We don’t have an abundance of Spanish cuisine in Cambridge but there are some real gems in the area, if you know where to look. One of those gems is Tu Casa on Mill Road which translates to ‘Your Home’ in English.

I can see why they called it Tu Casa, as it is a warm and friendly place. The restaurant is comfortable and familiar with a casual feel that makes you feel right at home.

We were greeted by a rather charming barrel at the entrance that acts as a welcoming table. It asks you to wait until a member of staff can seat you. Upon arrival we were waiting for mere seconds before someone greeted us and showed us to our seats. The restaurant was quite empty to start with but it filled up fast. I recommend booking in advance otherwise risk losing out (especially if you are coming from out of town).

I ordered a beer while I read the menu. They have Estrella Galicia and a slightly stronger reserva edition called ‘1906’.

The menu had a selection of 26 tapas options and a daily special in the form of ox tail. Below, there are 4 paella choices. You need a minimum of two people to order for £12.95pp (or £26).

It is a strong menu with some exciting options, especially in the tapas section. I was disappointed to see no promotion or deal offering x tapas options for £y, as prices were averaging around £10 a dish.  This could mount up fast and didn’t give me much incentive to dive in and explore.

There is also a 12.5% service charge for each table.

Tapas & specials

For our tapas, we ordered the following…

• Patatas bravas – Triple cooked potato with brava chilli tomato sauce and alioli

• Albondigas – Beef and pork meat balls marinated in garlic, parsley and white wine tomato sauce

• Gambas al ajillo – Prawns cooked in olive oil. garlic and cayenne peppers

Being some of the more competitively priced tapas dishes on the menu, these worked out at slightly cheaper than the average price on the menu stated above. 

We started with the triple cooked potato with brava chilli tomato sauce and alioli. I’m a big alioli fan and can eat it by the bucket load, so it was unsurprising that I was a big fan of this. The potato being triple cooked made it incredibly crispy to the point where it was almost entirely skin with little body in the middle. It was nice and crispy but lacked any real softness in the middle.

The beef and pork meat balls were exquisite. Marinating them in garlic, parsley and white wine really brought out an incredible flavour and succulence that really won me over. The meat was of high quality without any sign of gristle. My knife slid through these tender balls of joy without any effort and, for me, was one of the highlights of the evening. I highly recommend these for your visit!

Both my guest and I enjoyed our prawns. I felt for £10 that we could have done with just a couple more but I cannot argue with the execution. They came out noisily in a sizzle bowl of olive oil, garlic and cayenne pepper, with the latter really giving it a fiery punch along with a nice colour. As they were still cooking as they came out, they were quite well done, so keep this in mind if you like your prawns a particular way.

Today’s special: Slow cooked ox tail

The slow cooked ox tail was superb. It came out steaming, which made photos hard, but resulted in some of the softest and most tender ox tail I have seen in a while. The meat was falling off the bone before I had even stuck my fork in it.  The fat really gave it flavour and the rich gravy and pisto made it a perfect addition for the basket of bread to soak up. Delicious!

Paella

We ordered the ‘paella de pollo y verduras’ or paella rice with chicken, red pepper, broccoli, aubergine, green beans and peas. All the paella at Tu Casa is Valencian style, meaning it uses bomba rice which is more rounded.

The paella was absolutely stunning. It was bought out on a hot metal pan with a carnival of colours. Green peas, broccoli, and runner beans, along with red peppers and spiced chicken with light brown paella rice.

Everything tasted so fresh and vibrant, especially the pepper and the broccoli, with the broccoli being used as the crowning centrepiece of the dish. It was a shame that there was only one piece because the broccoli was so crunchy, I could have eaten a bucket load.

There was a generous portion of chicken in the dish. You could tell that the chicken was good quality as it had a good texture and a strong flavour. Clearly they put a lot of effort into their sourcing their chicken and vegetables alike, and it shows.

We thoroughly enjoyed the rice which had a nice gently spiced flavour. We both agreed it was slightly stodgy but not enough to spoil the dish.

Dessert

We ended the evening with a dessert called ‘Tarta De La Abuela’ lovingly called “Grandma’s custard, chocolate, and biscuit cake”.

This was a delicious and generous portion, big enough to share between two. We found it quite a heavy dessert which I really liked but if you are looking for something lighter then look for another option.

Conclusion

Both my guest and I left feeling good about Tu Casa. It is a warm and friendly restaurant and offers exciting dishes not seen anywhere else on Mill Road.

The bill came to just under £100 for two of us. Honestly, I thought it was quite steep. My initial fear of the tapas mounting up was not the only issue but we were also caught out by the price of the paella. At the time of ordering I thought it was £12.50 but it turns out that this was per person, entirely my fault, of course, but essentially doubling the cost. The paella was beautiful but the portion wasn’t huge and certainly not as big as the sizes you find while on holiday in Spain. I felt this dish belonged more in the £16-18 category rather than £26, even considering the record levels of inflation lately.

We didn’t let this tarnish a lovely evening, with both of us looking forward to returning again in the future. In fact, it already has me lookin up other Spanish places in Cambridge.

Watch this space!