Lola Tapes in Tarragona

Lola Tapes is a small but gutsy eatery set at Placa de la Font and, despite having only opened a year ago, they have already become a bit of a local gastro cult.

We ordered the Tuesday ‘para picar’ (to nibble) special which came in four platters, the first being a sensational Pernil Iberic Bellota, Berher which won the price in 2007 /2010 as the of the IFFA Delicat of best raw ham in the world.  This was matched by a genial variation of the Pan de Tomate you usually get here, consisting of a pizza thin, light ciabatta base lightly doused with peppery green extra virgin olive oil and finely chopped tomatoes, sprinkled with sea salt and pepper, in one simple word: fantastic!

Next came a selection of great local and French cheese which included  the Blau de Muntanyola, a salty, creamy, lingering blue cheese made of goats milk in Osona, Catalunya and the Muntanyola sec, a mature ghoat cheese also from Osona.  I am becoming a bit of a fanatical purist when it comes to Catalan cheeses which are some of the best I have ever come across so the inclusion of their French cousins in the form of a Morbier, Jean Perrin and Fourme d’ Ambert was somehow superfluous.  Keep it local!

To polish things off we also had a selection of cust from  Iberic ‘sausages’ : Canya de Xoric, Llom and Llonganissa, a subtle variety of Butifarra or blood sausage, all washed down with  reds and wites from Priorat and settled by a 10 year old Quinta do Noval Port from the Duro region of Portugal.