Kicking off next month, Tasca is described as being ‘a love letter’ to the pair’s travels and will be inspired by the dining cultures of Portugal and Spain with the food focusing on regionality and produce.
A short selection of pintxos and petiscos will be a permanent fixture of Tasca’s menu, including a Cantabrian anchovy and kumquat gilda and a jambon beurre gilda, the latter of which has been inspired by the French sandwich.
Other dishes will include a take on the Portugal hot dog style dish the cachorrinho made with pork and scarlet prawns, Ossau Iratty cheese and piri-piri oil, which is designed to be chopped into pieces and enjoyed with a glass of wine; Cornish shellfish escabeche; cured British tuna with fried eggs and crispy potato; and Dorset clams in a Bilbaína style sauce made with burnt garlic, dried chillies and Tasca’s own cider vinegar.
There will be only two desserts available – a chocolate crema finished with olive oil and sea salt; and the bikini & cream - an interpretation of the Barcelona classic sandwich made with tomme de chevre cheese and Iberico ham pressed between thin brioche and cooked until crisp, then covered in smoked maple syrup and a salted goat’s milk ice cream.
Tasca’s wine list will feature wines produced in Portugal, Spain and also wider Europe with Murdoch creating an offer of which 80% of the list is founded or made by women.
Wines will focus on sustainable farming practices, with natural and low intervention wines making a big appearance, with female winemakers featuring to include Laura Aillaud in the Luberon area in Provence, and Esmerelda Garcia, who took over her remote family vineyard in Santiuste in Spain, which produces small quantities of wine from vines as old as 210 years.
Dallaway’s CV includes two years spent under Sebastian Myers at Sager & Wilde, and his first head chef role at Silver Lining. For the past seven years has worked at residencies across London and abroad, including Brunswick House, Bar Bruno, 107, Half Cut Market and Gallifet Art Centre in Aix-en-Provence.
Murdoch worked in cocktail bars and then restaurants and spent an extended period during the pandemic in southern Spain and Portugal. Her previous roles include working front of house at Sarap Bistro and as general manager of Bistro Freddie.
The couple met while working together at Sarap.
Cav is founded by Chris Tanner, co-founder of Dram London, and Edwin Frost, formerly co-founder of Islington’s Half Cut and Shoreditch’s Oranj.
Tasca at Cav opens on 1 March at 255 Paradise Row.