Casa Lola - superb Spanish food and service with a smile!

Amongst the excellent choice of restaurants to be found in Caterham Valley is Casa Lola, for diners who like to enjoy a taste of the Mediterranean. Being a Spanish restaurant, Casa Lola specialises in tapas and seafood, but also offers a selection of Italian pasta dishes at excellent prices (from £6.95- £9.95).

The restaurant has a board on the wall with ‘specials’ to choose from, which, on the day I visited with my mum Pam, included Sea Bass and Fillet Steak. We decided to choose a selection of tapas.

The beauty of tapas is that you can either go straight to your main course and select your favourite tapas dishes or you can pick one of the dishes to have as a starter first, which is what we did. Mum chose the Patas de Cangrejo (crablets) and I chose the Mejillones Marinara (Mussels Mariniero), a seasonal dish which was, fortunately, available on the night of our visit.

Mum said that her crablets were: “Lovely and plump and full of meat,” and she commented on the attractive presentation, with a side salad. I had a generous serving of gorgeous mussels, which had been cooked in white wine, cream, onions, garlic and parsley.

For our main course there were so many wonderful tapas dishes to choose from, but we selected our favourite, the Raxo (Pork Fillets Galician Style) which comes with chips, the Pinchos de Pollo (Chicken Kebab) with rice and to accompany them two vegetable dishes, the Espinacas con Nata (spinach with garlic, chilli, cheese and cream) and the Champinones Picantes (mushrooms, garlic, chilli and wine).

We shared the tapas between us, accompanied by a delicious bottle of Rioja wine. The pork of the Raxo was very tender because it is marinated for hours before cooking. A whole chicken breast goes into the chicken kebabs, of which there were two juicy portions on the plate.

The vegetable dishes were a superb accompaniment, and we especially liked the beautifully creamy spinach. The service was prompt and friendly throughout the evening and the food was lovely and hot.

Although we were offered the dessert menu, a simple cup of coffee was the perfect end to a lovely meal. If you would llike to try Casa Lola at lunch time, they offer a selection of tapas dishes with a wine, soft drink or coffee for just £6.95 - amazing value!