Food bloggers Meats and Cheats review revamped bar at Chesterfield's Casa Hotel

A hard-working, local man who started at the bottom and clawed his way to the top, you can tell that his vision for Casa has been crafted by ambition and a keen eye for the fine details.

Casa Hotel opened in 2011, shortly before winning awards such as ‘Comfiest Bed Of The Year 2012’, as well as being awarded a 4* rating and ‘Inspector’s Choice’ award with the AA.

Needless to say, this is an establishment that boasts a certain flair and reputation.

The hotel has a fabulous restaurant named the ‘Cocina Restaurant’ which hosts award-winning food in a high-end and sophisticated setting but this article is focusing on the newly revamped ‘Barca Bar’.

An elegant place to have a drink or enjoy a more informal food menu, Barca Bar is draped in foliage, impressively lit and has the perfect contrast of rustic and modern decor.

The menu is packed with an array of flavour packed tapas, perfect for a light bite or sharing, a selection of main courses that celebrate English and Spanish food and a great choice of comfort foods such as charcuterie boards and flatbreads.

We started off with some tapas to share, homing in on some of our favourite foods and some things we’d not normally try.

‘Crispy Calamari, a simple dish that’s easy to get wrong but the batter for this dish is seasoned to perfection, not at all greasy and the aioli is the perfect accompaniment. We tagged teamed this seafood with the ‘Cajun Crispy Prawns’ which were plump and juicy…just the way we like them. The staff at Casa unanimously recommended the ‘Asian Style Belly Pork’, which combined a sweet glaze with the saltiness of the pork to create an amazing flavour.

Finally, we had the ‘Spiced Curried Falafel’ as it was something a little out of our wheelhouse and we were not disappointed. Exotic flavours, a rich tomato and pepper sauce with tiny pieces of poppadom…this was a pleasant surprise. Realistically, this would have been plenty of food…but we’re ‘Meats & Cheats’!

Mick would go on to tackle the ‘Mexican Spiced Chicken Tacos’, 3 fully loaded tacos with crispy and mildly spicy fried chicken, pickled red onion, avocado and spicy salsa. This is some good, old fashioned street food, just proving that Casa might be sophisticated but it isn’t afraid to keep things simple and avoid being pretentious. Each taco packed lots of flavour and TONS of crunch!

Leala opted to take on the ’Teriyaki Glazed Salmon’ which was an ample bowl of Asian goodness, including a thick cut of salmon with perfectly cooked crispy skin, stir-fried oriental vegetables, coriander salad, sesame seeds and a mountain of egg noodles.

The bar hosts an impressive selection of beers and wines as well as a great cocktail menu so we finished up our awesome food and kicked back with a couple of drinks in the beautiful surroundings of the Barca Bar.

A great spot for date night or a catch up with friends, Barca Bar is a wonderful addition to the Casa Hotel experience and we are sure you’ll appreciate the level of detail that has gone

into creating a welcoming environment.

You can head over to our YouTube channel to watch our visit to Barca Bar ...and make sure to SUBSCRIBE for tastier, foodie content.

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