Taberna Malvasía is a small place with a “L” shaped bar counter and a couple of small high top tables and wall counters. Opening in September 2016, it is a very stylish place with sound board on the ceiling mounted in various shapes, a distressed wood floor, some stone walls and one wall featuring bottles of wine. Beer is on tap but this seemed to cater much more to wine drinkers. The kitchen was tiny but turned out some really fine food. We enjoyed several free tapas with our glasses of wine but also bought a couple plates that sounded too good to pass up and I’m really glad we did. Everything was really well done and the atmosphere is relaxing and sophisticated. The owner, Miguel Vázquez, was at the bar and spoke great English. He was super friendly and glad to talk about the qualities of the different wines he had by the glass.
With the wine order our first tapa was a veal buger with some matchstick fries. It was garnished with a slice of tomato. The soft bun was a nice wrap for this well seasoned flavorful patty. Tender and delicious. The little fries were totally crisp and not a bit greasy. It was terrific snack. Yum.
Next we enjoyed some food we ordered, a plate of Secreto Ibérico which is grilled Iberian pork from the lower shoulder. It was amazing. Totally tender, each little bite had been fried to a perfect crust and burst with flavor in your mouth. It was served with a nice pile of well browned peppers and some larger fried potatoes. Both were good and the peppers had only the smallest spice heat, but that can vary with the batch. It was a terrific plate of food.
With our next glass we got a bowl of goodness that contained tripe and chickpeas in a terrific broth. It was wonderful.
Next were mushrooms with bits of bacon. They were saucy and full of flavor and came with a couple pieces of bread so you didn’t miss any of what was on the plate. Terrific.
Next was another plate we ordered, Alcachofas a la Romana or Roman artichokes. They were 2 small artichokes cut in quarters and cooked perfectly. They were well seasoned, dribbled with olive oil and cooked perfectly. A couple tasty cherry tomatoes finished out this fine plate. They brought additional olive oil to use if we desired.
Next was some hard sheep’s cheese with nuts, raisins, pomegranate seeds and crisp bread. The cheese was tasty and really enhanced with all the garnishes.
Our second cheese was a slightly softer cheese with some Marcona almonds and sesame crackers. It was another great one. I could have stayed in this place all day.
