Date Night - Tapa

Martyn and I had our January date night a couple weeks ago now but with trips to see family up north and down south this month has flown by! We finally made it to Tapa down at the shore, I'd been recommended it by friends at work months ago and had a peek at the menu which is very vegetarian friendly.

Warm welcome at Tapa

It was nice to have it on a Sunday night as I had time to get ready instead of my usual after work rush. I wore my new (to me) vintage style navy with polka dot hearts dress on it, I picked it up in the Cancer Research shop in Tollcross on Friday on my way to Martyn's office. It from Tu at Sainsbury's originally and I nabbed it for £3.95! I paired it with a wee red belt and my red cardigan for our evening out.

We headed down to Tapa for 7pm, it's not too far from the flat and just of Henderson Street. We were welcomed into a quiet restaurant and asked where we would like to sit, we chose the corner near the window and a radiator. Tapa is tastefully decorated, very simple and clean with flowers and candles on the tables.

Our waitress came and took our drinks order and explained the menu to us. I ordered a lovely glass of a tempranillo and we settles on the suggested dinner set menu as which is £25 a head but includes most of the items we fancied and had been recommended. To start you get bread with pesto, hummus and oil and vinegar, a selection meats and cheeses. Followed by a green salad, crispy aubergine drizzled in honey, patatas bravas and two choices of tapas each. I chose the asparagus spears and the avocado and chickpea salad and Martyn picked the chorizo and the chicken skewers. It also included a trio of deserts each but we'll get to that later.

They were very vegetarian friendly at Tapa and served the meats and cheeses starter on separate platers for me, yes I did share some of the cheese with Martyn... The pesto was unbelievable, so fresh and bursting with flavor and I love oil and balsamic with fresh bread, although the bread did resemble a pair of boobs when it was presented to us!

Boob bread! 

It was at this point in the evening I was treated to a surprise guest! My boss! I work in a school and just as the plates from our started were being cleared my ears perked up as the recognisable tones of the school Principal wafted through the door. My instant thoughts where 'No it can't be...' and 'Quick! Look busy'. Then because I had smiled and waved the waitress seemed to think it was a good idea to seat him on the next table. He came over and I introduced him to Martyn, had a wee bit of chat and he joked that he hoped we had just finish because having your boss next to you can kill the romance, I pointed out that we had just finished our starters and at that point he asked the waitress if they could move tables. It was nice to see him and for Martyn to put a name to a face but I was also relieved he decided to sit elsewhere.

Not long after our that mains arrived, first the green salad and the aubergine, then the patatas and asparagus followed by the meats and avocado salad. The aubergine was delicious crisp and sweet, the patatas bravas were lovely and rich and the asparagus spears were perfectly cooked and complimented with roasted yellow pepper salsa and cherry tomato jam. My highlight was the avocado salad, the chickpeas were tasty and crunchy and the avocado was creamy and soft with crisp salad leaves and almond slices and topped with balsamic glaze and sesame seeds - I would go back for the salad alone! Martyn loved the chorizo and the chicken skewers too. Everything was tasty and fresh.

Delicious crispy aubergine 

Once we had consumed all that it was time for desert! The set menu included a trio of deserts that turned up on a saucer, there was lemon cheesecake in the espresso cup with a chocolate bonbon and pistachio macaroon on the side. The cheesecake was beautifully creamy and sharp in one spoonful, the chocolate bonbon was a dark shell filled with smooth ganache and the macaroon was perfect with a crisp shell and gooey chewy center. Martyn had never had a macaroon before and seemed to think he'd not like them, he tried to give it to me but I made him try it and he loved it (I was a little gutted because pistachio one are my favorite).

Our Tapa experience was amazing, I would totally recommend popping down to the shore to check it out. We're already trying to find excuses to go back! 

Date Night - V Deep

Date night rolled around a little late this month, there is just so much going on at the moment! V Deep was our venue of choice, it is Edinburgh’s first craft beer and curry bar. They have a wide selection of draft and bottled beers as well as a fully stocked bar and they serve there curry in a tapas style so you can have a little bit of everything. It all started when comedian Hardeep Singh Kohli met Ruairidh Skinner, who was the chef V Deeps former incarnation The Vintage in Leith. They came together to create an East meets West sensation that claims to have ‘the most exciting range of craft beer in Leith’.

We headed down towards the shore for our table booked for 7:30. I wore my seasonal red dress that I had totally forgotten about, with my cute new Primark pumps with wee gold bows on them, my bow necklace and the my small red Cambridge satchel. Martyn pushed the boat out and wore a shirt.

We arrived at V Deep not knowing what to expect, the façade looks quite small but as you go through the door it opens up in front of you, first the bar and then the tables and finally you spot the kitchen at the back. Even on a dark evening the place is vibrant with a real sense of fun, Bollywood style murals on the walls and bar tables made from old doors and a great sound track of songs you didn’t even realise you knew the words to.

We were greeted and asked where we would like to sit, it wasn’t too busy and rather than have my feet dangle from a bar stool we chose the small round booth, it had a own disco ball! We started looking over the food menu and then the drinks, Martyn ordered a Wild Turkey bourbon and I ordered a half pint of the Pilot Mochachino Stout, I’ve had it before and it’s a beautiful dark blend of chocolate and coffee, it’s also made in Leith.

The menu describes the food as tapas style and recommends you order 3 dished each. It’s is very handily broken into meat, fish and vegetarian with sides and starters around the edge. We decided on one meat dish and three vegetarian ones with a bunch of sides. In total we had potato pakora, popadoms with an apple chutney and tomato and ginger ketchup, butter chicken, baby aubergine and pea curry, dhal makani, paneer mutter, garlic naan and rice. This was the largest naan bread we have ever seen! The food was amazing, fresh and tasty, the aubergines melted in my mouth and the dhal as an aromatic delight. They were large portions and I’d say we over ordered, as usual, but it was all very good and what we didn’t manage to eat was boxed up for us for Martyn’s lunch the next day.

The atmosphere was very relaxed and chilled  The staff were friendly and wanted to share their knowledge of the food and the craft beers, our waiter noticed what I was drinking and offered me a taste of another that was similar stout that tasted like salted caramel, Chew Chew by Fallen Brewing Company, and it was delicious! A couple came in while we were there that were on holiday in Edinburgh and came back for a second night in a row to try more of the menu, they obviously liked the staff too.

I would totally recommend heading down there, it would be a great place to go with friends for a few drinks and food. We will definitely be back!

V Deep – 60 Henderson Street, Leith, Edinburgh, EH6 6DE – 0131 563 5293

Date Night – Serrano Manchego

Martyn and I started ‘date night’ about 6 months ago when we were still living in Tollcross. There are so many lovely independent restaurants in Edinburgh we are completely spoilt! In a quest to work our way around some of these places we declared ‘date night’. 

The rules of date night;

Once a month on pay day.

Must be local (walking distance from the flat).

We take turns on who pays.

When he is paying I choose the location.

When I’m paying he chooses the location.

We never go to the same place twice for date night.

We visited some great places around Tollcross; Mezbaan, a brilliant South Indian place which is superb value for money and fab for vegetarians, Tuk Tuk, BYOB which I love and more modern ‘Indian street food’ style Menu and My Big Fat Greek Kitchen, traditional Greek food in a quaint wee spot that had the most tantalising flavours just to name a few!

Our first Leith date night was at Serrano Manchego, a bright wee Spanish tapas bar on Leith Walk, we’d walked past it a few times while doing food shopping or running errands. I had said that I’d like to go there and Martyn had nodded in agreement. On our way back from the weekly Lidl adventure I popped in to book a table for the next date night, the place smelt amazing and the staff were very friendly.

So Monday night came round, I got home from the gym, showered, did my hair, my face, put on my pretty new H! by Henry Holland dress and grabbed my we red Push Lock Cambridge Satchel bag. Martyn got home from work and changed his polo shirt (it’s so much easier to be a boy!) 

We arrived at 7pm and there were a handful of tables already in, it was that nice level where you can have a conversation without having to shout across the table. We were asked if we’d like to sit but the window, which I jumped at, and were handed a drinks and food menus. I chose a lovely Rioja, Don Paulino Crianza, and Martyn ordered a diet coke.

We had a look over the menu trying to decide what we wanted to share, what meat to get him and what mushroom based dish I should get, I’m veggie and he hates mushrooms! I would say we over ordered but our lovely, authentically Spanish, waitress would probably have let us order the whole menu without stopping us. We had bread with oil and vinegar, manchego cheese, quince jelly, grapes and nuts, pimientos de padrón, garlic mushrooms, patatas bravas, chorizo al vino, serrano & manchego croquettes and a last minute edition of chorizo sausage & chicken skewers (which really were not needed). It was a lot of food and it just seemed to keep coming! Martyn definitely didn’t need the chorizo al vino and the skewers! Saying that it was all delicious, the pimientos de padrón were a highlight for me as I’d had them on holiday last year and devoured them, the mushrooms were so tasty and the manchego was buttery and smooth. Martyn assures me that the meaty options were also to the same high standards and you could tell by the clear plates and bowls.

After stuffing our faces we were offered dessert, we ordered churros – we should have only ordered one to share… but we didn’t… They were sweet and crisp with a pot of warm chocolate sauce and a scoop of ice cream – dreamy! We took our time tidying them up, the feel of the place is very relaxed, we never felt rushed but at the same time didn’t feel as though we were waiting a long time for our food. As we over ordered the bill came to slightly more than we would normally pay for date night but I think we learnt our lesson and would still come back.

Over all we really enjoyed it, the food was fresh and tasty, they obviously take a lot of pride in it and the atmosphere of the place and the staff were friendly. I think it would be a great place to go with a few friends and catch up, order a couple bottles of wine and relax in the authentic Spanish feel of the place. I’d definitely recommend it to family and friends.

Serrano Manchego - 297 Leith Walk, Edinburgh - Website