Eating Spanish Tapas at ‘La Salada’ restaurant in Rawai.

There’s plenty of Italian restaurants and Pizzeria’s and various other European establishments in Phuket, however, you don’t often here of Spanish food. I was perusing Instagram when a restaurant caught my attention in Rawai called La Salada that pitched itself as a tapas bar and judging by the food presented in the photo’s I thought it would be worth dropping by.

The delightful native Spanish owner Elena is good fun to be around and we both sat a talked about her story and journey to the land of smiles. Having started life in tourism following her degree, Elena worked in Bangkok for some time which is where she met her European husband. Following the recent health crisis, the couple moved down to Phuket and started a family. As time moved on Elena realized that she no longer wanted to be involved in tourism and wanted to follow a passion project in the form of La Salada, her truly authentic Spanish tapas restaurant based in the heart of Rawai.

“I’m not a chef by trade, however, this is what I want to do. To be honest it has also saved my marriage having something else for me to focus on and away from tourism” she said. Full of energy a vigor this energetic and soulful lady told the Farangbowl how the name of the restaurant came about and provided an insight into the romantic beginnings of tapas itself. La Salada actually means ‘the salty’ in Spanish and not Salad as I assumed (You know what they say about assumptions). Salad in Spanish is En Salada. According to Elena the girls in Spain might refer to a friend as Salty to make reference to her being sharply dressed or saucy. Well, this is how I was interpreting the translation anyway.

“It is my mission to deliver authentic Spanish food”.
Elena, owner of La Salada restaurant, Rawai, Phuket.

Left to right: James interviewing Elena.

According to legend, tapas meaning literally to tap a container like a bottle of water came from an interesting story. A King who when on conquests was put out by the fact that flies used to constantly find their way into his bottle of wine that he at the time couldn’t cork. His servants would try and rectify this issue by corking his bottle with bread or whatever other food they had available. And so, he would nibble the food used to tap his wine and thus tapas food snacks were born.

Elena ordered the ‘Bowl’ four dishes to include Patatas Bravas (Fierce Potatoes) Cheese and Chorizo paste sausage and Brie with onion on bread, two Crochets, one with ham and one with Chorizo sausage and finally some Spice Garlic Prawns.

The pair of us had lunch together and tasted each of the dishes one by one. The Patatas Bravas was some of the tastiest I’d experienced.

The Cheese and Chorizo paste sausage and Brie and onion breads were incredible and really pulled me into the world of Spain and reminded me of holidays gone by and that is really worth adding. Some restaurants especially in Thailand might claim to make certain cuisine but what you end up with is far from the truth. With the food in La Salada it really is what you’d expect on the Mediterranean, ingredients and all. We finished up with the Crochets and Spicy Garlic Prawns which were also expertly made. The creamy texture of the Crochets could not be put together by someone not in the no and the Spicy Garlie Prawns just added a bit of uniqueness to what is trying to be achieved here.

La Salada is a place I would recommend to anyone who has not been privileged to experience Spanish cuisine and wants to dip their toes in the water and get a taste of the real deal. A great idea for a date with the other half guys!!!