Tapas Journey at Patria on King St.

What:       Tapas Journey
Who:        20 Restaurants around Toronto
Where:     Visited Patria at 478 King St. W.
Date:        Aug. 21, 2015
Why:        Estrella Damm Beer plus 3 tapas promotion
Website:   patriatoronto.com
Hashtag:   #TapasJourney

I received a package in the mail with a $20 gift certificate and a booklet to check out one of the 20 restaurants featured in the Tapas Journey in Toronto from August 14-23, 2015.  I received the gift certificate on the 19th and tried to make plans to join a fellow blogger for lunch the next day but unfortunately it was only good for the evenings so we just ordered off their regular menu.

On the friday I met up with a friend and after seeing a movie on King St. we walked over to Patria at King and Spadina.  We walked right passed it and then walked back.  The sign is sit up on a gate that leads to the restaurant in a laneway.  It was about 8pm I think that we arrived and it was just starting to get dark.  The restaurant is inset and the lighting in the restaurant is very dim to add atmosphere.  It's nice when you want to set a mood but not the greatest for a food blogger to get great photos so excuse the quality of the food pics.  I have never been there before and we sat at the bar where the bartender was very helpful and he actually let me use an LED light which helped a bit.  I don't like to use flash for my food photos because it just washes them out and never looks great.

We ordered the special menu for the Tapas Journey which is 3 tapas plus one Estrella Damm beers from Barcelona.  I don't drink beer so I gave mine to the couple sitting next to us who really appreciated their Tapas Journey.  The Patria Tapas was Pintxo de Tortilla de Patatas, (spanish potato omelete, asparagus, romesco and goat cheese).  Albodigas con Tomate ( Beef meatballs, pearl onion and tomato sauce), and Queso Buneuelos ( Manchego fritters, spicy paquillo sauce and aioli).

Every one of these Tapas were delicious but I think I liked the Bunuelos the best.  I also really liked the teardrop shaped pearl onion that was lightly pickled.  I have never seen that before and didn't know that it was an onion.  You learn something new everyday in the food world.

It is a good deal to get the 3 tapas items plus the beer for $20 because the restaurants are pretty high end restaurants and these are special menu items.

In Spain or Europe Tapas are meant to be small bites of food sometimes served for free when people drink at different local bars.  It's a nice thing if the bars are close by and you can get a drink an tapas and then move on to the next one and try something else.  Most of the Tapas Journey restaurants were located on King Street or Queen Street with a few others in other locations.  Not so much within walking distance but streetcar accessible mostly.

We were still hungry after the tapas so we ordered one dish off the menu and a dessert each.

We shared an order of Patatas bravas with tomate sauce and a fried egg which was soooo good.  I love the simplicity of fried potatoes and a fried egg.  It always works.

For dessert my friend had the churros.  I didn't try them but I could smell the cinnamon and she liked them.  I ordered a bit fancier dessert and got the chocolate terrine which was like a mousee, and ganache type of consistency.  It was delicious and had some nice garnishes added for crunch.

 

 A friend gave me another Gift Certificate and I tried to use it on the last day on Sunday but the 4 restaurants I tried to go to were closed so i wasn't able to use it.

OH I forgot to mention that if you got a sticker when you ordered the Tapas and stuck it onto the Passport and Tweeted or Instagrammed a pic of it you were entered into a contest to win a trip to Miami to meet with highly regarded Chef Ferran Adria.

Sadly I didn't receive a sticker and forgot about it until I got home so I wasn't able to tweet a pic of it.


Disclosure:  The Gift certificate was complementary courtesy of Branding & Buzzing but all of the opinions in this post are my own.