La Vina, Manchester

I must have walked past La Vina hundreds of times over the years. There are loads of tapas places in Manchester these days, and I have to say, I've probably been to most of them, but somehow I had never quite made it here. What a fool I am. 

I have a real thing at the moment for 'nice people'. I know that may sound soft, but it's been a bit of a year, and niceness is really very important to me as a result. We walked into La Vina to be greeted by nice people. We were hurried in from the cold and seated on the balcony upstairs. The chap even turned the music down slightly in that area because it was a little loud. Cute.

Now then. We ate so much food that I'm not even going to go through every single one in detail, otherwise you'll be here all night. Plus, the pictures say more than I can anyway. I'll just chip in with a few of my favourites. I am going to make a point of telling you that once again I ate olives... and enjoyed them. I'm officially all grown up.

Quesa Manchego - Cheese from La Mancha made from sheep’s milk and aged for six months, served with quince jam.
Pan Tumaca - bread baked in-house, brushed with fresh garlic oil, grilled & served with freshly grated vine-ripened tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of smoked sea salt.

Chorizo reserva - cured chorizo with a sweet and nutty flavour: Cannot keep quiet about this chorizo. I sometimes find it a bit of an overpowering paprika party, but this was sweet and luscious and all sorts of magical. Order this.

Suqueta - a Catalan-style fish stew of prawns, white fish, mussels, and clams in a rich tomato, saffron and almond sauce.

Croquetas de Cecina - cured beef croquetas and piquillo purée.

Pollo con salsa - Succulent chicken breast strips in a creamy, sherry, spinach, almond and date sauce: No exaggeration, this was unbelievable. Sweet and creamy with those beautifully chewy dates. It's on the 'what could you just have?' list.

Gambas pil pil - King prawns in garlic, chilli & olive oil.

Pulpo - Octopus leg pan-fried with olive oil, garlic, chilli, lemon and smoked sea salt, with piquillo purée: Looks a bit terrifying, but watch it glisten...

La Vina dessert tabla - Churros, strawberries and marshmallows with dipping chocolate and dulce de leche sauces.

Torta de Santiago - Warm Galician Santiago almond cake with a honey and lemon drizzle served with custard ice cream: It wasn't even my dessert, but I stole quite a bit of this. We swapped the vanilla for custard ice cream too!

 I'm cruising for a bruising posting this picture, but it's just too good to keep to myself. Phil totally took one for the team and offered to have his picture taken with these lovely lasses, when I looked on in horror when they asked to take my photo! Cheers dude... but look how happy he is!

We both couldn't quite believe how good La Vina was. It was one of those lovely surprises, where everything is on point. The food, the service and the atmosphere were bob on, add in flamenco dancers and you're laughing! Those girls must have been frozen...

Disclaimer: I was invited to the restaurant to complete an honest review. I was under no obligation to say nice things!