La Tastaolletes — Restaurant in Valencia

English abroad.

We sat down, unaware we were in a vegetarian restaurant.

We’d been advised to come to the area cause it was ‘full of good tapas bars, hidden in little alleyways’.

We’d found lots of little alleyways but only a couple of the tapas bars and they were all full.

It was hot, our first day in the city, we sat down in relief and from that moment on - it was bliss.

A lady served us - two beers first - our first taste of the local Túria Marzen beer.

Then she advised us ‘between two you’ll be okay with three dishes’.

English abroad - remember … we got impressions from the menu and ordered the hummus, a wrap and croquettes.

I look at the photo of the menu now, and yeah - I see quinoa - listed as ingredients at the time, I didn’t.

I’m a phrase book ‘hablo poco espanyol’ want-to-know - sort of guy.

Distracted by heat hunger and travel-tired from previous two days, I was sick of being fascinated by word roots … (bread-knife sick of my explanations: “Spanish for hard is ‘duro’ must be related to our ‘durable’ …’ etc etc …

The hummus was amazing. The croquettes good - the wrap - when I bit into it - that’s when I started to think - I saw the Aztecs reputed favourite food.

To wind this thing up. Taste. That’s what this food offered - light - different- full - fresh (fresca) in mouthfuls.

We probably wouldn’t have sat down if we’d known place was vegy - not because we’re prejudiced - but because we think meat is just - easier.

We got taught a lesson - and if we hadn’t been staying the other end of town - we would’ve returned.

P.S we finished meal with the tiramisu. Which again I’d recommend.

P.P.S chefs who cook vegetarian have...

We were in Valencia for a weekend break and we thought we'd try this retaurant out as it was close to our apartment and with most of our group being vegetarian and the menu showing it catered for gluten and nut and seasame allergies. (One of the members in the group has a severe seasame allergy) Unfortunatly we were disappointed with the service and being mis-guided by the menu.

Most items on the menu state they dont contain Seasame seeds and we highlighted the allegies in the group. However, when the food came out, they were garnished with white and black seasame seeds, which completely goes against what the menu states (Images attached of both the menu and the nacho's with the seasame seeds sprinkled over the guacamole). The waitress's response when questioned was they dont use it in the preperation of the food and so its fine to eat. They completely disregarded the severity of seasame allergies.

Most of the dishes were reasonably good and is well suited for a vegetarian, however for anyone with allergies, i would think twice as we couldn't trust the kitchen after...

Fui con 5 amigos por recomendación de una de ellas, y en general el sitio nos gustó bastante y todo estaba muy bueno.

Salimos a 20€ por persona pidiendo plato principal, postre y bebida para cada uno, y 2'5 entrantes (uno de los entrantes llevaba 4 piezas, así que nos pusieron ración y media al ser 6 personas). La atención fue eficiente, no podría decir nada particularmente bueno sobre el personal pero desde luego tampoco nada malo, lo cual a su vez supongo que es algo bueno en si mismo.

El local era bastante pequeño pero supongo que se podría decir que es acogedor, aunque no sé si la mesa que eligieron para nosotros era la más apropiada (habiendo hecho reserva días atrás), ya que mi silla en concreto quedaba tan en medio del pasillo que parecía que otros comensales y el personal se frustraba al darse con mi silla, y yo me frustraba porque no podía echarme más hacia delante y me acababa tocando las narices tanta patada a mi silla... Con buen tiempo supongo que cenando fuera hay espacio de sobra pero claro, en enero a 7°C no es plan, así que el local se nos quedó bastante apretado.

De entrantes pedimos rollitos vietnamitas (el plato del que pedimos ración y media) y patatas bravas. Los rollitos estaban buenísimos, aunque las patatas fueron un poco ni fu ni fa. Después yo pedí pasta rellena, muy rica aunque algo simple, y mis amigos pidieron cosas variadas que también les gustaron mucho. Y de postre también pedimos cosas variadas, y de nuevo todo estaba muy rico.

En conclusión, es un sitio interesante y con buena comida, aunque algún plato se queda algo simple para mi gusto y no sé si el precio compensa como para...