Rioja Tapas Fantásticas

My Spanish friend Ana loves living in London but boy does she miss the food and wine in Spain. Imagine her excitement therefore when she discovered that Rioja Tapas Fantasticas was taking place this weekend in Southwark.

Tempted by the promise of the best in Spanish wine and tapas, we headed over Sunday lunch time with rumbling bellies.

The walk to the festival was made interesting by some friends we met along the way...

Entry was free but we paid £3.50 each for a glass and 4 tokens which we handed over in exchange for a sample of wine. There were lots of wines to choose from and it made a change having someone (Ana) to explain them to us and explain what terms such as 'grand reserva' mean. She's talking to two very uneducated wine drinkers in M and me.

As always I was most excited by the food and kicked things off with a plate of tomato bread and Iberico ham.

As usual, stuffing far too much in my face 

On the lunch menu was most definitely paella. I chose the chicken 'Valencia' version whilst Ana went for the seafood variety. They were cooking up a second batch of the seafood one when we arrived - I love watching the grey prawns turn bright pink as they cook through.

There was lots of other tapas on offer and the ever present, churros. Maybe I've just been unlucky each time, but I've never eaten any churros that I've actually enjoyed.

There were more amazing characters in the festival itself - just look at their outfits!

Ana enjoyed her taste of Spain in London and I was obviously in food heaven.