Overwhelmed by bad autumn weather, we looked for some hot sun with a bit of energizing shade and came to a small tapas bar called Sol y Sombra on Grzybowska Street 2 in Warsaw. For four years in this place fans of Spain have found atmosphere from Spanish bars where they may spend time with friends, eat iconic snacks and drink excellent Spanish wine.

The origin of tapas is connected with the Andalusians, who when drinking wine covered the glass with a slice of dry sausage to protect it against flies. With time they started to serve thin slices of bread with various fixings. Today tapas is different: ranging from very simple but excellent olives to more complicated dishes. It is prepared with many ingredients: vegetables, meat, seafood and eggs and is served hot or cold in a small bowl, often with cocktail sticks to make eating easier. In the next bar, drinking another glass of wine, manoeuvring with a knife and fork is as uncomfortable as it is dangerous.

Tapas is not only tasty food. First of all it is free time to spend with friends, an atmosphere of carelessness and play, the memory of a tropical day and the promise of a hot night. If you haven't experienced this in Spain, you can find a casual, sunny atmosphere, nice staff and excellent food in Sol y Sombra.

We have eaten tapas in many places in Warsaw. Though it was very tasty it didn't have any Spanish spirit like we got here. We ate excellent spicy mussels in tomato sauce, great prawns in garlic sauce, very tasty Galician-style octopus, fried squids named little tires by my son and my favourite chorizo in spicy pepper and cider sauce. The Spanish house wine perfectly complemented this yummy supper. We were surprised by the size of the dishes, which were a bit bigger than typical Spanish tapas, but the food is so excellent that we didn't want to leave even a hint.

It seemed that we were full, but to our surprise we found room and willingness for Catalan cream with caramel crust. Maybe (as my son thinks) we have a separate place for desserts in our stomachs. The icing on the cake was a small farewell glass of home-made coffee liqueur. I was able to drink two because my husband was driving. The next time we will go on foot.

Reportedly, a good restaurant speaks for itself and the best advertising is the clients who come back to relish the atmosphere and the food. I think that the lack of free tables on Saturday evening, the buzz, laugh and Spanish talk are the best evidence that the owner of Sol y Sombra knows what the tapas philosophy consists in.

For sure we will go back there.
I recommend it!