"This, our local café, normally closes in the late afternoon about 17:00 this time of year; but occasionally it opens up on a Friday evening, until late, to provide a tapas evening with live music. These are occasions which we try to support as much as we can. Tonight was the latest of three such events that we have enjoyed supporting; it was also the last of the, I believe, four summer events have been held. The format, was as before, to stagger table reservation times to allow the kitchen to efficiently produce plates to order. This reservation system helps avoid what could be bottlenecks, that would surely result, if too many orders flood in at the more popular times. The menu is the same for all of these events; our preferences were again to the fore for certain plates, as follows: Chicken Skewers Greek style marinaded with yoghurt. Vegetable Spring Rolls with sweet chilli dip crispy, crunchy rolls filled with savoury mix of vegetables. Lamb kofta balls with tzatziki dip. Patatas Bravas crispy potatoes in a salsa brava with a creamy aioli. Skin on fries. It was once again a much enjoyed meal and, on this occasion, we had invited my Son to join us. He really enjoyed the plates and the atmosphere. Wine: we chose a bottle of the ‘Definition Pinot Grigio’ from north eastern Italy: very complex and much enjoyed: excellent. This bottle was my Son’s contribution to the evening (apart from, of course, his company). We followed that with a bottle of the ‘Pringle Bay’ Sauvignon Blanc from the Western Cape, South Africa: this was very good; wonderfully refreshing. My Partner and I paid for that one! Wine here is not too expensive, especially bearing in mind the quality. A note to say that the Patatas Bravas plate was excellent on this occasion, because the potatoes were indeed crispy. Our favourite plate, for all three of us, was however the ‘Vegetable Spring Rolls’. These were absolutely fabulous, such a great texture. If this plate was regularly featured on the menu, I am sure it would be a very popular choice. The provision of a sweet chilli dipping sauce is a masterpiece of culinary inspiration. The music for all of these events was a duo singing covers of popular songs accompanied by acoustic guitars. They use guitar mics to amplify the music an their vocals. On previous occasions the band have not been too loud; sadly tonight they were. There were times that we couldn’t hear each other speak, and my Partner had to twice ask the band to tone it down. There is a time and place for loud music and this wasn’t it."
