Encasa, Haymarket

I can’t remember the last time I was here at Encasa, two or three years perhaps, but I do remember the seafood paella and really enjoyed it. As you know ‘The Mother’ loves tapas, it is a fun way of eating, especially if there are four or five of us.

Encasa is located on the busy street of Pitt Street, where most of the Thai restaurant can be found. The place was extremely busy for a Thursday evening, and if you didn’t have a reservation expect to wait for at least an hour! Lots of different types of tapas dishes on the menu, as well as pasta, pizza and many more.

‘The Mother’ wanted to order one of everything on the tapas menu! Thankfully, we all said no as that is insane and we were right, of course. We struggled to finish what we ordered yet alone one of each!

Started with the sangria – love the chopped fruits, it makes it so much healthier!

We started with the Alcachofas ($8.50), artichoke hearts in olive oli, fresh herbs, lemon and chili. If you don’t like artichoke then this is not the dish for you, I love the tang from the lemon which gave it a nice kick.

The Mejillones a la Marinera ($13), black mussels in fresh tomato sauce with basil and chili was a hit amongst the diners.

Champiñones al Ajillo ($8), sizzling garlic mushrooms were excellent, it was so garlicky that I smelt like garlic the next morning!

We couldn’t help but get two serves of patatas Bravas ($9.50), fried potato with garlic mayonnaise, and spicy tomato salsa. Golden chunks of potatoes, crispy on the outside and generously drizzled in garlic mayonnaise and spice tomato salsa – YUM!

I’ve never had the Tortilla Española ($8.50), omelette with potato and onion and I have to say, they were delish! Cooked to perfection, this could be a new favourite tapas dish!

Unfortunately the Pinchos de Pollo con Mojo ($12), chicken skewers with red capsicum, olive oil, cumin and vinegar were a bit ordinary. Thought the chicken were too dry and tasteless.

The Albondigas ($12), three large tender beef meatballs in almond sauce were seriously delicious. Served in a terra cotta dish, these meatballs were HUGE! Half was more than enough for enough as I was getting quite full by this stage!

Loved the grilled asparagus with crispy jamon and melted Manchego cheese ($13).

We also ordered a plate of the cured chorizo which was served with toasted bread ($10.50).

We did order Chorizo a la sidra – Spanish sausage poached in cider but thankfully they forgot and we managed to cancel it. We were SERIOUSLY stuffed, thank goodness none of us listened to ‘the Mother’ and order one of everything from the menu!

Unfortunately they ran out of churros, but that was probably a blessing in disguise. I don’t think I could have fit anything else – I was so full that I was ready to roll home.

Tapas is definitely a fun way of eating, you get to try a bit of everything. Service was friendly, even though they did forget one of our orders, we didn’t mind. It’s a shame we didn’t get the paella or the pizza, they looked good!

Would definitely come back for the pizza and the paella.

GA’s ratings: 7 / 10

Encasa

423 Pitt Street

Sydney 2000

Ph: +61 9211 4257