy from Kempten Germany in the south of Germany not too far from Austria. There was also two strudels bought which are amazing, as I had them 2 weeks ago in a friends house, will also be having some tonight. Everything is also reasonably priced, 1 euro for a huge danish, YES PLEASE :)




If Rick Stein was on the look out for a new Food Hero, Unglert would be one!


One of the danishes that survived my mouth :)