Peel Street has come a long way from being a dark alleyway to a vibrant trendy hotspot right in the heart of the city. With the spate of new bars and restaurants down the street, the revitalisation has been a successful one. The latest establishment to join the ranks is La Rambla, a place that serves Catalonian style tapas, pintxos (various ingredients held together with a skewer) and montaditos (various ingredients on top of bread slices). The menu is divided between cured meats and cheeses, montaditos and the more conventional tapas dishes. The offerings have been kept simple and use the highest quality, local (where possible) ingredients.

La Rambla is set over three levels with two bars, a lounge area and an upstairs outdoor deck. The decor has a modern industrial feel about it with exposed ceilings and low hanging light fittings. Mirrors are cleverly used to create that sense of space. Customers have the option of dining at the bar, sitting at a communal bench or eating at one of the tables whether it be inside or out.

The Spanish Meatballs are made from lamb and spices and then cooked in a tomato sauce. The meat was well refined and made into nice bite size pieces. The tomato sauce had a nice thick consistency, and had plenty of depth. If I were to make one criticism, I would have preferred the meatballs to be a little warmer rather than coming out cold.

The Grilled Vegetables with Marinated White Bait is a well thought out dish. The natural sweetness of the vegetables balance out the saltiness of the white bait. Some of the vegetables were fresh and crisp, which complemented the soft delicate texture of the fish.

The Ox Tripe and Chickpea Stew is slow cooked for hours with black sausage. Tripe, in any form, is never appealing, however, it’s been cooked for so long that you end up with a delicate rubbery texture with the odd strand of meat attached to it. The chickpeas and olives were firm but cooked through, and the flavours from the sauce were well infused into all the ingredients. This is as good as tripe is ever going to taste.

The Grilled Angas Steak with Blue Cheese Sauce was delicious. The slices of steak were lightly grilled and still pinkish in the centre. The meat was lean, tender and succulent and you could taste the smokey flavours in the meat. The blue cheese sauce had a less pungent flavour, and worked perfectly with the steak and crispy salad.

The Prawn with Piquillo Pepper stuffed with Goats Cheese was also very good. The prawn was tender and succulent, and had nice smokey flavours. Once again, there was a contrast in flavours with the sweetness of the pepper and the saltiness of the cheese.

The staff were friendly and welcoming, and the service was very good. Drinks were constantly refilled, plates were cleared as we finished, and they were constantly checking up on us to ensure we were having an enjoyable experience. For a first day opening, it wasn’t as busy as I anticipated, however, I’m sure things will pickup as the weekend nears.

As far as pricing goes, the entire meal cost $57 for 5 tapas dishes between the two of us. The Montaditos start from $6 and the conventional tapas dishes start from $7 and go all the way up to $16. As with all tapas meals, I wasn’t really full, but rather content. Having said that, all the dishes were of a high standard and were very fresh and flavoursome.

La Rambla is definitely one of the better Spanish tapas places in Adelaide and definitely worth checking out.

WHERE: 28 Peel St, Adelaide