Now that it is near the end of the year it means people are going on holidays to wonderful places like Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong etc etc where food is plentiful, cheap and super tasty while others (like me) are here going work work like a peon. For those who don’t know but D has actually gone away to Japanland for a few weeks so there will be ramen/tonkatsu/sushi posts a-plenty when he gets back. But before they left, it is always a good excuse to get together with a bunch of good friends and share some tapas! (aka leftovers according to some) Encasa is a pretty decent place for tapas action and they have some reasonable set menus so

Here Comes the Food

Garlic Bread; Sangria

The bread made it a great start to the meal. The crunchy/crusty exterior with a soft and fluffy middle which is still steamy and hot. The garlic flavour was present although could be a little stronger in my opinion. Sangria is a must at any tapas meal to help aid form lively conversation, this cocktail is light and refreshing especially with chunks of fruit to add some texture and crunch.

Salad 2-way

A wise man once sang “You don’t make friends with saaaaalad! You don’t make friends with saaalad!” while dancing in a congo line and it usually rings true for me (come on! it’s a congo line song!) but the salad here was very crisp and refreshing with a great combination of textures of crunchy cucumber to leafy greens and squishy tomato. The other one was more of a Greek style with fetta cheese, olives and capsicum.

Patatas Bravas – fried potato with garlic mayonnaise and spicy tomato salsa

Chunks of fried potato smothered by a drizzle of garlic mayonnaise and spicy tomato salsa is a winner of a dish regardless. The soft bites of potato with the creaminess of the mayonnaise and the slight after-tinge of spiciness meant this was easily the most moreish dish of the night for me. If this appeared at a buffet I would try and score the whole tub for myself hee hee.

Champinones al Ajillo – garlic mushrooms

Little button mushrooms were fried into a garlicky state meant a beautiful aroma as long as everybody was eating it. The mushrooms were soft and springy and had a good bite to them and the garlic flavour matched wonderfully.

Chorizo a la Plancha – grilled Spanish sausage

Thin slivers of chorizo were cooked to a nice crisp and flavour with a very subtle hint of chilli. Contrary to the top right photo, they did not taste like blur.

Sevillanas – prawns in spicy tomato

Succulent curls of prawns cooked in a spicy tomato sauce bubbled happily away as they were presented to the table. The tomato was pretty weak in spicy so a good dose of the chilli oil was applied to give it a more noticeable touch.

3 types of Pizza were included in this set menu

- Pollo – chicken, mushroom, BBQ sauce, sesame seeds

- Campesina – artichoke, goat’s cheese, roasted red capsicum and eggplant

- Seafood – prawns, calamari, mussels, crab meat, octopus, fish, garlic

At first I was a bit confused why we were eating pizza at a Spanish restaurant but after the first few bites I was content with having these pizzas. The base was cooked to a nice crisp but not too hard while the topping was decently portioned with beautiful cheese creating lovely strings. All 3 types of pizzas were tasty with good combination of flavours but I found that the chicken was a little bit dry since they only used breast, although the BBQ sauce smothers it all nicely.

Our pizza/prawn and mysterious blob cocktail… so mature guyyyss

I have to consider Encasa as one of those cheap and cheerful places. The atmosphere is a bit of a hustle and bustle but with tapas, it should be like this. Cheerful chatter and clatter of plates/cutlery as people help serve each other and with friendly staff and warm lighting. Our Set Menu 2 was only $27 pp and everybody walked out full and content.

Being a typical foodblogger, I did however walk out rubbing my tummy and wondering… Sooo what’s for dessert? hee hee

(in case you were wondering, we ended up going Gelato Messina)

Encasa

423 Pitt St

Sydney 2000

Ph: (02) 9211 4257

FFichiban

1. chocolatesuze Says:
   December 9th, 2009 at 1:27 am

   ooh cheesey pizza stretch shot mmm and lol did you get gingerbread gelato?

2. Helen (grabyourfork) Says:
   December 9th, 2009 at 2:59 am

   Mmm have always had a weak spot for patatas bravas. Have been to Encasa a couple of times but we always end up having tapas over pizzas.

3. joey@FoodiePop Says:
   December 9th, 2009 at 9:05 am

   Thanks for the review; I have always looked at this place when walking past and thinking whether it was any good. The pizzas look quite all right and the chorizos look so yummy. Fantastic photos too.

4. billy@ATFT Says:
   December 9th, 2009 at 11:12 am

   looks fair dinkum for a tapas join in the heart of city. The food looks good for a set menu although I wish there are something more exotic rather than the usual garlic prawn, chorizo and patatas…

5. Belle@OohLook Says:
   December 9th, 2009 at 12:16 pm

   Good Spanish places are thin on the ground in the so-called ‘Spanish Quarter’, so Encasa looks pretty good. But then, your photos make everything look good!

6. Jacq Says:
   December 9th, 2009 at 1:27 pm

   I’ve heard lots of good things about this place but I still haven’t made it there yet! Looks like good value as well for the amount of food you get and it’s good to hear that their pizzas are good since it’s supposed to be a Spanish place

7. Y Says:
   December 9th, 2009 at 5:23 pm

   Yeah, I’m pretty much stuck here while everyone else seems to be jetting off to exotic locations too! At least there’s decent looking tapas to be had..

8. The Ninja Says:
   December 9th, 2009 at 6:59 pm

   I’m so there after dumping a week’s wages at Postales and being too scared afterwards to try Subsolo. Sounds like a prime spot for a team assault.

9. Lisa Says:
   December 20th, 2009 at 9:11 am

   I remember drinking a lot of sangria at this place! The tapas were decent, and my favourites were those potatoes and some fantastic meatballs.

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website