A lacklustre Spanish affair

Having been to Barcelona to eat my heart out on the streets of La Ramblas, I have high expectations of Spanish food (especially the black squid ink paella! yum yum!). After all, both Spain's major contribution to world food, paella and tapas made it to the BBC's Top 50 Things to Eat Before You Die list! So, when Clare said that we're going for Spanish dinner at Soho, I nodded with enthusiasm. (I have been to one in Soho and their paella was wonderful! Unfortunately, I forgot the name of the restaurant and how to get there... sigh...)

Anyway, Drake booked a table at Meza for us through Toptable. The Toptable booking came with a special set menu offer of 5 different tapas and a desert for £14.99. Thought that the deal was pretty reasonable so it was a surprise to me when Meza turned out to be quite a posh place! It's actually a Spanish Lounge and Tapas Bar along Wardour Street– reckon we looked a bit out of place with our jeans when everyone else was all dressed up!! (However, according to Kar Teck, his football t-shirt was fine since it has a collar! DUH!)

The word tapas actually comes from the Spanish verb tapar, which means to cover. It was originally invented in winemaking regions of Andalusia, where a saucer was customarily placed over glasses of wine to stave off the fruit flies. Titbits of food were then placed on the dish. Traditional tapas include olives, seafood, meatballs, sautéed mushrooms, chorizo, vegetables and the tortilla, or Spanish omelette. Heehee... thought I'll give a little background on Spanish food!

Back to the dinner. From the set menu our selection of tapas included:

- Crispy Salt & Pepper Squid
- Warm Octopus & Waxy Potatoes
- Wind Dried Tuna & Scrambled Eggs
- Salt Cod & Spinach Fritters
- Peppered Chicken Livers with Sherry
- Deep Fried Pork Belly wrapped in Bacon
- Chorizo
- Goat's cheese
- Sheep's cheese
- Peppered Spiced Salami
- Spanish Omelette
- Marinated Grilled Vegetables
- Tomato Bread
- Chicken & Ham Croquette

We also ordered the seafood paella with mussels, squid, king prawns & cod and the paella valenciana with pork, chicken & rabbit.

Not sure whether this is the goat's or sheep's cheese...

The dessert that no one likes except for yours truly!

Tomato bread?? Can't remember what this is...

Cheers everyone!! LtR: Bin Bin, Ken, Kaiyuan, Kar Teck, Drake, Clare and me!

Desserts was not too bad I guess!!

Well, given the nice atmosphere of the restaurant, I thought the food would be of certain standards. However, the food was a disappointment. I only found the crispy salt & pepper squid and the Spanish omelette good. Even the seafood paella was bland. And the Sangria, it was nothing like those that I had in Barcelona. This one actually tasted like cough syrup!! (Yes, it was quite a disappointment - don't let the above pictures fool you!! I know we all looked happy!!)

And plus, the service was really bad. I know the place was packed but the service was overly sub-standard - one waitress came to tell us that we had to leave within the next 45 minutes as the table was reserved for someone else. Yet, they took ages to clear our table and took even longer to get our bill. When it finally came, they overcharged us! (Thanks to Kar Teck's sharp accountant's eyes! heeeheee...)

Probably wouldn't recommend this restaurant to anyone even though it has a really nice ambience and is probably a good place to hang out for drinks. Perhaps, this is a sign that I should visit Spain again? Hahaha... Barcelona or Madrid anyone?