13th to 29th March, 2009
There´s a good variety this year. Slight improvement from last. I haven´t come across any real stinkers like the 2008 meatballs. If I were marking all the tapas out of 5 there would be none below 3. Quite a few of the restaurants competed last year plus some new ones.
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Cafeteria Real, Calle Real
Patatas Rellenas: half baked potato filled with mince, sauce and cheese.
It was tasty, but nothing the average cook couldn´t do at home.
Taberna Galega, Calle La PalmaEmpanada de "croques" : pie with cockle and pisto filling. I liked this one. The cockles gave an extra zap to the pisto filling.
Restaurante La Tartana, Puertas de Murcia
Rollito de Bacalao a las dos Cremas con crujiente de queso: cod in cream sauce with crunchy cheese topping. This looked a little different to the illustration but was good nevertheless. The cod is wrapped in a pancake. The cheese topping is crispy like a brandy snap
Cafetería Restaurante D´Almansa, Calle Jabonerías 53
Albondiguitas de pato y setas con patatitas paja: duck meatballs with oyster mushrooms and potatoes julienne.
Excellent flavour meatballs in tasty gravy.
Bodega Nicolás, Calle Carmen 72
Michirones: typical Murcian large red bean, chorizo and pancetta stew. Very tasty with plenty of meat but not quite as good as the ones I make at home.
El Barril del Tapeo, Calle Aire 20
Brazo de Hojaldre Iberico: braised Iberic ham in puff pastry.
Nice ham and pastry but I wasn´t keen on the crisps alongside.
Cafe Columbus, Calle Mayor
Tortilla Paisana: chunky tortilla with ham and peppers.
We tried this one last year. It´s a very good thick tortilla but I think they should have offered something else for 2009 to ring the changes.
La Mejillonera, Calle Mayor 4
Pulguita de calamar bravo: roll filled with squid with mayonnaise and tabasco.
The roll was more substantial than the average pulguita - nice soft ciabatta-style bread which combined well with the squid and sauces inside. Enough bread to go round so we managed not to drop the sauce down our fronts.
Rincón Gallego, Calle Canon 13
Musola a la Gallega: dogfish chunks in Galician sauce.
This was much better than it looks. The sauce was like a mild curry. We made enquiries. Apparently the spicy flavour comes from lots of cumin in it. We really liked this one. Looks to be a good and cheap bar for Galician tapas. The owners are 5th generation in the art of preparing octopus!
Restaurante Principal, C/Príncipe de Vergara, 2Pastel de Carne con Salsa Española y Puré de Manzana: meat loaf with Spanish sauce (onion, tomato, carrot, wine,etc.) and apple puree. Pleasant combination. Liked the gravy and apple sauce flavours.
La Caserma, Plaza Juan XXIIITernera Cazadora: medallion of hunter´s veal. We liked this one. Rich tasty meat and good sauce. Not so keen on the crisps alongside. Maybe we were just unlucky with the crisps as we heard someone else got fried potatoes.
Tapería de Casa Tomás, Plaza Juan XXIII
Pastelito de puerros con corazon de foie: leek mousse with foie gras centre. The leek mousse was good but the foie centre was almost non-existent - about the size of a mosquito. This restaurant also had the dearest beer on the trail - 2 Euros for the tiniest size of bottled Cruzcampo - a hefty price by Cartagena standards.
El Corte Inglés, Alameda San AntonPimiento del Piquillo relleno de Brandada de Michirón sobre crujiente de Pan Moruno: Pepper stuffed with michirone bean puree on thin toast. A light vegetarian tapas. Very prettily arranged.
La Vagoneta, Alameda San Anton 26
Queso Vagoneta: "Vagoneta" cheese This was surprisingly good - fresh cheese (Burgos) deep fried with a sweet fruity sauce made from peppers. A generous serving of 8 cubes. This is a newish bar but I liked the ambience. The bar was well decorated with mining memorabilia. I fancy going back for a tapas meal.
La Raspa, Alameda San Anton 26
Soldadito Cantonal: This proved to be a cylindrical piece of cod in batter garnished with a strip of batter. It had a similar flavour to British fish and chips. Okay, but nothing special.
Meson Las Viñas, Calle Carlos III
Timbal de calabacin y morcilla con chipirones en juliana: timballe of courgette and black pudding with baby squid with garnish.
Not bad. I liked the baby squid but wasn´t as keen on the rest.
Restaurante Los Habaneros, Calle San Diego 60
Chipirón Habanero: Baby squid Habanero-style.
A fairly substantial serving of squid stuffed with tuna and chopped peppers.
As the chef is my vet´s son and helped while I was having my cat, Mofeta, castrated, I am glad that it is not a meaty tapas on offer in the hotel...
Restaurante Pincho del Castillo, C/Jiménez de la Espada, 53
Canelón de paté de cerdo a la trufa: canneloni filled with pork pate and truffle.
Good quality pate but the tapas was a little too small for our tastes.
Cervecería Patrick´s, Paseo Alfonso XIII
Capricho de pimientos del piquillo: cappricios of peppers.
This was a stuffed pepper with a garnish of a prawn, potato and tomato slices and sauce. Quite pleasant but ordinary. This bar does keep its beer nice and cold though.
Tasco del Tío Andrés, Paseo Alfonso XIII 44
Delicias del Tío Andrés con Cebolla Confitada y Crujiente de Acelgas: Delicacies of Tio Andres with caramelised onion and crunchy chard.
We really liked this one.It´s a serving of perch covered with onions caramelised with orange juice. Made an excellent sauce. We mopped up every last drop with the bread.
Restaurante Marina Club, Paseo Alfonso XII
Taquitos de bacalao confitado con pimientos del piquillo: cod with caramelised peppers. This was okay, but nothing special. The restaurant has nice views so might go back for lunch some time. 
Terrazza del Sol, Paseo Alfonso XII
Caprichos de Foie con Cebolla caramelizada al Oporto: capriccios of foie gras with onion caramelised in port. The fried empanadillas were good but I felt they were let down by the garnish. The pickled carrots were not a good idea.
Restaurante Mare Nostrum, Paseo Alfonso XII
Mar y Tierra: literally sea and earth.
This was a pleasant mixture of bacalao sushi, sliced mullet roe and vegetables. A very subtle tapa.
Restaurante Portonovo, Paseo Alfonso XII
Vieira rellena de Marisco con crema de Nécora: Scallop filled with seafood and crab bisque.
This was sheer heaven. It was served with freshly-baked tiny white rolls. It is going off the menu once this promotion ends so we are going back for many more before then. I could eat it every day at every meal.
La Patacha, Paseo Alfonso XII
Puerto de Cartagena : literally port of Cartagena.
Nice mix of seafood on a seaweed base - squid rings, bacalao, octopus and salmon with creamy sauces. A good mixture of different flavours. Good to see seaweed used as it is incredibly rare in Spanish cuisine.
La Unión
El Vinagrero, Calle Bailén, La Unión
Pastel de zarangollo con morcilla murciana y salsa de pimientos asados: Murcian vegetable cake with black pudding and roast pepper sauce.
Beautifully arranged and quite a subtle tapa. My slice was more substantial than that in the photo. The waiter told me the vegetables are fried as a "revuelto" before they are processed into this mousse - cougettes, carrots, etc. all locally grown. The black pudding centre has a good texture and flavour also. 
Puerto de Mazarrón
El Miramar, Ctra Playa de la Isla 9, Puerto de Mazarrón
Delicias de pescado. Probably a seafood cocktail. Not sure if I will make it as far as Mazarron to taste this one.
Official web site:
http://www.rutadelatapadecartagena.es/
See also
http://www.cartagenamurcia.com/ for the 2008 tapas route and Cartagena restaurants
The winners were first - the wonderful PortoNovo scallops, second La Patacha, third Meson Las Viñas.
