La Casita Tapas Bar, Leeds

Situated in Granary Wharf, the recently opened La Casita is described as the little house of tapas. This is their fourth opening to compliment the existing ones in Horsforth, Boston Spa and Ilkley.

It is certainly cosy and on a cold autumn night it felt very inviting. They say that they source the key ingredients from Spain and that it makes a difference to their little dishes. Combined with the richness of Yorkshire produce from local suppliers it is a handful of Spain stirred in with the best of Yorkshire.

Besides Prosecco being very fashionable at the moment so is gin, so you can expect an extensive list of Spanish and British Gins which start at £6.50 for a 50ml measure. Cocktails start from £7.00.

I tried the Croquetas de pollo y jamon (Chicken and Ham) served with mayo, they were very moreish, priced at £5.75 and you could easily share the serving.

The Jamon Serrano from Burgos in northern Spain brought back memories of times spent in the cathedral city, the ham really does have a distinctive taste.

If you are daring you could go for the sliced octopus (Carpaccio de pulpo) but unfortunately it is not for me.

I like my cheese so a selection of sliced Spanish cheeses for £8.50 was ideal. My favourite was the Montbru Garrotxa, a ripe Goats cheese which had an intense taste that lets you know that you were eating goats cheese!

The desserts of Raspberry parfait and Mango parfait tasted strong and very refreshing.

If you went lunchtime Monday to Saturday between 12 and 2.30pm you could have 2 tapas for £9.00. Mind you, if you were in Spain lunch would probably be 3pm!

Between 5 and 6.30pm Monday to Wednesday you can have 3 selected tapas for £13.00, there is also a bar menu with 3 dishes for £18.50.

There is nothing like the bar in the area so it will probably do very well. Parking is not ideal though there is a car park adjacent which tends to get full very quickly. Best to arrive by train as the train station is literally on top of the bar.

La Casita Leeds,
Arch U, Granary Wharf,
Dark Neville Street,
Leeds LS1 4BR
Telephone: 01132 443 360