Embruja Tapas

[Captain Hongo]

I have an extra day in TO and thought I'd try them. Anyone been there lately? It doesn't seem to have been mentioned in eGullet yet.

Da Captain

[Wine_Dad]

I was there in December last year for a function. I'm not a fan of flamenco anything - music or dance, but I do love tapas. The food was acceptable but not first rate, if anything I think that the portions were a little small and the tastes were a little too subtle for people used to authentic Spanish food.

Compared to the now defunct El Cid/Tapas on Carlton at Parliament, Embrujo will have to do for now.

[SYoung]

I was there last Friday and wasn't impressed with the quality of the tapas. The service and dance were pretty good though. IMHO, the best Spanish restaurant in the TO area is still Casa Barcelona in Etobicoke.

[Captain Hongo]

Thanks for the tip. I checked out their menu and now I'll be going there.

[fung jiao bao]

I was there last Friday and wasn't impressed with the quality of the tapas.  The service and dance were pretty good though.  IMHO, the best Spanish restaurant in the TO area is still Casa Barcelona in Etobicoke.

←

I would have to say that what I don't like about Casa Barcelona is the HUGE menu. How can it all be freshly prepared? Tapas are a great way to eat, they really depend on freshness to be good(I guess like all food).

Embrujo Flamenco is a smaller more focused menu card. Also, when I was there, the temperature that the food was served at was excellent. Everything was served very hot - that is to say, right from the pan, straight from the oven or fryer, onto the plate and over to the diner. That for me, made up for any lack of authenticity in the flavours.

I vote Embrujo over Barcelona, but I can't wait until there's a really good spanish restaurant in Toronto.

[SYoung]

  I would have to say that what I don't like about Casa Barcelona is the HUGE menu.  How can it all be freshly prepared?  Tapas are a great way to eat, they really depend on freshness to be good(I guess like all food).

I reckon that there's a very low, if any, correlation between menu size and food freshness. They might have 10 different beef dishes, for example, but they're all beef and you just have to buy fresh beef and they can make it 10 different ways. Same with seafood, chicken, vegetable, etc. Tapas is like dim sum in the way it's served to share, and, all else being equal, I would rather have more variety to choose from than less.

In any case, I did not find food freshness to be a concern at either restaurant, however, my Spanish friend & I who went to both found the food quality to be better at Casa Barcelona.

Also, the wine list at Embruja is also VERY short compared Casa Barcelona which probably has the greatest selection of Spanish wines in Toronto. At Embruja, we first ordered a $59 1997 cab blend from Rioja that they recommended and it was very DOA. The wine was way past its prime, but the waiter was nice enough to allow us to order something else and not charge us the dead Rioja (we suspected he had to have known and their whole batch was dead and they were trying to clear inventory from unsuspecting drinkers).

[KevV]

Just to pick up this discussion again, which has mostly been about Casa Barcelona and Embruja...

Has anyone been to Segovia? I haven't been there, nor to Casa Bcn or Embruja, but I believe the chef/owner has had Segovia going for years, and he is in fact Spanish (from Galicia I heard).

[samralh]

Casa Barecelona has never disappointed me. I believe that it although they specialize in Spanish tapas, it is owned by a Portuguese family.

[KevV]

If you google it, you can find the Casa Barcelona website which lists their menu(s).

Yes, lots of tapas. But I guess, aside from paella, that's what comes to mind when people imagine 'Spanish food', and so they must sell well. There are other dishes too - proper platos - and so you can certainly have a full meal there from the looks of it.

I've heard they're not Spanish either, not that it matters if the food is good. It's just that I lived for a while in Barcelona and was trying to figure them out. What's the Bcn connection? Their menu does list some typical Bcn, Catalan or regional dishes (tapas not being one of them).