LA TASCA - ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND

La Tasca
367 Union St
Aberdeen

We were in downtown Aberdeen on a snowy night so we didn't want to travel far. Fortunately we stumbled across La Tasca. It's entry is a bit sparse which doesn't do it justice, but once past this point you get to see that the place really does have some atmosphere. Sadly our photo's are terrible for this meal - but it was a good dinner so we decided to post them anyway.

We started with the rustic bread board. This was nice.

The breads were fresh, the oils fruity and the crisp bread was interesting as it came wrapped in greaseproof paper.

Its hard not to have sangria when you're having tapa. We have no willpower so we ordered a smallish jug and it turned out to be very good.

We both love to sip a sangria over a Spanish meal. It seems to fit so well.

We also both love chorizo - we even BBQ slices of it at home. We saw the chorizo (León) on the menu and it was always going to be one of our choices.

It was described as - simply sautéed on the plancha – no fuss! Sounded simple and ideal - and it was.

We then moved on to the roasted vegetables - described in the menu as spicy roasted vegetable cassolo with almond (Castile La Mancha). The menu detailed this dish as butternut squash, red onion, chickpeas, celeriac and cannellini beans in a winter warming spicy tomato sauce topped with crushed almonds and parsley.

Usually I'm the one not into vegetarian dishes and I have to confess the choice wasn't unanimous, but it actually turned out to be a great choice.

It was a lovely combination of textures and tastes.

We both love calamari so the calamares (Andalucía) described as crispy squid sprinkled with sea salt, served with homemade paprika and roasted garlic mayonnaise.

The squid was done perfectly. Light and crisp with out being chewy at all. The aioli-like mayonnaise that came with it was great too.

We chose the empanadas de carne (Galicia) next. Empanadas at a Spanish restaurant are like spring rolls at Chinese - a staple that is almost a must.

Ours were described as crispy puff pastry parcels, filled with spicy minced beef and regato cheese.

There were two in the serving and they were hot and crisp on the outside - and just hot on the inside.

We finished our very nice meal with the croquetas de pollo (Madrid).

They came in a serving of three hand-crumbed croquettes with chicken breast and served with roasted garlic mayonnaise.

They were really tasty and disappeared quickly.


We enjoyed our meal at La Tasca. Good food, pleasant service, nice decor and reasonable prices make it worth visiting.