As La Linea’s ‘Ruta Gastronómica’ takes place across 22 bars and cafes this week, the La Linea Life team selflessly ventured out into town to offer themselves as tapas guinea pigs – for you, the reader.
You’re welcome ;p
The rules of the game are as follows: Each of the 22 participating venues has prepared a special tapa for the event, each costing no more than 3€. Check out some of the dishes on the ALAHO Facebook page. Meet your friends at 7pm, and see how many different bars you can hit before curfew forces them to close at 22:30!
We managed a pathetic… Three.
Oh well, all the more reason for us to go out again before the event closes on Friday 2 April.
D’Mares
Our rating: ★★★★★
“Albóndigas asadas de bacalao en salsa de tomate, albahaca y patatas gajo”
Baked cod ‘meatballs’ in tomato sauce, basil and potato wedges.
A great start to the tapas route, D’Mares offers these healthy and tasty cod ‘meatballs’, with a clearly homemade tomato sauce (rather than the squirt of tomate frito out of a carton that you can expect to find in some places). Would definitely order this if it were added to the regular menu.
D’Mares is relatively new on the block and worth a try if you haven’t been already. They offer something a little different to most tapas places. For example, avocado on your tostada or sweet potato instead of just chips. Great service and pleasant terrace area since they pedestrianised Calle Carboneros!
La Parada
Our rating: ★★★★☆
“Bacalao a la portuguesa”
Portuguese cod.
This one lost a star because of presentation. As you can see, what we were served doesn’t exactly match the promotional material in terms of number of olives or sprinkling of herbs.
However, despite its pallid appearance, this dish was tasty enough to order again. The pieces of cod were ‘meaty’ and fresh, and the combination of ingredients was surprisingly pleasant – I wouldn’t have thought to pair cod with black olives myself!
La Taberna
Our rating: ★★★★★
“Popieta de acelgas con bacalao y salsa de tomate Aurora”
Cod-stuffed chard with Aurora sauce.
An attractive little parcel of cod, wrapped in tasty chard and served with rice and aurora sauce – which is apparently like a tomato-bechamel.
This was already our final stop, as both the service and the wine were too good to leave.
Also, curfew was looming and we couldn’t resist the urge to stay a bit longer and try the dish that Noelia recommended to us in her ‘Three must-try hidden tapas bars in town‘ post.
“Rollitos de pollo con beicon en salsa Pedro Ximenez”
Chicken and bacon rolls in sherry sauce.
What did we miss?
Have you tried any of the dishes on this year’s ‘Ruta Gastronómica’ in La Línea? Tell us about it in the comments or send your pictures and reviews in by emailing us or messaging us on Twitter or our Facebook page.
