tapas at the arthouse hotel

I love tapas. This is probably because: I love sharing food, I love Spanish food, and I love sharing food. Oh, and I love Spanish food.

My friend Chenea* and I have been dying to try the tapas at The Arthouse Hotel for some time now. We used to have a standing date at tourist trap Jets in the QVB, but when we realised what a rip-off it was, we decided to change our location to Arthouse. We usually have pizzas and wine downstairs, but we loved the idea of tapas in The Dome restaurant (upstairs) on Wednesday and Thursday nights.

So, on a Wednesday night not too long ago, we met for little plates of delicious Spanish food. And wine. Armed with sav blanc, we ordered from the very comprehensive tapas menu. There are three price points: $12, $14 and $16. From the $12 menu, we ordered Turkish bread and dips (baba ghanoush, taramasalata and hommus), spinach and ricotta empadillas, and grilled chorizo and haloumi. From the $14 menu, we ordered the chilli, salt and pepper squid. On the waiters' advice, we only ordered four dishes, which turned out to be plenty.

The trio of dips was good. The bread was brushed with oil and panfried (a nice, if unhealthy, touch) and the dips themselves were yummy. The empadillas weren't quite what I was expecting. I assumed we'd be eating small parcels of shortcrust pastry filled with spinach and ricotta, but we were served large square pillows of puff pastry (filled with spinach and ricotta). Their size (about as big as my palm) made them quite unwiedly, but they were good nonetheless. I'll never turn down salt and pepper squid, especially with chilli. Arthouse's version lived up to my expectations, and I ate way more than my fair share. The standout dish was the grilled chorizo and haloumi. The sausage was spicy, a little fatty (in a good way) and grilled perfectly, and the cheese was milky, unctuous and appropriately squeaky. Yum, yum, yum.

The verdict? We liked. Go there with a girlfriend and don't be afraid to order a $12 cocktail or two.

The Arthouse Hotel
www.thearthousehotel.com.au
275 Pitt St, Sydney
(02) 9284 1200

* Name has been changed...