Kaltur is a new Tapas bar on High Bridge Street, Newcastle. I first got to know about them when I was asked to do the signage work with my day job. Enrique said to me while I was working “We’re going to offer the best authentic tapas in Newcastle”. Now I am a very cynical person and as my mother in law says “No one shouts – rotten fish”! meaning that no one sells them self short with promotion. SO, the question is… is Kaltur the best Tapas in Newcastle?
Kaltur Tapas & Wine Bar
We’d been recommended to book a table for Kaltur. Not only is it a small venue it is a very popular one too. It seems to have already got a good reputation. Surely we wouldn’t need to book on a Wednesday night! How wrong was I? The earliest seating we could get was 8:30pm. Which was fine as it was just Catherine and myself, and we needed to get into the mood for our imminent holiday to Spain.
As we stepped into the door, the place was very busy. We also noticed that all the tables were still taken. We confirmed out booking and were shown to the counter top looking into the kitchen. If they were good at up selling they could have said that they’d saved us the chef’s table. Catherine wasn’t happy, she wanted to sit at a table in a slightly more relaxed position. I on the other hand was fine with it and actually liked being able to see into the kitchen.
We ordered a nice bottle of Rioja and started to relax a little. Although Cat had one eye on the other tables to see if they were paying up yet.
The wine was delicious and very easy to drink. A small bowl of bread sticks and cured meat chunks was put in front of us. I love meats like this, I’m totally in my element. On most days of the week I have a salami sandwich for lunch, so the meat selection was key in my goals here.
Kaltur Menu
Kaltur’s menu is presented on a clipboard. The front page is all the tapas dishes, the next page is the larger plate meals. The pricing was very reasonable and we started to choose a handful of dishes.
First up was the Kaltur ibericos board (small). Wafer thin slices of Iberico ham, salami, Lomo Embuchado and a cured beef. Topped off with bread sticks, nuts and pickle chilli. We also got a bread portion with olive oil to dip. The meat was delicious and the bread tasted really fresh. Although I’m not much of a nut fan, I ate every single one. My only issue with it was that the meat was cut wafer thing. A thicker slice would have been nice to chew on, but we’d have probably only got one slice of each.
The Potatas Bravas arrived next. Last time we went to a chain owned tapas restaurant, the potatoes were small cubes and swimming in a tomato sauce. At Kaltur the focus seemed to be the potatoes. I forked a cube and dipped it in the garlic sauce and the tomatoes. WOW, these were actually amazing. They were crisp, very tasty and a little bit different.
Book your Table at Kaltur Early
Hawk Eye Cat, spotted a table in the corner asked for the card machine and we were on it. As soon as they left we were relocated onto a table. A lot more room to move about and space to relax.
To try something totally different I chose the partridge pate redfruit & Sobrasada Iberica with honey. The only part of that that I understood was pate. I think that the red portion on the lower end is the partridge pate with redfruit. It was sweet and smooth. Initially thinking it was a strawberry accompaniment to the light brown pate on the other end of the plate.
Catherine was keen to try the garlic prawns. I’m not that much of a seafood person, but the one prawn I did eat was very nice. The portion was 4 prawns and they didn’t last long on the table.
Our last tapas dish was Chorizo cooked in cider. Again being a meat fan this was one of teh dishes I was looking forward to. Cat not so much. The cider and chorizo had created a sweet caramel with the sauce. Each piece was juicy and perfectly bite size. However I did manage to get two pieces in in one go.
The end had come to our date night and what better way to finish it off than a nice glass of Cava. Admittedly I’m more of a prosecco fan, but the bubbles were a nice touch. Here’s to two weeks in Spain.
Kaltur Review
This small restaurant has a warm atmosphere and certainly a great reputation. After our initial disappointment of our kitchen view counter, Kaltur quickly redeemed itself. I felt like we received special treatment because of this, but the staff were amazingly attentive to everyone. Everyone that we spoke to was Spanish and this is a massive plus point for the place. A Spanish restaurant ran by Spanish people set’s it one great starting point.
The food was the best tapas I’ve had here in Newcastle without question. The wine list was vast too. Catherine ordered “The Rioja”, which was replied with “which one?”. We hadn’t noticed the additional pages of wine when we skimmed though. I can’t blame people for wanting to take their time and graze here instead of eat and leave. So for that reason, maybe booking a table earlier on would be a benefit. High Bridge seems to be the place where everything is happening. Kaltur certainly as a brilliant addition to that.
For more details visit their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/kalturofficial/
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