Tapping into tapas
Both cultures love eating with family and friends. Both like chat and pinching cheeky little tastes off surrounding plates.
Allied to this is the potential for Irish ingredients in tapas dishes — black pudding, scallops, potatoes, goat’s cheese, pork, mackerel, prawns. Those dinky terracotta bowls are perfect for both traditional fare — soup or stew, say — and more innovative dishes, such as pickled mackerel with sweet potato and sherry vinegar, or rack of Roscommon lamb with cauliflower and almond puree.
I haven’t made these up. They’re two of the 50-plus options on the menu at Cava in Galway.
Run by JP McMahon and Drigín Gaffey (the team behind the terroir-based Aniar next door), the tapas bar and restaurant claims to be Ireland’s “first and only restaurant devoted to Spanish food” and, since opening in 2008, has made a zesty impression on Galway and beyond.
Stepping into the Dominick Street premises, L and I are immediately struck by the number of Spanish staff buzzing about. Not only that, but we discover Cava cures its own meat, produces its own salted cod, serves 140 Spanish wines (we enjoy a toasty Tempranillo at €25), and is energetically invested in the local foodie scene, running cooking classes, live music and educational events.
The quirky rooms blossom into a raised, double-height space as you walk through, with Spanish cookery tomes, a Don Quixote paperback, Serrano hams and other bits and bobs hinting at the historic trade between Galway and Galicia. It’s the perfect Irish city in which to push the tapas boat out.
We kick off with some nibbles — freshly-baked bread with a grassy extra virgin olive oil; a bowl of marinated anchovies with piquillo peppers. The bread has a crispy crust and lovely doughy flesh, the piquant anchovies sit glistening beneath the soft, roasted peppers. A yummy appetiser.
Next up is the rack of Roscommon lamb, served on a black slate with an arty streak of puree and confit of lamb belly. The lamb is a little well-done for my liking, but there’s a lovely gristly texture to the chop, and the presentation is excellent.
With menu sub-headings including cheese, cured meats, soups, fish, meat, vegetables and pulses, croquettes, tortillas, Spanish rice dishes and suggested combinations of tapas dishes with sherry and wine, it’s easy to over-order. Our waiter suggests two dishes each as a guide, but like many before us, I’m sure, we can’t stop at that. We end up ordering six tapas in total.
Fresh prawns served with garlic, parsley, a wedge of lemon and Fino sherry are a hot and tasty mess, right down to the finger-licking. Pig cheeks braised in apple, cinnamon and white wine divide us — I think the raisins and cloves overpower the dish, but L loves the hearty mix.
Pan-fried potatoes with cured ham and tomatoes go down well, but the croquettes, despite a lovely crisp shell, give way to a fairly bland chicken, saffron and smoked paprika stuffing.
My favourite dish is a slice of tortilla with chorizo and garlic aioli. Served like a slice of cake on a rectangular white plate, with a great pungent dollop of aioli, it’s a lovely, moist, comforting slice of Spain, with just the right notes of spice — and a crisp base.
We found the tables a little too small to comfortably accommodate all the clutter. The flipside of that, of course, is that it’s a wonderfully convivial experience. The quality of ingredients and the care taken with them was obvious — from Spanish cured meats and Manchego cheese to free-range chicken from Athenry and Linalla ice-cream from Co Clare.
We still had room for dessert — a dark chocolate mousse with vanilla ice-cream, raspberry coulis and Spanish biscuits.
Buen provecho!
