Restaurant review Adelaide: La Rambla

A TRIO of young entrepreneurs have achieved their dream of creating an authentic Spanish tapas experience.

A TRIO of young waiters get chatting after their shift in an Asian restaurant. They talk about having their own place – a tapas bar with the same rambunctious charm as the ones they’ve visited in Spain. They take the lease on an old bluestone warehouse in the city and set about renovating its three levels, doing most of the work themselves.

Of all the romantic visions pursued by the next-gen entrepreneurs who are re-imagining Adelaide’s night-life, this perhaps seems the most unlikely ... a bunch of newbies getting in way over their heads.

But less than a year after a much-delayed opening, La Rambla is on track to fulfilling its owners’ dreams. In an admittedly limited field, it comes as close as anyone here to delivering an authentic Spanish bar experience.

La Rambla, of course, is named after Barcelona’s famed boulevard, a tourist magnet through the year, but not half as much fun as the twisting backstreets and alleys on either side. Use a little imagination and Peel St on a busy night can take you there.

Walk into our own La Rambla, sit at its long downstairs bar, order a glass of sherry and dish of green olives and the illusion takes further shape. The warehouse has been stripped back to show off its 140-year-old beams and stonework. Lamps hanging above the bar glow with minimal wattage, cutting the glare from the out-of-character chrome and mirrors on the back wall. Staff have the same likable disposition as the owners. These are people you’d like to have a drink with, and whether it’s a glass of wine with Euro or Aussie leanings, a Spanish lager, or something shaken and stirred, they have it covered.

Head chef, Jose Miguel Lontoc, a 20-year veteran of Madrid tapas bars, has been charged with keeping the food authentic. You aren’t going to find spring rolls or mini-sliders here.

Instead, a line-up of classics – tortilla, patatas bravas, garlic prawns, chorizo – are reproduced faithfully. It will help if you like paprika (a lot) and aren’t put off by a heavy hand with the salt.

The first page of the clipboard menu includes a selection of sliced meats (two types of jamon, chorizo, lomo) and cheeses. These can also be served Basque-style, piled on a slice of bread, in combinations such as chorizo and manchego, with a green olive and pickled chilli, all held in place with a skewer. Another slice holds a roasted red pepper filled with goats’ cheese and topped with a single paprika-dusted local king prawn that deserves to be eaten on its own.

The prawns star again in the larger “racione” serves. Half a dozen of them, naked other than their little tails, loll about in a shallow bath of oil, garlic and paprika. The flesh is tight and springy, almost crunchy to bite, and the flavours don’t hold back. Pow.

Grilled baby squid tubes and tentacles are exceptionally tender and dressed in a Galician sauce of sweet and smoke paprika, but patches of black, flaking char have a persistent, bitter edge.

Discs of Spanish morcilla (black/blood sausage) are baked then fried so the edges are irresistibly sizzled and crisp. The filling is rich but soft and mildly spiced, with none of the metallic cut-lip aftertaste that some find off-putting.

In among all these standards, a small dish of sliced steak and blue cheese sauce comes slightly from left field, but the meat is rare and well-rested, and the creamy emulsion has the right amount of salty tang. Add patatas bravas (good sauce, potatoes soft and dull) and a special of asparagus with romesco sauce for meat and veg with a difference.

La Rambla has cheese (including a special of goats’ cheese flamed on top brulee-style) but not desserts. It’s not part of the authentic tapas mantra. And, if nothing else, that’s what this welcome addition to the city delivers, with a good dose of youthful Aussie optimism.

LA RAMBLA

28 Peel St, city, 8410 0020, laramblatapas.com.au

OWNERS Tom Smith, Kyle Young and Stephanie Gibbs CHEF Jose Miguel Lontoc FOOD Spanish TAPAS/CHARCUTERIA $6-$25 RACIONES $7-$26 DESSERT N/ADRINKS All bases covered, from jugs of sangria and $15 cocktails to a short wine list with a good range of styles and plenty for less than $50. BYO No

Open for LUNCH TUE-FRI

DINNER TUE-SAT

FOOD 25/40 STAFF 8/10

DRINK 7/10 VALUE 16/20

X FACTOR 15/20

TOTAL 71