A Taste of Spain: Barsa Taberna

I had planned on trying out a new Spanish tapa place in the neighbourhood on Market Street during the World Cup called Barsa Taberna.  It just so happened that some friends had planned a dinner there so I went there sooner than I expected but got to try a lot more dishes.

The patio isn’t open yet but looks ready to open at any time.  The interior was nicely done with grey exposed brick and a colourful glass bottle mosaic in the main room where we sat.  I was too busy engaging in conversation to notice much of what was going on around me.  I also have to admit that the food didn’t get my full attention.

Half of the menu is tapas (sharing plates) and the other half is some larger plates that you can either share or eat as a main.  We tried a number of sharing plates including two orders of the Iberico croquettes, a citrus calamari, lobster and scallop pogos, patatas bravas, pork tortita, manchego churros, braised beef short rib, pok pok prawns. 

The waitress said that people really love the croquettes. Although I wasn’t paying as much attention as normal to the food, I found them to be average.  Perhaps I expected more based on the waitress’s review.  The calamari on the other hand was quite good.  I’m not sure what the spice was on them but I liked it.

The lobster and scallop pogos I don’t think I would order again.  There just seems like better ways to eat lobster and scallops.

I wasn’t excited about the patatas bravas the way I was with them at Patria.

I didn’t try the pork tortita but it looked pretty good. 

The churros with cheese tasted good but I don’t eat a lot of churros so I don’t know how they compare to others.

The braised beef short rib had an unexpected presentation as it was stuffed in small roasted red peppers.  The pok pok prawns were good but I was expecting more from them since the waitress said that people really like them too.

For some of the larger plates, the broccoli salad, hamburgesa, cumbraes striploin and lobster linguine were ordered. 

The broccoli salad was a nice side.  The hamburgesa is a little difficult to share given it’s a hamburger but I got to try some.  It had some decent flavour happening but was a bit dry.

I did not try the cumbraes striploin.

The best dish of the night for me was the lobster linguine.  The sauce was very light and if memory serves me correctly, it seemed lemony even though I didn’t see lemon in the list of ingredients.