I do my fair share of eating out. I frequent some of the most delicious new establishments around town. I am rarely disappointed, and for that I am thankful. It is unfortunate that a gap is arising. Do we have too many tapas bars?

Understandably, tapas bars are great on a number of levels. A little bit of this or that, but not too much, easy from a management point of view and it is about collaborating with friends. Only the most fitspo of us would find tapas filling or adequate for a meal. For those of us who get a bit peckish it means we end up ordering more and more and more. Good heavens, there are times when I have ended up with more than 10 of those tiny and difficult to place bowl-plate things.

Wouldn’t it be nice to go out for a casual dinner and be able to waltz into a bar-come-restaurant in Northbridge and have a meal? A real meal which we didn’t have to share with another.

Ahhh, it seems like a distant dream.

The worst part of the tapas bars is the rather confusing pricing system. I was at an establishment in Leederville a few weeks ago. The food was delicious, the vibe was fun, but my counterpart and I sat there trying to decipher what the hell we were paying for. We were more than willing to pay for quality food. It was good, but not that good. For two twenty-something men, we needed slightly more than a couple of bowls that were a quarter-full. That is what is most frustrating about tapas foods: they’re nice and adequate but the price doesn’t make too much sense. A bit of this, a bit of that and quickly between a couple of people you have hit near-on $100 and you are still hungry.

Look, I get it – if I wanted something more substantial I should go and get it. Do tell, how many times can I eat burgers? The breadth and depth of a real restaurant scene just isn’t there.

The thing I loathe most about tapas is that we seem to have forgotten that when the Spaniards came up with it, it was meant as a snack or appetizer. NOT A WHOLE DINNER. Seems like every new bar and wannabe-restaurant in town is a tapas bar. Slowly, but surely, we are losing broad and engaging options.

Just as another Grill’d opens, so does another underwhelming tapas bar.