Tapas Dinner at El Toro in Karlsruhe, Germany

Contemplating on where we are going to eat for the evening in Karlsruhe, my colleague came to my, rather, our rescue and showed me Tripadvisor.

Question: Do you plan where to eat during your travels based on Tripadvisor rankings?

Well firstly, I do not particularly use Tripadvisor for my restaurant meals selection because I have this feeling that the rankings does not really reflect the face of reality, or at least my own expectations for that matter. It does not mean though that I do not check out Tripadvisor. On the contrary, yes I do, but I do not always base my decisions on them. I prefer reading a wide variety of sites, mostly blogs and I also leave a bit of spontaneity and personal discovery. However, it is indeed a reality that many people resort to websites such as Tripadvisor for restaurant recommendations, such as in the case with my colleague.

Now this ‘El Toro’ tapas bar ranked number 3 on Tripadvisor’s Karlsruhe restaurants. My other colleague, who was hankering for something other than German (we had German food the night before) voted for it, whilst I on the other hand cannot really say no to tapas. I love Spanish cuisine you know.

So the three of us drove to the centre of Karlsruhe. We managed to find a parking near the restaurant which was cool, and we did not have to pay either as well. In some cities in Germany, you only pay for parking during the day.

We noticed that some of the tables in the restaurant were reserved. The place also got quickly filled up. Now I take that as a good sign. If you are on the top 10 restaurants in your city on Tripadvisor, I am sure your kitchen will be busy the whole evening every single day.

So I guess it is time to order our tapas. We plan to eat small bites of servings and share them with each other.

Here is our tapas dinner:

 

The shared tapas dinner. This was a tapas set that you can order: dates wrapped in bacon, 2 types of anchovies, artichokes in tomato sauce, fried chorizo, shrimps, green olives and fried cheese sticks. Super delicious!

We ordered an extra serving of dates wrapped in crunchy bacon on a bed of fries.

As well as some 'patatas bravas' with the sauce served separately.

We all adore the sizzling 'gambas al ajillo', so we ordered an extra serving as well. This really arrived sizzling hot on our table.

 

My male colleague was hankering for some chicken so he ordered this. It's like chicken curry with potatoes and paprika, Spanish style.

A shared dessert for the ladies, the molten lava chocolate cupcake.

The verdict? We were quite happy with this meal. I highly recommend this place to those who fancy some tapas in Karlsruhe.

Travel Period: January 2015
Destination: Karlsruhe (Baden-Wurttemberg), Germany

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