La Olla Tapas Restaurant in Sale

I love tapas, but the tapas I love are the type I get free with my icy cold white wine in a packed local bar in Andalusia, or the ones you pay a couple of euros for in Barcalona and Seville. A few prawns with tons of salt grilled on la plancha, or a bit of Morcilla on a circle of bread, if your really lucky there may be a plate of fried octopus tentacles or some crispy aubergine drizzled with honey.

Then there are the sort of tapas that are popular here in the UK, to me these are more of a selection of Spanish style buffet dishes with a few strange not very authentic additions to the menu such as spare ribs?

These sort of tapas don't appeal to me, I dislike having loads of different bits off one plate, the mess of battered hake with some sauce from the ubiquitous meatballs and a bit of aioli. 

Also Im greedy and I eat quickly, but not as quickly as Mr G, so depending who I am with, I am either holding back, waiting for my companion to catch up, or in a race to get enough of everything I like.

Anyway that said, my friend has been telling me for ages I should try La Olla, the new Tapas restaurant in Sale, so eventually I caved in and me and Mr G headed down for their early bird menu, which consists of three tapas and a drink each for £11.95

The inside of the restaurant is very nice with a Spanish vibe, lots of candles and lovely staff all of whom appear to be Spanish, which was a nice surprise.

We ordered a bottle of house red which was very palatable, a tempranillo I think. Food wise we were worried six tapas were not enough so ordered a couple of extras.
The food came in a couple of waves which is a good idea because you can concentrate on a fewthings at a time. 

Portions were much larger that expected and really three each would have been enough. Out of the tapas on the early bird menu, the chicken in mustard sauce stood out, lovely and tangy but creamy and lots of moist chicken in there, also tasty were the cold lemony anchovies on crusty bread, reminiscent of something from my holidays in one of those crowded Spanish bars. Off the main menu we enjoyed ham and chorizo croquettes, made the proper way with béchamel sauce not mashed spuds, and Morcilla, squid and apple which was different but in a good way!

Service was great throughout the meal, with our extra bottle of house wine on top of the inclusive drinks, the bill came to just under £50. I'm still craving the real thing later in the year but I might have found the next best thing in sunny Sale.