Vida by Lorentes in the Lace Market is a family run tapas restaurant that has recently opened in the space formerly occupied by The Last Chance Saloon. I popped along recently to check them out and to try a couple of dishes. Spoiler alert is that the food was really tasty so I suspect that this is going to be one of those posts that evolves as I visit and eat more stuff 🙂

My first impressions was how friendly the place was, one of the owners welcomed me with open arms leading me to my table as if I was a member of the family. On the afternoon that visited, I strolled in to the place and found there was a mix of families dining on large trestle style tables and couples having a quiet moment with a glass of wine in the candlelight.

I was all set to order a whole load of plates but they were very honest and open about how much food I should get with them just encouraging me to order a couple of plates and then get more if I needed to. I was glad that they did as on this first occasion I only asked for two dishes and that was plenty enough, just as they had said it would be.

Huevos Rotos

The first dish that I ordered was the Huevos Rotos or ‘broken eggs’ which was described on the menu as ‘Your choice of Serrano ham or Spanish black pudding on a base of sliced potatoes, topped with two fried free-range eggs‘

I loved the fried eggs with a scattering of smoked paprika (I thought) on top and a little drizzle of olive oil, they were perfectly cooked and had a deep vibrant yolk that oozed out onto the stack of cubed fried potatoes upon which they lay as I cut into them.

I was also loving the chopped up spanish black pudding, although ‘crumbled’ would probably have been more accurate. It made a change from chorizo 🙂

This was really quite an immense dish to behold, it was more than enough for two people and would make a great brunch or breakfast plate all by itself. I could see why they were suggesting that I should not order too much, especially as I was pretty full just eating this.

Albondigas

The second dish that I scoffed was the Albondigas, I love a good meatball and I really liked these ones that they served me here at Vida.

The menu detailed these as being ‘Handmade, marinated beef meatballs served in a tomato sauce with mushrooms and peas‘

The first thing that struck me was again just how big the portion was! I have eaten this dish or similar at other places and just had 2-3 balls of meat, here though I had at least 5 large meaty balls floating around in that sauce. Sometimes they can be too dense, but here they were just perfect, soft, tender, and very delightful to eat.

The sauce that they were swimming in was more of a meaty gravy with peas and mushrooms, it all felt quite rustic and was not too tomatoey (if that makes sense)

Again this was another great dish and even though you are supposed to share your tapas I was glad that I did not have to on this occasion.

I really liked my first visit to Vida by Lorentes, and will most certainly be coming back for more. I can see that this is a post that will grow after new visits when I can add more dishes that I have scoffed.

I read that this place is part of the Vida family with here being another Derby Restaurant of the same name and being run by the same people. When I first read the name I had thought of a hairdressing salon, but then I learned that the name is based on the names of the two owners Vincent Domenech and David Lorentes each lending part of their name to make Vida, so that made more sense 🙂

You can find Vida by Lorentes on the corner of Stoney Street and Plumptre Street in the Lace Market. It is not far from Annies Burger Shack if you are trying to place the location

Check them out on their Facebook Page and on their Instagram Profile

Bits of the Menu