Cafe Andaluz with the flatmates and Aa's Dad

Aa's Dad was up for the weekend to play at St Andrews and he was quite keen to have some tapas. I can't think of many places in Singapore that sells tapas. Do you? The reason maybe is because the portions are small and can't fill out buffet type appetites. On top of that, tapas isn't normally cheap. So small portions + expensive prices = bo hua ( not worth it).

Lucky me again because Aa is buying all of us dinner.

Cafe Andaluz has a couple branches in Glasgow and one in Edinburgh. The one we went to was on Creswell lane ( leading on to Ashton lane if you are walking towards the subway).

The place has a nice mediterrainean feel with comfy seat and bar top dining areas.

Moving on ... ...

Sangria to start off. I mean how can you not have Sangria when you have Spanish yah? Sangria tranlates as bloody but obviously we din't order the bloody version which is usually a wine punch with fruits and honey or sugar syrup. Instead, we had cava with some citrus juice and apple slices. Nice and refreshing and I hope to try the red version some other time.

Queso Manchego: Sliced aged manchego cheese. A nice semi hard cheese with some mango chutney on the side.

Tabla Iberico: A platter of serrano ham, aged iberico chorizo, lomo and manchego cheese. This was actually really nice, especially when you pair the cured meats and cheese in one mouth. Go for this over the monchego cheese alone.

Champinones: Grilled mushrooms in a light malaga Dulce sweet wine and garlic sauce. This is not cream of mushrooms with whole mushrooms in it. It was nicely infused with white wine and garlic flavours. Only wish there were more mushrooms and some extra bread to soak up the sauce.

Carne de Res Picante: Spicy beef on rockets with manchego cheese and chorizo dressing. The beef was very tender and well flavoured with a spicey peanut typey sauce. Unique Spanish taste is the best way to describe it.

Bomba Picante: Moroccan spiced minced lamb sandwiched between 2 layersof mashed potato covered with bread crumbs and deep fried. Think sherperd's pie with an additional bottom layer of mash and deep fried. A delightful grease bomb to neutralise the alcohol.

Chorizo Frito al Vino: Spicy chorizo sausage with a sweet red onion in red wine sauce. I am not too sure if this is what it is because it tasted really tomatey in flavour but I can't find anything on the menu that suggest that this thing has tomato in it. Oh well, it was good but not fantastic. I had too much chorizo by this time that this dish failed to shine. Still a safe dish to order.

Gambas Pil Pil: I love big prawns especially with garlic and chilli and olive oil. A satisfying choice with at least 7 succulent prawns.

Chipirones: Every beer lover's dish. You could just eat this non stop. Good as a snack and an appetiser.

Vleiras con Serrano: Seared king scallops with a basil creamed leek sauce topped with crisp serrano ham. As Borat will say .... "very nice..." Scallops were huge and perfectly seared. Would have prefered the sauce to be just a wee bit thinner but taste wise it was splendid.

Gambas Rebozadas: Tiger prawns coated in a coriander lemon batter with garlic mayonnaise dip. Superb. I'll be stuck having to choose between gambas pil pil and this. Both were equally good.

Salmon Rostizada: Roasted salmon with a red pepper, tomato & almond romesco sauce. 2 slices would have been perfect.

Paella Valenciana: As a tapas portion, I don't think they cook this upon order. Don't get me wrong as they do cook their paellas for 2 from scratch but as a tapas I suspected it was pre-cooked. Go for paella for 2 if you can stomach it.


Dessert time ... ...

Crema Catalana: Creme Brulee spanish style? Best dessert of the night. It was the cold version just the way I like it. Starting to get a feeling this is like a dan tart (egg tart) which it probably is, only more refinedly executed.

Trufa de chocolate: Oh my.. this was just too heavy. It was literally eating a giant chocolate truffle. Fortunately, there was a coffee flavoured cream to pair up with it. Certainly helped improved the smoothness and reduced the heaviness of it.

Raspberry Pavlova: Great combination. The meringue was sweet and crisp on the outside and had a nice marshmellowy centre.

Caramel Cheesecake: A very light cheesecake. I like my cheesecakes dense so this din't appeal to me much. Worth a try but go for the creme Brulee instead.


Overall, a very wonderful experience being able to sample so many different types of dishes. If you order through 5pm.co.uk, you get 3 tapas and 1 dessert for 11 pounds. For tapas above 4.95 pounds, you will be required to top up the difference. Tables to be back by 8pm.



Cafe Andaluz West End
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2 Creswell Lane
Glasgow G12 8AA
Tel: 0141 339 1111
www.cafeandaluz.com