Tapas 24

Tapas24 is the new tapas spot located in the Old-Montreal, owned by Michelin-starred Carles Abellan, a chef who did his culinary training at the famous restaurant El Bulli. Tapas24 has a menu based on classics from its original restaurant in Barcelona. Spanish tapas spots are definitely lacking in the Montreal food scene. Locals, tourists and foodies are willing to try out something different and refreshing. Think about it for a moment, how many tapas restaurants can you name? For me, three comes to mind (one technically serves pintxos).

The service was impeccable. There are over 25 tapas to choose from. Our waiter was nice enough to go through the whole menu with us and to check on us if everything was to our taste.

We had 4 tapas, 1 main and 2 desserts. We first had the grouper ceviche marinated in lemon juice served with slices of avocado, red onions and a drop of spicy sauce on each piece of fish. The flavours are well balanced when eating altogether. The oily texture of fish and the buttery taste of the avocado melded well with the acidity of the lemon and tanginess of the onion.

We next had the fries, fried egg and chorizo. Considering the salty, oily and spicy nature of the chorizo sausage, we can count on the neutral flavour of the fries and silkiness of the egg to balance it out. Simple and delicious. The sangria-infused watermelon is a must order. It is refreshing, can be used as a palate cleanser after eating something oily and spicy, or ordered it as a dessert. The subtle taste of the sangria is quite noticeable along with the taste of the watermelon. The fried eggplant is our personal favourite. It is lightly crisp outside and purée-like inside, elevated with the sweetness of the maple syrup and brighten with the fragrance of the lime zest.

The seafood paella here does not use saffron in their rice, but uses cumin and parsley as their main spices. Sadly, it is our least favourite as it lacks this sensation of going back for more spoonfuls that one looks for in a paella. It was salty, but we did manage to eat the whole thing. We were trying to look for something to cut down the salt level of the dish. The rice tastes like the sea and the seafood were moist and juicy, but cumin was not at all present.

Finally, we opted for the two popular chocolate desserts. I can say it is the most fun I have with chocolate. The chocolate mousse is served with a thin crispy bread, olive oil and sprinkles of fleur de sel. It has the perfect amount of crunch and the right amount of salt to elevate the sweetness of chocolate. Simply divine.

The chocolate doughnut is not like any doughnut you had before. There is a reason why it is called a chocolate fondant doughnut. Put the whole piece in your mouth, the moment you bite on it, the chocolate will burst into your whole mouth. It is like putting a whole lava cake in your mouth and let everything ooze out. These two desserts are so worth ordering, we even convinced our neighbouring diners to order them and they absolutely love them.

We will definitely going back to try out their other tapas. My friend Teresa recommends trying out their creative and tasty drinks.