La Tasca

I had the misfortune of dining at La Tasca near Selfridges this evening and was utterly disappointed by the food, out of 3 fish starters I struggled to find one that had any resemblance to seafood. The Gambas pil pil made me laugh when it arrived as it was exactly 5 little prawns floating in a watery soup with bits of garlic, while the deep fried was 4 prawns .Both prawn starters tasted as if they had been previously frozen and were still carrying water and the fried squid smelt like shoe laces and was probably as chewy as an old pair. I asked the waiter for some lemon to give it some flavour which he delivered to our table after we'd finished. Despite this I had high hopes for the seafood paella- This arrived to our table looking the part yet the whole dish was burnt, with black residue from the pan clinging to the prawns. Tried to open the mussels and there shells flaked into smithers all over the soggy rice littered with green peas. Had I not been so famished I would have returned the dish uneaten. I complained to the waiter suggesting he advise the chef it was burnt- instead he said “that is how paella is!” I looked around at that point and saw that everyone was enduring a similar experience. Never ever going there again…!!!