Feb Elite Event: Wine Tasting @ El Toro Bravo

Great spot for an evening of wine — some fine, some less so (go for the Rioja Reserva — it will put a dent in your bank account, but it’s an excellent wine for a special occasion — the Cabernet was less expensive and tasty, too) and some good tapas. Sadly, I am firmly in the anti olive camp — don’t ask — but if you are an olive lover, they are plentiful. If you are a fried pork lover, run, don’t walk, it’s very good. For the non-​meat eaters, yes, those olives, as well as cheeses, fried calamari (with aoli), and other pickled things — onions and cornichons w/​my fave, olives. The downstairs area was a really nice intimate spot for a private party — especially enjoyed the ballet shoes (though the tiny electric fire place on the shelf was a bit lost on me). Fernando, the proprietor, was a great host — painfully honest and knowledgeable in his review of the wines and his hopes to develop the wine list. Thanks to Annie for throwing a great event. I look forward to going back for more wine and to dig deeper into the menu — patatas bravas, tortilla, and Iberico jamon serrano, yes, please.

4.7ish stars for this fun, eye-​opening (then eye-​blindfolding!) night of tasty tapas & versatile vino. I was a bit anxious to attend, since I typically don’t order, drink, or would even claim to like wine, but I’m so glad I was open to the experience, as I can now say that there are some white wines I really like!
The place itself was lovely — candle sconces lining the walls, a faint smell of new wood, & a clean mix of modern & rustic. Fernando was our charmingly entertaining guide through the 10(!) wines we tasted, all of which had their own special character (though Chardonnay would be the wicked villain in that case, yech!). The tapas were deeply flavorful; I could’ve eaten all of the deep fried pork and olives they had, oh man.
I only wish we’d had some sort of notecard with all the wines we tried & our impressions — I felt a little lost by the end of it (though that may have had something to do with «tasting» a little too much). Overall, utterly delightful; another Unilocal triumph!

I came here for a Unilocal event. Great night was had!
What a great Unilocal event. I knew nothing about wine before I came here but thanks to our lovely host (I’m sorry I have forgotten his name) I am now a little bit more enlightened! So much so I guessed the correct wine is the blind tasting event. Free bottle of wine — score!
We got to try a number of white wines and a number of red and were given an insight into each one. Our feed back was welcomed.
The true practice of wine tasting is when you don’t swallow the wine and spit it out — but my mother brought me up better then to spit. In fact I think all our parents must have brought up all up well as it appeared that everyone was swallowing their wine.
We were also treated to some tasty tapas including calamari, pork, cheese, cured ham, pickles and olives — all very yummy indeed.
Lovely intimate interior, nice artwork on the walls and ambient lighting from the candles on the walls.
Lovely friendly staff. I will return again and put into practice my new wine knowledge!

A wonderful relaxing and chilled evening of wine tasting and chatting with fellow Unilocalers. Some delicious tasty nibbles were eaten including squid, olives and pork– yum!
Well done El Toro Bravo and thanks!
A lovely host showed us the ropes with various red and white wines. It’ll take a little more wine tasting to understand the differences but t’s all practice eh? ;)
Overall a lovely time was had.

I really enjoyed last night’s event, the staff were great and the venue was wonderful.
I know very little about wine so I was afraid it would be a case of looking enlightened and speaking random adjectives. But with the waiter’s help it became much more. The tasting and the following discussions were really enjoyable and even educational. The staff here sure do know their stuff.
The food was also excellent with the pork and mustard being by far my favorite.
My only thought would be: More wine, less wines. While getting to taste so many different labels was great, I think I would have enjoyed getting to know them better with larger portions, even if this meant getting less selection. But it’s only a small thing.
I really liked the competition at the end too. (Although I must admit that at first I thought people were winning scarfs?) It was also nice to sit back and relax a little at the end.
Great night, lovely place.

This was a great event– I’ve always been a sucker for tapas of any quality, but the ones we were served were scrumptious and helped fill out the evening a bit. my favorite was definitely the fried pork, with the Jamon coming in a close second.
The wines were also excellent, and our host was very knowledgeable (and brutally honest when it came to the quality of the wine) .The 8 or 10 (I lost count after 7) wines did a great job of showcasing the versatility of wine and gave good practical experience for wine identification. I will no longer resort to the labels of purely red or white. Despite my protests, the blind taste test was also succesful, particularly the part where I scored a free bottle of tempranillo, as well as the knowledge to really enjoy it.
As my first Unilocal event, this was awesome. I met some super interesting people and they seem to have grappled me into getting a Unilocal account so I can get into more of these events! Thanks again Alex for the invite, and I look forward to the next one!

Came here with a Unilocal event:
I’m glad that I started liking wine and olives about 6 months ago because we got a TON of each. Still more a fan of white wine (and not Chardonnay, going along with the owner on ‘no one likes it’) but after this I’m liking red more! My friend won the bottle of red and we shared and drank it all – glad they gave us so much delicious food! I am glad that Annie said to eat before, because otherwise I would have been a mess after having multiple glasses (I somehow ended up with 2) in front of me.
As always, its tons of fun to catch up with Unilocalers and meet new ones!
I want to come back with some Spanish friends and eat more!
The décor is really nice and seems great for an intimate/​quite night out.

El Toro Bravo has now become my new favourite tapas place in Dublin (I start drooling every time I think of the pork).
The selection of wines that we got to taste varied from all sorts and was all explained in great detail. So thank you Unilocal and Annie for making me feel like I am now an expert wine connoisseur.
Was a great event overall. The staff are friendly and the venue is well laid out. The menu is affordable and definitely worth a try.