Cava Bodega, Galway

So – it’s finally February! What a looooong month January was… I mean, it always is, but this one felt especially dragged out. For me February signals the start of Spring and I cannot wait for things to brighten up a little. Christmas seems like a distant memory at this stage, but today’s review is from a spot I visited over the Christmas holidays when taking a little mini break in Galway. We stayed for two nights between Christmas and New Year’s and did plenty of eating lovely food and drinking lovely wine 🙂

If you’ve visited Galway many times chances are you’ve already heard of Cava Bodega. It’s owned by husband and wife JP McMahon and Drigín Gaffey (who also own terroir based restaurant Aniar and the more casual cafe and wine bar Tartare, both in Galway) and is a very popular spot!

We popped in for an early dinner, expecting it to be quiet enough.. however within half an hour the place had filled up nicely. We were seated downstairs, which I was disappointed by at first as upstairs looked so lovely, but it turned out be a lovely cosy and intimate atmosphere with the right balance of rustic touches.

What I love about tapas is getting a great variety of tastes all at one meal. We shared everything bar the meatballs and there were plenty of veggie options available so I didn’t feel hard done by in the slightest 🙂

(Menu here)

Portion sizes were very decent, in particular the veggie paella which was one of the daily specials… it may seem pricey for a vegetarian tapas option at €12 but was more like a main course size.

Goat’s cheese & sweet potato croquettes with saffron mayonnaise

Chickpea, spinach, tomato sauce

Mixed veg paella

Meatballs in tomato sauce

Patatas brava

As always, no matter how full I am there seems to be a different stomach for dessert and after a little break between courses we decided we had room for something sweet. I aaaaaalways go for the churros when I’m in a tapas restaurant and believe me when I tell you these were something special as churros go, served with chocolate dipping sauce, chunks of honeycomb, some berries and the most amazing chocolate ice cream…. I’m literally drooling here! I did go for the small portion so showed some restraint 😉

Churros, chocolate sauce, chocolate ice-cream, honeycomb

Santiago tart, pistachio ice-cream, walnut powder

Our total bill was just shy of €95… so not too cheap, however we did get a LOT of food and the bottle of wine was €32 of that. And it has to be said we couldn’t fault the meal, staff, service or atmosphere at all so it was money well spent…. stick it on your list for a visit to Galway!