Tapas and Spanish food in Manchester have been on an upward trajectory since the days when sharing plates with one another was an exotic concept in the UK.
Over recent years Iberica, Lunya, Tast and El Gato Negro in the city centre have taken us beyond patatas bravas and tortilla.
Then there’s Ramsbottom’s Levanter and Baratxuri, where sourcing fine produce from Spain is taken to another level.
But Rafa’s in Didsbury - the new sister restaurant to the city centre’s long-established El Rincon - hasn’t necessarily followed suit.
Here things are most definitely old-school and, in many ways, it’s the tapas that time forgot.
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That’s not necessarily a bad thing when viewed from a financial standpoint. There’s plenty on the three for a tenner menu and specials range from £5 to £8 - though you are told to order at least three or four dishes each.
If you don’t want tapas there’s always paella, but it's not an enormous amount of extra food, as big plates go.
It's a welcoming space with a none-too-subtle Spanish theme - faux wine barrels here and there, and a replica of Picasso's Guernica on one wall. The place is also sprinkled with good-hearted friendliness and family vibes; children are definitely most welcome.
It’s not, however, a destination for the hipster foodie or Iberophile seeking the finest jamon iberica or unusual aged sherries to match cave-aged manchego.
Admittedly demand for sherry may be minimal but compared with the ranges elsewhere it’s a poor show.
Plates, though adequate and traditional, are generally not very memorable.
Patatas bravas, chunky albongidas (both on a three-for-a tenner offer), and bread served with aioli were instantly forgettable.
When you’ve got one of the best bakeries in town several doors up at Bisous Bisous, it seems almost perverse to serve indifferent bread.
Ferrero Roche, or black pudding, was curious at best. A very modest dollop of goats cheese melted on top of the pudding balls did little to add interest, and neither did its frail tomato sauce base.
A bit better though were spinach and chickpeas spiked with earthy cumin and topped with roasted red pepper (£5.90) and berenjenas, or aubergine fritters, dressed with honey (£5.20).
The langoustines (£7.90) were a standout dish, but needed little attention from the kitchen. Split and soaked in olive oil and garlic they’d sizzled happily under the grill before being splayed over gem lettuce leaves.
A mixed salad, also from the three for a tenner offer, was adorned with a couple of white asparagus spears and some sliced raw fennel – a nice seasonal adjustment.
Mussels cooked with white wine and garlic were slathered in a cream sauce begging for some crusty bread which wasn’t forthcoming.
Kids' meals are nicely thought out. Our seven-year-old wolfed down her salmon and pan-roasted potatoes (£5.99) in record time.
It was all washed back (by the grown-ups, at least) with a bottle of Rioja Vega Rosada (£18.90), which was inoffensive but lacking in character once its sulphurous nose had blown off.
After four tapas each we ordered one dessert: the Spanish classic snack/breakfast churros. It was an offering lacking distinction, with soggy interiors to the undercooked churros, and only a lifeless chocolate sauce to dip them in.
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The bill, £79.04, ended up only slightly more than I was happy to pay once we’d added a tip.
We went away happy enough but without the excitement of a new discovery on our lips.
That, I put down to a lack of passion in the sourcing of ingredients and invigorating ideas about what to do with them.
It may be, as my wife told me, a little churlish but I can’t help myself.
Food: 3/5
Service: 4/5
Atmosphere: 3/5
Overall: 3/5
