Dinner at Tapella Restaurant

Last weekend has been good for my blog but very bad for my diet. Last night the same group who ate at Yedang decided to eat out again. I suggested Tapella in Greenbelt 5 since I love paella and wanted to try their manchego paella. I didn’t know Tapella was owned by Gaudi.

The place was small but had simple and pleasing interiors.

We ordered the chorizo stewed in red wine. It was a very small order. There were 5 of us and we barely got to eat 2 pieces each. It was very good and salty. We asked for bread to dip into the flavorful oil and wine sauce. They charge for bread too. A bread basket with 6 tiny slices of toasted baguette and 1 hard ciabatta costs P60. Too bad I didn’t get a picture of it.

Chorizo al Vino
chorizo stewed in red wine P245

This is half an order of soup. We had it split into two bowls. It had a very strong seafood taste which was a bit overwhelming.

Sopa de Mariscos
hearty seafood chowder P120

These tiny sticks of ham and cheese were just ok. Nothing great. We couldn’t even taste the cheese. It was very insignificant in it’s contribution to assuaging our hunger. My suggestion? Order something else.

serrano ham & cheese in phyllo pastry P110

The paella pans were probably 10″ in diameter and serves 2 people. The paella negra was good. It could do with a little more flavor though. It was served with aoli and lemon wedges.

black squid paella P520

Rochelle’s son enjoying the paella.

Everyone liked the black paella better than the manchego paella. It wasn’t really bad but it was just ordinary. There was hardly any taste of manchego cheese. It tasted just like rice cooked in chicken broth.

manchego cheese, chicken, asparagus &
shrimp paella P500

We saw the other table eating this so we ordered it too. It’s angus beef brought to your table pre-cooked a little. They bring out a chafing dish burner and put a plate on top.

You cook the beef to the wellness you desire. The beef was tender and good. You’re given a dish of salt to season the steak. For me that’s all you really need if your beef is good. What I didn’t like about this whole thing was that the chafing dish burner wasn’t enough to cook the beef. It took a long time just to get the red out of the meat. Chris wanted to let the fat brown up a bit before she eats it. I told her she’d have to wait til the next day for the fat to even sizzle a bit.