Tápame

8 Reviews on “Tápame”

• Epicurean Edinburgh

  It is a given that during festival time most restaurants struggle to keep up high standards. Our experience of Tapame showed just how low standards can fall. We arrived to a queue at the door which clearly showed how busy they were, and after a short wait, we were shown to a table at the back. Menus and cutlery were dumped in a pile on the table for us to sort out ourselves and we were informed, whilst ordering, that three of the dishes and two bottles of wine were no longer available. All of this we can forgive, understanding the pressure that the busy festival period creates. However, the food which followed was utterly disappointing. Mixed vegetables arrived swimming in oil and were greasy and bland. Marinaded chicken needed seasoning and once again lacked flavour. Pork was very very dry and difficult to eat, and prawns lacked any taste of chilli or garlic and again came swimming in oil. The only positive was our first portion of chorizo- it was spicy and succulent and such a pleasant surprise that we ordered a second portion of it. Sadly, the second version was completely different- undercooked and lacking the spice and flavour of the first. Service was friendly but food came out sporadically and we had to remind our waitress about missing plates several times.The restaurant was busy and other reviews make it clear that this restaurant can be good. However, they need to learn to respond better to pressure- or learn to turn away tables when the pressure builds.

  November 13, 2015, 2:35 am

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• TBJ

  Very friendly, and quick service. A interesting nice selection of tapas although not overly extensive menu. Great for a sharing meal between friends but easy to become an expensive meal.

  October 17, 2015, 6:03 pm

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• Scrumptious Scran

  Sometimes, it’s nice to be a wee bit cultured. To be fair, living in a city that hosts the world’s biggest arts festival each year, it’s hard not to be. Yet the partaking of great music, comedy and theatre in Edinburgh isn’t merely restricted to four weeks in August. A case in point was the recent visit of the National Theatre’s utterly superb production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – a play unlike any I have seen and which thoroughly deserves the multitude of awards bestowed upon it. However, prior to feeding our minds and souls, JML and I needed to feed our stomachs!Like many places in the UK, Edinburgh’s culinary scene is increasingly multi-cultural. All sorts of restaurants offering various national cuisines seem to appear with increasing regularity and this is, generally, a good thing. Yet every now and again something slightly odd rocks up. A case in point being the tapas bar Tpame located obliquely opposite my place of work. Except that it isn’t exclusively a tapas restaurant. For not only does it serve Spanish mini-morsels but it complements these with a selection of Greek mezze.Now I understand there is a degree of commonality between food hailing from the east and west of the Mediterranean: great fresh ingredients from fragrant, sun-baked land and clear azure seas; the influence of different cultures that historically criss-crossed the region, especially those historical Arabic and Ottoman empires that made familiar formerly exotic produce and spices; and the propensity for dishing up all this really good fare on little plates and dishes. Yet despite sharing these characteristics, the food of Spain and Greece is, nonetheless, different. Could it really be successfully melded together?Entering Tpame things weren’t exactly buzzing, which suggested a Spanish/Greek fusion might be a bit of a hard sell. The place was at best a third full, but to be fair this was 6pm on a Wednesday night. Despite the large glass windows to the front of the venue, further back it has the subdued lighting and ambience of a rural bodega, which is pleasantly atmospheric. The friendly and efficient staff ensured that pints of Estrella and a couple of menus were soon in our hands. And what JML and I saw listed on the latter looked promising, consisting of food exhibiting a fairly even split of Hispanic and a la Greque. Our waiter suggested we should order two to three dishes each and then see if we were still hungry. Three each it was then – being cultural is a hungry business!The first trio of plates arrived in quick time, and were very nicely presented. A chunky slice of tortilla de papas – a take on Spanish potato omelette, new to me – was in itself well put together, but paired with the almond/hazelnut, red pepper, and roasted garlic loveliness that was the accompanying Romesco sauce made this something special. Equally good were the Buuelos de bacalao – salt cod fritters accompanied by alioli to you and me…Read the full review at on the Scrumptious Scran blog. scrumptiousscran.com

  October 9, 2015, 4:27 pm

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• Edinburgh Feasts

  I popped in here for lunch with a colleague. Tapame is relatively new addition to Teviot Place and as the name suggests, serves tapas. We had the option of two menus; the full menu or the lunch deal special, which was two plates for 5, which was incredibly reasonable. We went for this option and decided to get four dishes to share between us. You are limited to picking one from a group of about 5 or 6 dishes and another from another group of 5 or 6. We went for butter beans and patatas bravas from the first group and meatballs and spinach filo pie from the second group.As with tapas, the dishes come out when they are ready but these all came out in close proximity to each other. We started with the patatas bravas and the meatballs. The patatas bravas is light on the sauce here, so if thats not how you like them, you may be a bit disappointed. However, I thought they had good flavour, both in the potatoes and the sauce. They were cut into nice bit sized chunks which made them easy to share. The meatballs were in a set of three, which makes it a little less easy to share between two but were large enough that it was not a problem to cut a meatball in two and still have a decent bit of meat each. The nicest part was the tomato sauce, which had a good, punchy tomato flavour. Moving onto the filo pie, the flavour was great. It doesnt look overly appetising to the eye but dont let that put you off. I have to say that this was probably the best dish of the four. There was a good balance between filling and pastry. The butter beans were soft and in a nice tomato sauce which included small pieces of other vegetables such as celery to give it added depth. This sauce was thinner and lighter than the one with the meatballs.Overall, if you are looking for a quick bite to eat, Tapame will hit the spot. I imagine it will do very well through festival season. edinburghfeasts.com

  September 13, 2015, 7:12 pm

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• Joanne Kilday

  I have been here a few times with my family and the food is really good, and really well priced. This atmosphere is friendly and inviting. I think my favourite dish has to be the spinach & feta pies they are amazing. I love the mix of greek and spanish dishes too. The only issue I have is the staff are very tough with checking ID, something I do understand, but is a little frustrating when you are having a family meal and are 23. Overall though, a great restaurant. fashionpolaroids.co.uk

  August 5, 2015, 3:35 am

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• Sara Izzi

  Perfect place for a lunch break. Great tapas and nice atmosphere. I’m in love with their chorizo, calamares and papas bravas. Cheap and hip! A lovely place!

  May 26, 2015, 3:27 pm

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• Harper Skinner

  A week or so ago, while busy with my Christmas shopping I stopped off for a solo Saturday lunch at an old university haunt, Favorit. Except its no longer Favorit. Its now Tpame, a chic little tapas bar on Teviot Place.I’ve never encountered Spanish cider before visiting Tpame, which boasts a slick, tart sidra Sidra Avalon. Made by fourth generation cider makers Trabanco, so Ive clearly not been looking hard enough, but perfect for lunchtime refreshment.I was on my own, so I didnt get as far through the menu (which is a curious mixture of both Spanish and Greek dishes hence the name, a portmanteau of tapas and meze) as I would have liked, but a few things did catch my eye.First was a dish of chorizo a la sidre, or chorizo cooked in cider. Ive thought to do this for me the pungent flavours of a good chorizo sausage demand an equally powerful red wine, but this works wonderfully well.I also had marinated anchovies and a basket of bread two absolute must-haves for me when it comes to tapas as well as pimientos de Padrn. The latter is delicious well fried in oil and crispy, with scattered rock salt. The peppers are quite mild, but every so often you get one with a surprising heat.Service is fast and the menu is excellent value. Relaxed as well – Tpame is somewhere you can have a long lunch or a quick bite. crumbsandpetals.com

  March 29, 2015, 4:39 pm

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