HACIENDAS: hits the high notes with tapas

Haciendas, Rochdale

TAPAS really is a fantastic way to have fun while dining.

There is something really satis-fying about dipping your bread into a bowl that has the last juices of a ribs dish and the like.

It 's eating with your hands and getting messy - it 's great - and at the Haciendas, formerly the Craven Heifer on Broad Lane, Balderstone, they are serving up a treat.

The four of us -we 've always done tapas as group dining as you can get to taste so much more with a variety of dishes -ordered a total of 15 dishes, punctuated with a few drinks and the bill still only came to pennies over £90.

How good is that?

And that 's not to say that the portions are kept down along with the cost.

Each dish was more than ample,hot and soon started the "oh, have you tried that one yet" noises.

We kicked offwith a dou-ble portion of freshly baked bread with a clove of garlic and parmesan shav-ings (£2.85 each) and dips - houmous, tzatziki and aloli (£1.50) though we were mindful to save some for the aforementioned mopping up exercises later.

Also with the "first wave " came two tantalisingly refreshing feta salads.

The mains we chose included two paellas -one with pork fillet, chicken and marinated lamb (£4.95)and the other with spanish sausage - a dish we would have preferred to see on its own on the menu but you can 't have everything.

Meatballs with roasted cherry tomatoes and fresh chilli (£4.50) came at the double and the chilli gave them a real kick while chef 's special slow-cooked ribs in barbeque sauce (£4.25) and chicken thighs wrapped in ham and sealed in black pepper (£4.45). Accompanying these were two lots of Patatas bravas, sauted in a spicy tomato sauce (£3.45)a nd two Potato skins filled with bacon,cheddar cheese and red onion (£4.24 ) - a hit.

We rounded offwith Spanish pastries (£3.70) and chocolate cake (£3.70) but they were a dish too far.

A great night and one that could have gone oh so wrong after we had booked a booth seat in the main dining area but a private party had taken this up.

The two single tables (immovable so we couldn 't even sit together and a real design flaw if people are to dine there) in the bar area were rejected out of hand and I 'm glad we stuck to our guns to wait for a table for four in the secondary dining area.

It would have been a real pity to have come away with a negative impression.

Don 't settle for second best.It 's busy, bustling, fun.Try it.

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