Spanish fly

Had farewell drinks for a work colleague recently. That involved having a couple of beers at the pub, telling a few stories and then some of us splitting off for a feed. The feed bit was a bit tricky, as the pub food looked ok, but we all felt like Spanish. Given that we were close to all the Spanish restaurants in the CBD, that made sense.

The first place that was suggested was Encasa, but I have had a few indifferent meals there, so we avoided it. The next choice was Casa Asturiana, where I have had many a good feed. I used to go there for a beer and tapas with the boys before seeing a movie at the George St cinemas. To give you an idea of how long ago that was, I remember visiting Casa Asturiana before seeing "Wayne's World". Yes, it was a long time ago.

The place must have changed hands since, as it is now completely fucked.

Back in the days of Dana Carvey and Mike Myers having long hair, Casa Asturiana had kick-arse food. The mushrooms used to be swimming in garlic. They were almost minced garlic with a few mushrooms thrown in. Now, they are just mushrooms with a tiny, wimpy hint of garlic. The Patatas Bravas (I think) used to be spuds with a nice tasty tomato type sauce with a big blob of garlic aoli on top. For some reason, the aoli is now missing. They are just spuds with sauce. boring. The prawns came out in a simmering bowl, not a sizzling bowl. The baby squid was squishy, rather than crunchy.

The service was also totally fucked. I was waving my arms around like a windmill trying to attract the attention of our waiter, who had the attention span of a 7 year old boy with A.D.D and a bottle of red cordial.

In short - never going back. I had dinner there about a year ago, and it was not the best. So that is two strikes in a row. Fuck 'em. Which is a pity, because I used to love sitting at the bar upstairs, getting served straight off the stove by the barmen and watching the monorail trains go past the window. Drinking Coronas. Well crap, those days are gone. Time to find another tapas place.