Lola Cocina
19 Falcon St
Crows Nest, Sydney
We love Spain and visit there as often as we can. When we can’t get there we love Spanish food elsewhere. Lola Cocina is a cosy place in Crows Nest that offers a variety of Spanish food - including tapas - in a lovely environment. We were here for the tapas.
We love white anchovies. In fact, we love the brown ones too. The Boquerones were white anchovies on top on thick sliced baguette topped with piquillo pepper slices and drizzled with olive oil. It was such a simple dish but it tasted so good. The salty anchovies were offset nicely with the spicy pepper.
We love the different ingredients that can go in to croquetas. They come in a variety of fillings, shapes and sizes. Here they have several varieties too. We struggled to choose between the manchego or the salted cod, but eventually went with the latter. It was a favourite of ours when overseas too. The croquetas de bacalao ahumado were panko crumbed salted cod croquettes on a variety of sauces. The colour splashed on the plate and the croquettes themselves were very tasty.
We of course had sangria. Most of the tables around us did too. Why not? When in Spain - or a Spanish restaurant - drink like a local! Mind you, Spanish wines are pretty good too. The sangria here comes in a variety of sizes from a glass up to 1.5 litres. It also comes in white, rose and red. We had red as we always do. It was a good drop too and we of course also finished the lot. Unsurprisingly, Mlady ate most of the fruit!
The spicy bite of a good chorizo is lovely. We often order it when eating Spanish food. We did this time too. The chorizo la parilla was grilled Spanish chorizo sautéed with sweet Pedro Xinenez vinegar. The idea of chorizo and Pedro Ximenez together was hugely appealing. The chorizo was thinly sliced and grilled to a light crispiness and the Pedro Ximenez vinegar added a tangy sweetness to it all. We thoroughly enjoyed this. We have 25 year old Pedro Ximenez vinegar at home and will be recreating this dish!
Pastry filled with meat. Great combination isn’t it. These empanadillas de carne had Spanish pork and beef chorizo inside pastry served with salsa picante. We love empanadas and these were certainly tasty.
Our final dish was another go to one - calamari. The calamares al pimento was Spanish smoked paprika salted calamari cooked in Andalusian spices and served with a vat of lemon aioli. The calamari was in a good sized mound and was extremely tender. the aioli was great too and we ate the lot.
There were so many other things on the menu that we struggled with choices. You can come here for tapas or for larger portions as well.
Wec were impressed with Lola Cocina. The service was friendly, the food arrived quickly and it tasted great. The sangria was good too. It’s a lovely Spanish restaurant.