Campo Viejo Tapas Trail: Dublin 2014

I always feel like summer has well and truly kicked off when it is time for the Campo Viejo Tapas Trail. I have been on every single trail since it started and it is still as much fun as it was the first time around. This year we kicked off in The Market Bar which by the way does a fab early bird of 2 tapas and a glass of wine/beer for €14. It is a big cavernous space where the only noise is the sound of people enjoying catching up over good food. We started the journey with a glass of Campo Viejo Cava and bowls of patatas bravas, piri piri chicken and goats cheese crostini. I could eat those patatas bravas all day!

After a few highly entertaining stories about Dublin from Mags, our tour guide, we traipsed into Zaragoza for our next feed. Crispy confit of duck, a mini pig burger and paella de Marisco were on the menu here. Out of all three, the mini pig burger was my favourite as it was like a little gourmet slider. Everything was washed down with a glass of the Campo Viejo Rioja Reserva, 2008, which was very easy to drink!

Then it was off to Bagots Hutton where they had put on a feast of platters for us. There was cheese, meat, focaccia, olives and lots of other nibbles. By this stage we were getting pretty full but we managed to power though! Did you know that there is an underground tunnel that was used to transport wine that runs from Bagot Hutton all the way to the Market Bar? Well you can see a small part of it in Bagot Hutton and it’s pretty cool. It’s dark and atmospheric and would be a great spot for a romantic rendezvous!

Our last stop was the Drury Buildings for dessert. We got a delicious chocolate and pistachio dessert which we really enjoyed but which could have done with being a tad bigger. Or maybe they could have given us two small samples for dessert. It was lovely but it didn’t really give me an idea of what the restaurant could do and I think they sold themselves a bit short on this.  This is where we parted ways with Mags and the other tapas trail goers but the night continued on for us with a bottle of wine and cocktails in the lovely Drury buildings beer garden.

If you have been lucky enough to get tickets for this year’s sold out tapas trail well then, well done you! If not stick it in the diary for next year. The only criticism I have is that there wasn’t a bit of chorizo in sight!