Tapas Interruptus - SCENE editors can’t go all the way with El Compañero’s take on tapas, but finds solace with a ruby Tempranillo.

Given the richness and variety of the culinary heritage, it shall remain one of life’s mysteries to me, how difficult it is to find a decent Spanish restaurant north of the Pyrenees. Now here in Luxembourg we have a couple and I haven’t been to all of them, as bitter past experiences in London, Dublin and other non-Iberian territories have chastened me somewhat. So it was with no great expectations that I went out to meet a few friends, almost all Spanish, for a couple of beers, some wine and a few tapas, at Spanish themed bar, El Compañero.

El Compañero found on Rue de l’Eau, is a very nice place. The exterior has an elevated patio for dining/drinking al fresco, so here’s hoping this summer allows for such things. Both bar and restaurant inside are well finished with warm colours, and modern dark woods throughout. The restaurant also gets major brownie points for having soft lighting and lots of S-P-A-C-E between tables. I’m all for communal eating, but I like to have the choice.

I tried an Argentinean beer to kick things off. Try imagining the blandest beer you can imagine, a Corona, with all the flavour and alcohol taken out and you’re getting there.

Ditching that the wine arrives, and what wine; The Albali (Tinto) Gran Reserva, this one from 1999, is a dark luscious creature, and sells way below it’s merited price in shops and bodegas, but not, unfortunately, in El Compañero. Still, on the upside, they stock it.

A word about the service. Some of you might laugh like drainpipes at the idea of service in a Luxembourgish restaurant. But it does exist. El Compañero gets it just about right. Not the ‘sitting on your shoulder’ kind of waiter, nor the type once described by Tom Waits that you couldn’t find ‘even with a Geiger counter’. No, when you need a waiter, and you look around, one will be there and acknowledge you.

So far, so good. On to the food.

Tapas started out as free snacks given out by bartenders originally to tapear or cover your glass of wine, beer or fino collapso. I’ve heard this wonderful tradition began in Andalusia, with something as simple as a slice of chorizo sausage, or Manchego cheese, and has now developed into an array of small dishes of mind-boggling variety from all over Spain. The joy of eating tapas is, of course, that everybody gets a little of something different in between sipping your wine or beer and arguing about football or politics or who wore what in Hello, sorry Hola. So what of El Compañero’s take on this noble pursuit? After an extensive trawl through the tapas menu, I’d say a rule of thumb seems to be that if it’s breaded, battered and deep fried, i.e. Calamares, Buñuelos de Bacalao, Empanadillas, etc, it probably came out of a plastic bag in the freezer, (it certainly tasted that way) and should be avoided. However, if it’s home-made, as are the Brochettes de Pescado, or the Patatas Bravas amongst others, or if you are prone to a spot of Manchego cheese and cured meats, then nosh on in confidence, dear gourmand.

El Compañero works OK if you treat it as somewhere for a casual nibble over a couple of beers and if you order the right things. In short, good service, good wine, nice place, good atmosphere, but based on this visit, if you came to eat tapas, it’s still a case of ‘blind date’ with the menu.

El Compañero Cafe
26-30, rue de l’Eau
Luxembourg Ville
L - 1449
TEL: +352 46 25 38
FAX: +352 46 25 38
info@companero.lu
http://www.companero.lu/

El Compañero9.5102