Last week was my Mum's birthday. This called for celebration! So off we went in search of something tasty.
As we walked down London road, I spotted La mama. I'd never been in here before, but at the eat Sheffield awards on Monday night they won 'favourite European' restaurant so I reckoned they'd be good enough for my Ma.
So in we went, me, my mum and my little sister. A friendly lady greeted us and showed us to a table by the window. I was rather surprised to see we were the only ones in, but it was around 2pm and I guess there is a chance we'd missed the lunchtime rush.
We ordered 6 tapas from their special 'happy hour' menu. The décor is what you'd expect from a tapas place: yellow walls, tiny guitars, maracas and their eat Sheffield award hung proudly amongst various other European inspired decorations.
Soon enough out came the food.
The tapas were well presented and each one had great flavour and you could tell they were home made.
The patatas bravas were crunchy with a fluffy centre and coated in a spicy tomato sauce.
The tortilla was nice and chunky. The rice was well flavoured and enjoyed very much by my sister. I enjoyed the pumpkin fritters and their accompanying green chilli and coriander salsa very much, although not as much as I enjoyed the baked aubergine and goats cheese, a nice twist on the traditional Italian melanzana parmigiana.
The mushrooms were as they read on the menu: garlicky and white wine-ey but at (cost) for 7, I felt they were a little pricey.
Tapas are all about small portions though, I suppose.
We mopped up all the juices with some house bread which was average and had been drizzled with some very very good olive oil.
Next came the desserts which I was looking forward to. We decided to share chilli chocolate cake and a banoffee pie. The banoffee looked delicious but I only got to taste a tiny bit of the sauce as it was way too creamy for me, being lactose intolerant.
My mum and sister savoured it, each mouthful accompanied by a different moan of pleasure and facial expression to match.
I had some of the chocolate cake. It was nice but I was expecting a dark, glossy sauce and dense chocolatey sponge. This however was light and with a weak sauce.
Don't get me wrong, it was nice but I am one hell of a tough critic when it comes to cakes and this didn't really fit the bill for me.
The important thing was my mum enjoyed herself and the food was overall very good.
The bill came to £34.65.
I'll probably be back as they have live music nights and I'm pleased to have found a quality tapas restaurant so close to home!
Food – 7/10
Service – 9.5/10
Value – 7/10
