The following review has been written by Sheffschefs after a visit to the establishment. All visits are made anonymously, as ordinary paying customers.

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Whenever you pass La Mancha restaurant on West Street, it seems to be full of people having a good time, so we felt it was a good choice to take out a couple of our friends who were more used to the cosmopolitan delights of Nottingham.

It was moderately busy when we arrived at 7.30 p.m. and we were settled in by very courteous staff and given menus to ponder.

It's quite a spacious restaurant, but quite cosily decorated in warm reds and Mediterranean colours, with dark wood furniture and those smart and very handy wipe clean tablecloths that are often favoured on the continent.

La Mancha specialises in Tapas and they have a very good range from simple dishes such as garlic mushrooms and marinated olives, to more substantial things like fresh sardines and king prawns. Tapas can be ordered collectively as a main course, or individually as a starter, so they also have a good range of main course meat and fish dishes, plus paella for 2 or more people sharing. Vegetarians seemed to be well catered for too and the paella had a little footnote to indicate that a vegetarian option was also available.

Entering into the spirit of communal eating, we decided to go for a mixture of Tapas and paella and share the lot. We tested the flexibility of the chef and asked for a special version of the paella - not quite vegetarian, but without the chicken and we were pleased to find that our request was handled with ease.

Our Tapas dishes included garlic mushrooms, king prawns, fried aubergines, grilled sardines, garlic bread and spare ribs. We ordered a two-person dish of paella, to add some substance and carbohydrate. The food looked great when it arrived and we were frankly amazed at the size of the paella dish and wondered if they'd inadvertently given us paella for four, but the bill clearly showed it was for two when we later checked. It was full of mussels and squid and topped with prawns and we all voted favourably on it. It had a very fresh seafood taste and was certainly comparable to paella we'd all tried in Spain.

The Tapas too were generally viewed well, especially the sardines and prawns, which were delicious. The spare rib aficionado in the group was a little disappointed with the sauce on the spare ribs, which she thought was a bit thin, but apart from that we had no complaints about anything.

Oh, apart from one thing... the music was a little on the loud side for us, but perhaps we're just getting a bit too old, who knows?!

January 2003

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