On a recent visit to La Parada (107 Bree Street) we started with beers and cocktails like all good lunches should. When ordering drinks they are served with little mini tapas just as they would in Spain and Italy. The mini tapas was a little bruschetta with marinated peppers and olives – it was absolutely delicious and paired well with the beer.
They have a gorgeous tapas selection, a small listing of mains and three desserts. We opted to have a shared tapas lunch between the 5 of us. The menu is very clever in that all the tapas options can be chosen as small or large portions. The small sizes range in price from R15 to R38 and large portions ranging from R28 to R76. All the portions pictured and discussed are the large options. To use the croquettes as an example – the large portion comes with 5 croquettes and the smaller one with 3.
And so the parade of food to the table begun!
The favourite of the lunch was the ham croquettes for R42 which are served with a tomato passata style sauce. There was a serious debate about the croquettes. It was a prawn vs ham croquettes debate – the most serious of all the debates!!
The prawn croquettes for R44 are served with a light fresh herb pesto kinda thing. My favourite were the prawns because of the serious creaminess but I was surprised 4/5 of the table preferred the ham croquettes! We needed a taste test and ordered another round. After round 2 it was 3/5 in favour of the ham croquettes. Don’t get me wrong- these are both damn delicious croquettes and probably some of the best croquettes I’ve had in Cape Town especially with the light sauces they serve with the croquettes to cut some of the richness.
Another winner was the wild prawns for R76 and I ate much more of them than I expected! By the time I had finished lunch I looked down at a plate full of prawn shells! They were absolutely delicious and incredibly meaty and fresh. The spicy, sweet sauce they were served on was delicious! The trick to enhancing your meal at La Parada is to order some of their amazing peasant bread! Just wow- perfect for scooping up extra sauce and flavours left on the plate.
The calamari with salsa verde for R45 managed to elude the camera. This only got away because we were too quick to eat them! We even ordered two rounds of the calamari! The calamari salsa verde was outstanding and one of my favourites of the lunch. The calamari was brilliant – giant tubes of calamari which were incredibly fresh and perfectly cooked, dressed with a herbed oily sauce.
I also loved the Octopus salad for R45! It was made up of marinated octopus, tomatoes, white onions and green papers. The vinegar in the marinade added plenty of flavour and the octopus was wonderfully tender!
The tapas menu is pretty extensive and therefore some dishes need to be skipped. I would skip the Patatas Bravas which were pretty much undercooked cubes of chips with some pretty artificial tomato sauce. The chickpeas and chorizo sausage for R36 was not a huge stand out dish for me. You do really have to love chickpeas to love this dish! And the Serrano Ham is the least value option on the menu. We paid R55 for a few slices of very fatty ham. Save your money for more croquettes!
We had a great lunch and have picked a few must try again for my next visit – hello croquette debate round 3! I was impressed by the wonderful food and the attentive, professional and friendly service. The waiters didn’t seem to miss a thing- food was brought out as it was ready to ensure it was served warm and fresh, drinks were reordered quickly and requests for more bread and a second lunch round was met with a broad smile and no hint of irritation. La Parada is undoubtedly a Saturday lunch spot that you could hang around for a few hours.
THE DETAILS:
Location: 107 Bree St, Cape Town (across the road from &Union)
Opening hours: Mon – Sat 12pm to 10pm and Sun 12pm to 5pm
Contact details: 021 426 0330
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