Situated on the historic Pantiles, the restaurant’s wide picture window allows passers by a glimpse into what could be any number of restaurants airlifted from the Andalucian coastline. With exposed beams, whitewashed walls and terracotta tiled floor the décor is simple, but clean, bright and authentic. If you couple this with the flamenco style music Carlos, your smiley host, and ignore the wind and rain outside, you really could be in any number of Spanish tavernas.
The menu offers a large mix of Mediterranean-inspired dishes, and there is a strong ‘home-cooked’ feel to everything. Coastal dishes feature very strongly, with an entire page of the menu dedicated to seafood. And if you are a shellfish lover, the fact that the chef has chosen to use (big) shell-on king prawns as a garnish will make the meal that bit more special.

The most surprising twist to the evening however was the arrival of my steak. When the kitchen door opens and the waiter is obscured by a cloud of smoke you worry, when the smoke follows him to your table you start to worry even more, and when he deposits a steaming block of granite topped with the a raw fillet steak in front of you, well, that’s just plain confusing. This ‘cook-it-yourself’ approach however, is the most fun I have had in a restaurant for a long time. My companion was enthralled at the sight of me cooking (so much so his scallops went cold, ), and the presentation really does add a sense of theatre to the proceedings. This method is available with the fillet and the rib-eye steak, as well as tuna and fish brochette.

La Casa Vecchia is one of the few remaining restaurants in Tunbridge Wells where you really get the impression that the kitchen and waiting staff genuinely care about the food and service that they are providing, and that is more important than anything else. You certainly get the impression that
you are not just customers here, you are truly seen as guests, and that is exactly what eating
out should be.