Entre Tapas Y Vino

Who can resist a great deal? Whether it's on food, clothes or groceries even! I'm currently finding the phenomenon of 'e-coupon' deals (I'm not sure what else to call them), quite interesting. I'm sure you've heard of some of them, Crowdmass, Zoupon (recently changed to Dealz) and Team Spreets, amongst many others. Basic idea? Pre-pay for a coupon at a massive discounted rate for whatever the service or product is. I've signed up to a couple, because friends have told me to and although the majority of the time it's for haircuts, massages, facials...kayaking lessons? Occasionally, there are a few very sweet little deals for the foodie out there.

Zoupon had a deal for Entre Tapas Y Vino in St Kilda sometime ago last year, $120 worth of food for $49. DEAL?!

And so, this brings us to a very sunny Sunday and me moaning about how long trams take to get anywhere.

Entre Tapas Y Vino (should I just abbreviate that to ETYV?) is quite a charming space, maybe more inclined for a dinner crowd with it's somber woods and mature mood, but the outdoor are was still quite inviting, which is where Brad and I perched ourselves.

It was the perfect day for a (jug of) sangria. This thing? Insanely delicious. And incredibly potent. We easily got about 5 or 6 glasses each, EACH, out of the jug and 2 or 3 glasses in (it's all a bit fuzzy now), I was really feeling the alcohol. Doesn't help that it was a fine, warm and sunny day.

The menu is quite extensive, with pages of goodies, varying from chefs creations to loved traditional tapas dishes. We tried to fit a bit of everything in. As always.

We started off with chilli potatoes (didn't get the exact names of everything). Basically, potatoes with chilli sauce and mayo on top. They weren't bad to nibble on, but I was expecting the potatoes to be crunchy or with some texture, which they didn't have and the chilli sauce was really...not that chilli. I wanted something with a bit of bite and this was much too watered down for my liking.

Next up was some chorizo, inoffensive, hard to go wrong with. Maybe again though, not quite spicy enough for me and a wee bit too oily. But didn't stop us from devouring it all.

Prawns and black pudding. I was initially super excited when I saw this on the menu, I am crazy for black pudding! Although somehow they just didn't go very well together for me, I still loved the black pudding but I didn't enjoy the prawns so much...

Beef cheek with mushrooms and...some kinda sauce. Red wine? Probably the highlight of the meal for me, the beef cheek was just tender and fell apart beautifully in your mouth and the potatoes were also super fluffy (which can only mean one thing...BUTTER AND CREAM!). This was easily my favourite. Shame it came out so late when I was starting to get so full...

Now, now, we aren't silly enough to order the same thing twice, I think on the menu these were described as 'crumbed eggs with calamari (there were other options), served with potatoes', or something along the lines. It sounded much more exotic and then we were presented with...this. Presentation wise, it wasn't that appealing to me as it looked a bit lazy and uncreative and the thought of more potatoes wasn't very enticing either. The calamari were so small they looked like onions instead, although they were deliciously marinated and went so well with the egg yolk, as it happily oozed on out.

Not my favourite, and I was quite disappointed at the overuse of potatoes, but if I didn't have the potatoes before, I probably wouldn't have minded so much.

At the end of the meal, Brad and I were absolutely groaning with fullness. Whilst definetly filling and value for money if you want your tummy fed, I didn't feel the quality or creativity or execution was quite there. It's not far off the mark, but there were quite a number of little things I didn't enjoy so much.

Maybe we just came on an off day, but I wouldn't rush to come back.

Except for that Sangria maybe.

And as we were so full, we sauntered around St Kilda for an hour and a half, to of course make room for some gelato.

Entre Tapas Y Vino

2/12 Fitzroy Street

St Kilda, 3182