Las Tapas Rock-a-Nore: Exclusively Spanish
By Steven Short
If I might be a little A. A. Gill for a moment (ie start a review by talking about myself for ages): I lived in Spain for nine years and my heart would always sink when someone would suggest going ‘de tapeo’ or out for tapas. It’s not that I don’t love Spanish food or like sharing my dinner – I have an annoying habit, from my days reviewing restaurants as a job, of having to try everything everyone else is eating – I just like to know where my meal begins and ends, and with tapas that’s always, excuse the pun, a moveable feast. “One more plate of anchovies? Oh, go on then … and some bread with tomato!”
The fact that any small portion of any kind of food you can imagine is now called tapas also irritates me. So, if I must go ‘de tapeo’ these days, I want them to be authentic. I was pleased, then, to meet with Steven Foot, who is about to open Las Tapas Rock-a-Nore restaurant, serving exclusively Spanish small plates.
Steven is the man behind the Market Trader so knows the Old Town well. His new tapas venture is in what was once his garage, next to the doctor’s surgery in the Ice House. You’d never guess this looking at the interior, which is now clad in tongue and groove painted in the yellow and red of the Spanish flag with sea blue walls, a sea-inspired mural and a bar along one side, complete with sangria station, and various barrel tables as well as at-bar seating – though this is very much more restaurant than bar.
“We’ve always loved going to Spain and the tapas,” says Steven, who has more than three decades of hospitality under his belt. “Whenever we’ve been out for tapas here we’ve always been a bit underwhelmed, so we want this place to feel authentic. We’ve got proper tapas – our fish will come from our fisherman neighbours – as well as Spanish wines, many organic, and sherry.”
The tapas are the work of Clare Stewart, one-time resident of Portugal who is, says Steven, “passionate about food,” and who now lives in the Old Town. The launch menu includes garlic king prawns, seafood paella, octopus a la gallega (with sliced potatoes), anchovy escabeche, and butter beans with tomato, ginger and yellow pepper sauce.
There will be vegan options too (when I lived in Spain non-meat-eating friends would regularly have to return supposedly ‘vegetarian’ dishes because they contained tuna or ham, often to the bemusement of waiting staff – in Spain, a ‘vegetal’ option often comes with one or the other) and, potentially an all-vegan night every now and then. “We’ve had vegan friends try the menu, and they’ve been really impressed,” says Steven.
• Las Tapas Rock-a-Nore, The Ice House, Rock-a-Nore, TN34 3DW
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Sounds divine. When is it opening, and are there any contact details to make a booking?
We haven’t been invited to the launch yet! Assume it’s soon but you can follow / message them on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100078263430862. Let us know if you find out!