Thursday, 26 April 2012

Gluten Free Tapas: La Tasca vs Cafe Andaluz

Found myself in Glasgow twice in quick succession and obviously Scotland is famous for it's tapas... Ok so maybe not, but it did give me the opportunity to sample La Tasca's new menu and compare it to Cafe Andaluz, which has two restaurants in Scotland one in Edinburgh and one in Glasgow.

Up first, La Tasca. The last time I went to la Tasca, the food was pretty average. It felt like everything had just been heated up and nothing had the freshness of the tapas you get in Spain. A year or so on, I read on twitter that they had launched a new fresher menu, detailing what is and isn't gluten free and even selling Estrella Damm Daura (gluten free beer)! The food was much improved, Chorizo tasted more authentic, a lemon chicken dish much fresher and a creamy blue cheese potato gratin had good flavour. It was a lot better than previous visits, and washing it all down with a gluten free beer was definitely a highlight. La Tasca, often does 2 for 1 deals and at that price, it's good value for money. It's not ground breaking, but much improved.

Cafe Andaluz also had a very coeliac friendly menu, again detailing the dishes I could and couldn't have. The large selection of tapas was definitely some of the best I've had outside Spain. There was some really tasty cooking here using a combination of local and Spanish imported ingredients. Patatas bravas had a nice spice to them, a Valencian paella fresh and full of flavour and spicy beef with manchego cheese a tasty combination. The real highlight however, was a grilled goats cheese with Seville orange and chilli jam. The cheese melted beautifully in the mouth and the orange and chilli was a perfect accompaniment. 

Big improvements have clearly been made by La Tasca and it's definitely a step in the right direction but Cafe Andaluz definitely had the edge.

Here's some pictures from Cafe Andaluz:





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