Cava Bodega – Hip & Tasty Tapas

Our first night in Galway, we decided to stop first at Cava Bodega for drinks and an appetizer before heading to Ard Bia for our 8pm dinner reservation, down by the Spanish Arch. We had only two days in Galway and there were a lot of interesting food options to squeeze in during that short time. To ensure a table at Cava Bodega we arrived promptly at 5:00pm, the appointed hour when its website said that it would open. Upon arrival it looked closed, and indeed the host informed us they didn’t actually open till 6:00pm. Cava Bodega looked great – colorful and hip, with a modern folk-artsy interior. We could tell this place would be popular and vowed to be back exactly at 6:00 to secure a table.

We had an hour to kill, so we took it as an opportunity to explore. We walked in and out the narrow winding streets peering into shops and cafes, emerging down by the River Corrib. We were close to our Ard Bia dinner venue, so we decided to home in on its location in case we had to make a quick run for it from Cava Bodega. The grey clouds were backlit by a bright blue sky, and we followed a faint rainbow to the water’s edge and watched the sun set over the sparkly river.

Retracing our steps to Cava Bodega we arrived back at the cute tapas bistro right at 6pm, where the throngs were already descending. The host sat us at a low counter window seat that gave us a great view of the room as well as advantageous people watching on the street. As the light dimmed outside the ambient candlelight rose in the dining room. Parties of tables were celebrating graduation (this was going on all over town) and the dining room was vibrant and buzzy.

Cava Bodega’s food and wine menus looked amazing and I was almost sorry that we had a dinner reservation elsewhere.

I sipped on a 2010 Rondan Crianza Tempranillo from Rioja while scouring the menu – C. continued her immersion into Irish cider – and we munched on soft and crunchy bread, sopping-up the spicy, fruity olive oil.

The menu was filled with fascinating, clever tapas options. I narrowed it to three – avoiding a full dinner, yet getting a sampling of the menu which contained a wide variety of vegetarian, fish, and meat options.

First to arrive was the crab on piquillo pepper with pickled kohl-rabi. This dish was creative and tasty with fresh sweet crab.

The next dish was a Moorish couscous with rose petals on top of hay-smoked yoghurt.

And to round it out something fried — goat cheese & sweet potato and croquettes.

Cava Bodega is one of those places that I wish was my local neighborhood joint where I could just pop in whenever I wanted and be transported to Spain. I loved this place for its modern creative twist on tapas, its vibrant-candlelit ambience, and interesting and delicious Spanish wine list.