Ruta de las Tapas – Days 3 & 4

Our journey on the official Ruta de Las Tapas continues into the second week with Days 3 & 4.  If you missed our first week, you’ll find it day 1 here and day 2 here.

Day 3 – Friday

We were very lapsidaisical today, and totally forgot to take photos, so have used the advertising posters to show the tapas!

Cafe Gala

First one of today was Cafe Gala in the Atlantico Center.  This venue is a smaller cafe in that they have a limited menu offering baguettes, sandwiches, cakes (which are lovely!) and ajust a few hot dishes.  Tapas are not on their usual menu, so we were interested to see what they were offering.  Their cold tapa was smoked salmon with anchovies on bread. Can’t really go wrong with this one! Very simple but I do love smoked salmon!   The hot was homemade meatballs with potato salad.  Very tasty, but I personally wasn’t sure about the cold potato salad as an accompaniment to the hot meat balls.

Loco’s Tex Mex

Situated right next door to Cafe Gala, all we had to do was move a couple of tables across!  Another one where we had eaten before, and enjoyed their main meals, but, again, they do not usually do tapas!  The cold tapa was Aguacate Texmex, basically avocado and prawn with a Rose Marie sauce.  Tasty, but would have been much better if the Rose Marie was homemade.  The hot tapa was typical Mexican Nachos, of which you had a good portion size.  Have to say that they were nothing special and I wasn’t at all bothered about them.

Bar Tapas

Yet another place where we have eaten before, so knew roughly what to expect. The waitress was friendly but didn’t know anything about the event, and had to go and ask! Unfortunately for me, they were another that was not including wine with the choice of drink, and so we had a beer. The food, as we expected, was good wholesome Canarian dishes. The cold was Russian Salad, which was good but nothing special. The hot tapa was Ropa Vieja, and was again just okay and perhaps not the tastiest of recipes we have had. Having said that, it would not put us off dining there again, as we usually enjoy the food. Here we only just remembered to take photos, so excuse the half eaten dishes!

Day 4 – Saturday

Our friend, Marie, joined us this afternoon, sadly on her own as her hubby, Emilio, was working. Leaving home at about 3pm we had a fab time, and didn’t get back until about 10.15pm!

Fado Rock

First stop was the famous Fado Rock in the centre of Caleta.   We had eaten there just once before, in the evening, and have been meaning to return again but for lunch. Whilst we had enjoyed the food on our first visit, we found the evening too busy, too rushed and too noisy for our personal taste, hence the wishing to return during the day when it was quieter.   On this day there was a large party celebrating a confirmation at the back of the restaurant, so the staff were obviously busy.  Therefore we had an enjoyable wait, chatting and sipping wine, and a very nice glass of wine too! The cold was Tomate Carnavalero, prawns in a tomato sauce with a piece of melba toast. The sauce was tasty, but I found the prawns a little tough and with little taste. The hot was Cabra de Mar, fish and potato, topped with a piece of goat cheese. This was nicely presented and tasty. Will definitely go back for lunch sometime.

Little Havana

Next, it was across the road to Little Havana, which is situated just in front of the Ayuntamiento. A small cafe that hadn’t been open that long, and probably the biggest surprise so far! The cold tapa was La Pequeña Havana Picante, which consisted of two small pastry tarts (so plenty to share!), filled with strawberries and kiwi in a gel and topped with chopped prawn, plus an additional whole prawn. Oh my, what can I say about this that will do it justice! So tasty! And a lot of thought and preparation went into this tapa. The hot was Boliches Cubanos, meatballs in a tomato sauce, all of which were obviously homemade. I love meatballs, and these were no exception! Very tasty! On top of that we were served lovely bread to mop up the juices! We all agreed that Little Havana just upped the competition a big level! We will definitely be back there!

The British Corner

Our next stop was going to be O’Fado, but by the time we had got there they had closed! So, instead, it was round the corner to the The British Corner. Now, perhaps I’m a snob, but frankly I have so far avoided this place simply because of it’s name! But I was intrigued by them being on the Tapas Route! We sat down on the sofas as they looked comfy, but sadly looks were deceptive and I ended up with a numb bum! Unfortunately, this was another venue who gave a choice of only beer or water, so I had a beer. The cold was Abanico British, which was avocado on toast, topped with tuna, diced tomatoes and peppers on melba toast with guacamole on the side. This was a tasty tapa and quite well presented. Their hot was a Mini Fajita de Pollo, which I must say was very nice. We didn’t see their usual menu, so don’t know what sort of food they usually do, but if that is a sample of their usual standard then I expect it is quite good.

My Tapas 1966

Next on our route was to be Gambrinus, but unfortunately this was another one that was closed. So it was a case of onwards and down to My Tapas 1966. We’d eaten here twice before but were always disappointed in the tapas as they seemed greasy both times, but perhaps we were just ordering the wrong food! The staff have always been friendly, so we were keen to try their tapas. The cold was Bombön de Salmon, salmon wrapped around mozzarella cheese with a mustard sauce. Again, some thought had gone into this unusual dish and it was delicious! The hot was the traditional dish of Ropa Vieja, which we had already had a few times on the route. But we were happily surprised at their version of this dish, and can honestly say it was the best we have ever had. We’ll definitely go back and try them once again, but perhaps be more careful with the dishes that we choose!

We ended the evening at one of our favourite places in Caleta, Oliver!, where we suffered with their wonderful cocktails and, of course, a piece of their delicious passion fruit cake. This time the cake was in the form of a pastry tart, and was equally delicious, with the pastry being perfect! And there endeth the second round of our Ruta de las Tapas!