Valentine’s tapas at Cavataria

I don’t usually celebrate Valentine’s Day, but this year Mr Foodie and I needed some cheering up so we decided (very last minute) that we’d go out for tapas. We thought we’d booked a table at Escobar in de Pijp, but on closer inspection it seemed that we’d booked to eat at a restaurant of the same name in Inverness, so at even more of the last minute we found a table at Cavataria in Oud-Zuid. Still a bit of a trek from our house in Oost, but not nearly as far as Inverness!

We weren’t the only ones out for Valentine’s tapas: the restaurant was, unsurprisingly, full of couples – some of whom looked like they’d been together for years, and others who had the air of very early dating territory. It was great people-watching. Especially with a glass of Cava in hand.

But while the Cava and the Ribera del Duero were perfectly good, the food left something to be desired in many cases. Pimientos de Padron were fine (you can’t go too far wrong with fried peppers) and came with a potent aioli. But jamón Iberico didn’t have quite the taste or texture that you’d expect of pricy, acorn-fed pigs. Perhaps it was just served too cold.