| Ambiance: |  (4.5 / 5) |
| Service: | (3 / 5) |
| Value for money: | (3.5 / 5) |
| Toilets: | (4 / 5) |
Despite having the initial intention to seek out somewhere to eat for dinner during our day-time roam around Bath, neither of us found anywhere that grabbed our attention so I was left, with my laptop to research where to go. Searching ‘best tapas in Bath’, La Perla was one of the highest recommended places to go. Being a Saturday, we were only able to get a table for 9.30pm so we decided to go to Graze for a drink and nibble beforehand.
Unfortunately our plan for Graze didn’t fully work out. Drink, check. Food, nope. We tried pretty much everything to get some grub, we tried trickery “but your manager said we could order from here”, we tried making friends “go and ask that table over there to add on a bread bowl to their order, we’ll give them £10”…. But nope, nothing worked, resulting in us arriving at La Perla absolutely ravenous. Always a dangerous situation to be in, especially when you’re slightly merry.
La Perla was one of Bath’s ‘underworld’ of restaurants, tottering in heels quite precariously down a steep metallic staircase was a little bit terrifying, especially after half a bottle of wine coupled with no food, but I made it. I did nearly fall into La Perla though… but, I liked the venue immediately. It was dimly lit and looked almost like a tunnel which helped it to exude cosiness and perhaps romance. We were seated at our table and agreed we’d have a super quick starter and glass of wine here and then go back to Sotto Sotto, an Italian next door which we both loved the look of. I chose our wines from a decent drinks list and we selected 3 tapas from a brilliant menu: Croquetas de jamon (ham and cheese croquettes), Ensalada de jamon de pato (cured duck salad) and Huepacho (chorizo and patatas bravas with a poached duck egg). I even liked the style and aesthetics of the menu as the picture will reveal below.
The menu
I promise my photography will get better…. Our “first course”
The tapas came within fifteen minutes and were nice enough but definitely nothing stand out-ish. The poached egg was well cooked with a runny centre but the croquettes didn’t seem to have an ounce of ham in them. Anyway, we paid up and rushed to Sotto Sotto. However, again our plans were hijacked as we were told that they stopped serving at 10pm (it was now 10.04) and again, our persuasion techniques fell short so we rushed back to La Perla for more tapas. I don’t think the waitresses particularly liked us second-time round which probably wasn’t helped by us (well, me) spilling candle wax all over the table and not playing ball with where we were originally asked to be seated.
Anyway, the kitchen was open (hoorah) and it appeared that Andrew was hungry. So hungry that he was a little uncontrollable and ended up ordering (no joke) pretty much everything off the menu. So much was ordered that our table for two nearly over-spilled with food and I started to feel like we were in some kind of Man vs. Tapas eating competition. It was actually quite intimidating.
The Iberian ham
I forgot about the prawns!
I remember, and give more credit to the tapas dishes that came out first as I was still feeling hungry then. The acorn fed Iberian ham, presented on a wooden board, was a generous portion and tasted delicious, with a slight saltiness which I love. The cabello de rape (monkfish wrapped in kataifi pastry) had a very unique texture combination and I would recommend it for others to give a try. I think wine had affected the usual ‘play it safe’ Andrew’s ordering process, as he’d also ordered rabo de toro (Spanish bull’s tail wrapped in ‘spring roll’) but despite trying something new, it wasn’t worth the £9 it cost. I could go on and comment about everything else, but I’d be here forever so I’ll just state my favourites: the salmon con jamon and the scallop dish (surprisingly). The paella, being the one dish I had selected, was unfortunately very disappointing. The usual soft, moist rabbit meat was overcooked and resulted in being rather tough and dry. Not that I really minded as by that point I’d more than definitely had enough.
The salmon… looks a bit like a boat, doesn’t it?!
The paella… which we definitely didn’t need…
The main issue at La Perla, other than the service at times, was the lighting. It was designed in such a way that it made the food look radioactive! It would also have helped to be told what tapas dishes were being delivered to us, especially when you order as many as we do, and when they come sporadically it is easy to get confused. Other than that, La Perla definitely offered us a memorable meal and did have a great authentic selection of Spanish tapas and drinks to choose from.
Recommendation
I’d recommend La Perla for any occasion, tapas with friends, work or on a date, the portions are all well sized and you will leave feeling satisfied. The drink prices were also pretty reasonable, but I may be biased as I’ve been living in London…
Extra Information:
Address: 12a N Parade, Bath BA2 4AL
Phone: 01225 463626
Website: http://la-perla.co.uk/
NTK: If there’s just two of you and you’re feeling pretty hungry, about 5 – 6 dishes will do the trick.
