Ortega - Southend-on-Sea

If there one had to choose an international cuisine that captures the informality of eating, few would dispute that Spanish would be amongst the finalists. All the spirit and passion of a fun fuelled night out in a Spanish city can be, and usually is, to be found in a cantina and tapas bar such as Ortega. Little wonder that half Britain seems to spend at least one of its holidays there, or in more extreme cases has made the plunge and moved there on a permanent basis.

Cantina in English conjures up a rather different picture, and even if the British canteen is largely, and mercifully, a thing of the past, its memory lingers on. A cantina is all about relaxing, not being rushed, and not having to worry about 'the form', because there is none. You have an embarrassingly large appetite?  - "marvellous!" You have a small appetite? - "you poor thing - just think what you are missing!" You want to eat paella from one dish with ten of your friends and no cutlery? - "so who cares?"

Conscious of the qualities of British cuisine they have not been slow at Ortega to incorporate some of its more admirable facets into their menu with the result that desserts and some main dishes have a familiar ring. So let?s take a look at what's on offer, starting with nibbles, stuffed pimento olives, juicy caper berries, and on to Catalan salami, min chorizo sausages served warm, or garlic bread with melted Manchego cheese before moving into tapas territory where a galaxy of garlic, al horno gives added zest to prawns, flat mushrooms with or without blue cheese, and mussels.

Skillets of tiger prawns, or spicy Moorish pork compete with chicken and sardine fillets, before moving on to the classic tapas, fritos and con salsa, the traditional that requires good soaking bread to go with it. And if you are having a problem with choices just order an Ortega platter, with their 6 best selling tapas and bread. You don't have to share it unless you really want to.

Paella is a much loved Spanish dish the depends upon some of the best ingredients in the Italian repertoire, and the pescado takes some beating, with mussels, prawns, salmon, cod and hake combining their flavours. All can be made to suit the size of your party though to be fair, cutlery is recommended - but it's up to you. Sirloin steaks and 12oz ribeyes find their way in from South America.

And so, with a small sigh of resignment, to the Dulce, starting with red fruit crumble and vanilla ice cream, a chocolate tart with rick layers milk, dark and white chocolate mousse, on a crispy biscuit base. The aged sherry with marinated raisins and more of the vanilla ice cream I might feel so sad about that I had to pay it some attention, but that might depend upon how much attention I had given to the liquid input, with well-priced and very recognisable cocktails, a short wine list of Spanish and South America origins, and Latin American beers that might even shake my faith in CAMRA.

Click on their Website for more information leading to more enjoyment that will help shake off the North European blues.