Dale Candela — Restaurant in Islands District

Dale candela is a Spanish tapa restaurant located in lamma island. To be honest, I didn’t expect too much at the beginning, we were just randomly picking a place for a group of 8.. and this place was quite empty, so we just gave it a shot. Turns out it was surprisingly good, most of the dishes were quite authentic and delicious. Everything was extremely generous in portion, I asked the staff if I was ordering too much (coz I’m not sure about the portion of the food) and she said no and she said should be fine… but turns out the portion was way too big😂… the fish from the fish taco was huge like the ones from fish and chips 😂 but it was really yummy, crispy outside and tender inside. I liked the fish tacos, cod croquettes , iberico ham and clams the most. The paella and pulled pork tacos were just so so though, the tortilla of the pulled pork taco was a bit too soggy.

we couldn’t finish all of the food, I even had to ask them to stop making the rest of the orders. I also ordered Tuna tataki, which is the dish I wanna try the most, too bad this was the last dish so we had to cancel. It would be great if it came out first. Maybe I shouldn’t blame them about the big portion of the food, just some of my fds have small appetite, if everyone eats like me I guess we could finish the food 😂

The only downside that I have to vent about is the service, all the staffs seem unfriendly and a bit rude.. Anyways, don’t wanna be petty here.. just don’t expect any hearty welcoming service from them.

Overall, food was not bad but in terms of service, they definitely have...

Ok I'm hesitant to review this place basically because I'm selfish. I really like it and it can be hard enough to get a spot when you go there. Those who know, know. This place is a gem. When real Spaniards living in HK talk this place up then it's saying something. The food is really good and the thing that really pushes it to 5 star for me is the price, which for Hong Kong standards is pretty good value. I assume the ratings for this place are not higher because service can sometimes come across... well pretty rude if I'm honest. But I will counter that this is the kind of place that benefits from repeat visits. When you get to know the service staff you'll get to understand their personalities and find out that they are actually really friendly...

We tried to go on a Friday night during a holiday long weekend… bad idea! It was absolutely full and spilling with people. We did return the following day— a rainy Saturday, and had a picnic table all to ourselves. Having lived in Spain for 3 years, the olives and manchego cheese brought me such joy along with the bottle of rioja we shared. The tomato bread was more similar to a bruschetta than the pan con tomate I’m familiar with, but it was delicious nonetheless. The patatas bravas had a curry-like undertone which I am not the biggest fan of, but they were also really good. Service was excellent and we wiped our plates clean! Definitely a spot I won’t skip on my next visit to...