Como Taperia - Vancouver, British Columbia

Despite being located really near my place, I somehow haven’t visited Como Taperia until recently. Suffice to say I was very impressed and looking forward to coming back soon (might try their happy hour deal - which looks amazing!) Fried Eggplant ($15) 9/10 Best dish of the night. Sweet-salty from the honey, ... with crunchy outside and super soft eggplant inside. Croquetas ($15) 8.5/10 Another good one. Really creamy and cheesy, so the smaller size works in terms of not making it too overwhelming. Patatas Bravas ($16) 8/10 As my friend would say, judge a Spanish tapas place by its patatas bravas. This was also another winner, easily the best I’ve had in Vancouver. One feedback was that there’s too much dressing for me. Pan Con Tomate ($8) extra anchovies ($7) 7/10 Crispy toast with tomato and anchovies on top. Hard to mess up but a bit lacklustre compared to the first 3. Octopus in spicy oil ($36) and yellowfin tuna belly ($28) 5/10 Both of these were tinned seafood menu, served with chips on the side. Just okay compared to everything else. I would probably skip their tin menu next time. Dark Chocolate Semifrio ($12) 7.5/10 We were expecting a cake but got something almost like ice pop texture? That said, the caramel sauce was addicting and I enjoyed the incorporation of marshmallow in the dish. Basque Cheesecake ($15) 7.5/10 Not sure of I like the lemon mint pistachio sauce(?). It’s super watery and I didn’t think the flavour combination works. The actual basque cheesecake was lovely though. Read more

¿CóMO? Taperia A friend and I share a love for Barcelona and Spanish tapas.  Since we were in the vibrant Mount Pleasant neighbourhood last month, we decided to check out  ¿CóMO? Taperia without a reservation.  Luckily, we got the last 2 seats at the bar. As self professed connoisseurs of tapas, we ... ordered our favourite dishes: Anchovy stuffed olives, berenjenas con miel (fried eggplant, spiced honey and rosemary), garlic shrimps, shishitos, grilled octopus with squid ink risotto, and patatas bravas (fried potatoes in smokey sriracha sauce). The food plates came temperature hot and almost everything was delicious.  The only plate that did not meet our standard was the fried potatoes ... each bite was not as comforting ... maybe it was too crispy, and not very soft nor flavourful inside? In our opinion, this recipe needed to be tweaked a bit? We would give ¿CóMO? Taperia a 5-star food tasting review if there was no pause on the patatas bravas. It helped to have two good looking bartenders serving us that evening though.  :) Reservations recommended. Read more

Delicious tapas restaurant with authentic Spanish conservas. Lots of tasty treats to sample here, so come hungry and share with friends. The tap sherry and vermut are also delicious, so indulge if you're able to. Generally quite busy, so reserve ahead of time if you can!

I had high expectations for Como Taperia, and had been wanting to visit for a while. The summer paella collaboration with Paella Guys seemed like a perfect first encounter. Unfortunately, my experience left me highly disappointed. I'll start with the overall experience, and then discuss the food. We arrived about 10 ... minutes early to our 12:00pm reservation. We were seated at the patio promptly, and immediately told that the paella would take about an hour to cook. It was quite windy, and we were cold, so we wanted to order some appetizers to warm us up. We added their Pulpo Con Papas (grilled octopus with potatoes), Patatas Bravas (Spanish fried potatoes), and Fried Iberico Chorizo. Considering that the Paella Collaboration is a special event, and guests buy tickets in advance, you know exactly how many you are cooking for in advance. An easy improvement would be starting the paella cooking ~30 minutes in advance so that guest are NOT waiting 1 hour waiting for the main dish. You can stagger the paella cooking for the rest of the day in the case of multiple rounds. To our surprise, we were told that they did not offer hot water, or any sort of hot drinks (like coffee or tea), and the patio was not heated. While I understand that the weather is outside of the restaurant's control, having heating would improve the patio experience significantly. Now, the worst part is that our first dish didn't arrive until 12:38pm. It was the Iberico Chorizo. We waited nearly 40 minutes for a tiny plate of what I imagine was 1 sausage. How can cooking a chorizo sausage take that long? To add salt to injury, the first bite we get after waiting for so long was very average. It's on the heavily seasoned side, but understandable considering that it's chorizo. The octopus came about 10-15 minutes later, and was unfortunately a huge disappointment. It was over-seasoned for us. The balance that the potatoes offered almost saved the dish, but for $42, and the small portion, there's just not a lot of value to be had. The paella was definitely the highlight of the meal. The seasoning was on point, and the rice cooked to perfection. I've had paellas that were on the soggy side, even in Spain, and this was not that. However, the mussel was undercooked. Mines was still clamped shut, and we were given a few bonus mussels to compensate. By the way, the fact that the patio wasn't heated also meant that all of the food got cold within 2-3 minutes of serving. Creating an environment that keeps food at the right temperature for enjoyment is absolutely something I'd expect from a restaurant at this price point. Maybe we ordered wrong, and we went with dishes that just weren't the restaurant's best. A lot of the neighbouring parties ordered their friend eggplant, and seemed to have a great experience. Maybe we should come back to give Como Taperia another chance. Overall, the fact that the highlight of the meal was not even cooked by the Como Taperia kitchen doesn't give me high confidence that a return visit would lead to a significantly different experience. At $80-90 per person, there is just so much more options in the Vancouver food scene that do justice. Whether it be Zarak just down the street, or any of the other fantastic spots along Main street, I likely won't be back here anytime soon. Read more

Really enjoyed the happy hour - I'm looking forward to coming back to enjoy it again! The best thing we tried was the small slices of chorizo tortilla that came free with the drinks during happy hour. I'd have liked to try a larger, hot version of it! ... The pan con tomate tasted slightly sweeter than the ones I've had in Spain (not sure it was traditional, it tasted as if it were closer to a tomato sauce, than grated tomato with extra virgin olive oil and salt), but it still tasted good. Hoping the Estrella Damm comes back on tap soon once their supply issues are sorted out. The service from the bartender was excellent - they're a big part of the reason I'd be keen to come back again! Read more