**UPDATED DECEMBER 30TH 2019: OLÉ TAPAS IS TEMPORARILY CLOSED FOR RELOCATION (DOWN THE STREET) – WILL RE-OPEN IN MARCH 2020**

Restaurant: Olé Tapas
Restaurant type: tapas, Spanish, bar, boutique
Prices: $3-$33 tapas, $20-$27 paellas, wine bottles starting at $30
Date: Saturday March 23rd 2019
Table of: 2
My favorite dishes: Patatas Bravas + Jamon de Bellota + Paella de Mariscos

Last month, I had the pleasure of trying Olé Tapas as their guest. I decided to take my mom, because it was her birthday and because the restaurant is in the West Island. Olé Tapas is in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, just on the main road by the water. The location itself is very multi-purpose and multi-functional, as they: serve a large variety of authentic Spanish tapas and wines, they have a boutique with imported Spanish products and they host different types of events like wine tastings, private events and more. Olé Tapas is the perfect place to share a few tapas and drinks with friends at a 5@7, or to spend a fun-filled evening loading up on Spanish delights. They also have a terrasse in the summer, to enjoy the beautiful weather outside.

We were graciously greeted by Paco, the owner and chef, and his daughter who was running the front of the house. Since Paco is the expert, we let him choose a selection of tapas for us (of course, I made a couple requests as well) :

• Patatas Bravas: fried potatoes served with brava sauce and garlic aioli
• Jamon de Bellota: Ibérico ham “Pata Negra” aged for more than 38 months (40 gr)
• Pulpo a la Gallega: traditional Galician octopus, with potatoes, paprika and olive oil
• Pan come Tomate: Grilled rustic bread rubbed with fresh tomatoes and olive oil
• Paella de Mariscos: seafood paella
• Gitano: light cake with vanilla and chantilly cream, topped with caramelized hazelnuts
• Sangria de la casa

We had an excellent lunch at Olé Tapas, full of wonderful and delicious traditional Spanish tapas. My favorites were definitely the Patatas Bravas, the Jamon de Bellota and the seafood paella. The Patatas Bravas were a perfect way to start this lunch/feast, as they were nicely fried and covered in brava sauce and garlic aioli. They accompanied our house sangria very nicely. I also really liked the Jamon de Bellota, which I’d had before at Ibéricos (tapas restaurant in the Plateau for those looking for something a bit more central). This is one of the best charcuteries I’ve ever had; as its so fatty (in a good way), tender and flavourful. I always say its like prosciutto, but 100 times better. I’ve been to Spain before and had one bad paella experience, which has negatively affected my opinion of this very famous dish. However, Olé Tapas has managed to change my negative opinion of paella, as theirs was delicious and on point. The rice was full of flavours and the seafood was delicious and not dry. If you’ve never had paella or if you’re looking for a good spot in the city to have one, give Olé Tapas a try!

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*This restaurant post does not contain my usual restaurant review criteria of restaurants, as this is a sponsored post where I was invited to the restaurant as a guest.

*All photos and comments are mine