Tapas revolution is nestled amongst a range of shops and other restaurants on the upper floor of Grand Central/New Street Station. This expanding chain of restaurant was founded by Spanish born Omar Allibhoy and I had also heard so many great things about the Birmingham branch that I couldn't wait to try it out for myself!
Despite the hustle and bustle of shoppers nearby, the restaurant and bar has its own enclosed area and when we arrived for our lunchtime sitting we were placed on high stools by the bar overlooking the kitchen and the atmosphere was chilled.
The staff at Tapas Revolution were super friendly and were willing to recommend us drinks and dishes. We were assured that Omar's vision was to bring authentic yet simple Spanish food to the UK and that everything was cooked from scratch in the kitchen in front of us - even the aioli!
There is a good drinks selection including a variety of gins, Spanish inspired cocktails, wine, beer and of course, Sangria! I was recommended a Verdejo white wine from the Spanish region Rueda, it was refreshing with fruity and herbal notes - a perfect accompaniment to a seafood dish. Sam was recommende the Limonada casera which was a homemade lemonade with hints of saffron which gave it the bright yellow colour. He said it was enjoyable and it was nice to try something different.
Everything on the menu sounded appealing and I liked the way the tapas were split into specials, meats, seafood and vegetables. In the end I chose the lunchtime deal which included bread and aioli to start, one tapas and one main for £9.95 which seemed good value for money. For the tapas option I chose croquetas de jamon (deep fried Iberico ham and béchamel croquettes) and for mains I chose the paella valenciana (included chicken and not seafood too). Sam then decided to chose 3 of their tapas dishes and went for;
1) Alitas de pollo a la miel y limon (chicken wings with a honey and lemon dressing)
2) Chorizo a la sidra (spiced chorizo sausage cooked in cider)
3) Calamares fritos (deep fried squid)
The first dishes to arrive at the table were the croquetas and the chicken wings and the rest of the dishes followed shortly after. We fully embraced the idea of sharing all the dishes we chose between us in true Spanish style. I wont go into too much detail about the food but I felt the standout dishes were the Chorizo a la sidra which was very tender and the Iberico ham croquetas which melted in my mouth!
The biggest disappointment for me was the paella, as you can see from the picture it was extremely stodgy and lacked any authentic flavours. I also normally prefer my paella to include chorizo and seafood along with the chicken too. I felt like it had not been freshly cooked (as was mentioned earlier) and had simply been reheated. The calamares was fried in a light batter and was served with a lovely garlicky alioli but again, I have tried better calamari in other restaurants in the city.
Overall, Tapas Revolution is not a bad restaurant and with a few tweaks could be great! However, I do feel there are better Tapas restaurants to eat at in Brum!
Are there any Tapas restaurants you can recommend for me to try around the West Midlands? I'd love to hear what you think!
