Cava Spanish Restaurant and Tapas bar, Galway

Cava is simply decorated with wooden tables and chairs and has a high, pitched ceiling, giving it a sense of space. I took a seat next to a whole Serrano ham set in its holder, ready for slicing, and looked down a very long list of tapas. Not only did that give me a big choice, but there was a blackboard of daily specials as well.

This enormous choice wasn't just for the food, there's also a very long wine list of Spanish wines, with some unusual and very good listings. With a car outside, my perusal of the list was largely hypothetical, but I allowed myself one glass of wine and picked the very delicious Manzanilla sherry called La Goya. Manzanillas are made in Sanlucar, which is on the coast a few miles from Jerez, and are like finos -- very dry and, many say, just a hint salty due to the sea air on the vines. It reminded me of a day spent in Sanlucar drinking Manzanilla and eating in a great restaurant called El Faro.

My Manzanilla arrived in its proper 'copa', a small, stemmed glass with 'La Goya' emblazoned on the side. They seem to like this kind of name in Sanlucar -- you can find La Guita and La Gitana on other Irish wine lists.

I chose one of the day's specials, a fried duck egg with Spanish black pudding and wild mushrooms to start, and then, in a moment of wild abandon, I also ordered pa amb tomàquet, a Catalan way of serving bread soaked in tomatoes. After that, I had croquetas de jamón or Serrano ham croquettes, and then a plate of cured meats.

I can tell you now that what I ordered was far too much for one person, even a hungry one. It does illustrate one of the differences between the Spanish and the Irish version of tapas. In Ireland, they tend to be as large as starter portions, whereas in Spain they are really just nibbles.

I really enjoyed the duck egg; it had been fried until just crispy around the edges, the Spanish black pudding went well with it and the mushrooms were girolles. It was good and filling, and then the other dishes arrived: four perfectly crisp croquettes, eight pieces of tomato bread and a long wooden platter of chorizo and salami -- enough to quell the appetite of a trencherman.

It's worth mentioning that Spanish croquettes are not made from potato but from a thick béchamel, then flavoured, shaped, dipped in egg and breadcrumbs, then fried.

With the help of a large bottle of sparkling Spanish mineral water, I made some headway into this array of foodstuffs. But eventually I had to stop, leaving half of the bread and half of the cured meats.

I finished up with a decent espresso and felt well pleased, although another time I may order a little less to eat. Four different tapas, a bottle of mineral water, a glass of sherry and an espresso brought my bill to €39.95.