La Tasca is the most underrated Saturday night out in Manchester

“La Tasca? That’s a restaurant”, I hear you say. Indeed it is, but at the weekends the dingy basement transforms into a nightclub, called “Bar de Sangria”.

A Spanish-themed, chain English restaurant that reinvents itself as a club after 11pm. It seems like the sort of place your mother would go to for a work Christmas party. That’s exactly why you’ve not gone there. And it’s also why you should.

Its Latin Vibe
Encouragingly for a Spanish-themed club, it has a lot of Spanish people in it. So many in fact, that as you go down the staircase it’s like each step is taking you further away from the cold, wet streets of Manchester into the sizzling plazas of Madrid. It’s also totally normal to order a jug of Sangria from the bar at 2am. You can’t do that at Koh Tao can you?

Guaranteed at La Tasca

The Cheese

La Tasca prides itself on playing “the best salsa and Latin dance music” that there is. It doesn’t lie.  Anyone vaguely familiar with mainstream Latin pop music will know it’s the cheesiest thing since Tangy Cheese Doritos.

There’s no other club that springs to mind when bopping around to songs like ‘Danza Kuduro’ (see below) is not only acceptable, but will win you friends. Admittedly there may be a bit too much Pitbull for anyone to handle, but its a minor setback in the grand scheme of things.

Locals

It’s good practice to avoid city centre haunts like the plague on Saturday nights, unless you want to get hit on/started on/vomited on by the locals we love to hate. La Tasca peculiarly bucks the trend, which is probably something to do with it having the nicest, most intimidating bouncers of anywhere in a ten mile radius, meaning it doesn’t attract just any old riff-raff. In fact, it should be at the forefront of encouraging positive relations between students and locals: whether you’re twenty, forty or older no one cares. Everyone just wants to fiesta and have a good time.

Disclaimer: We take no responsibility for the locals you encounter on your way to and from La Tasca.

Location Location Location

It’s in Deansgate, which means that if like most students you live around Fallowfield, it’s going to take some effort to get there. It may seem a bit long, but trust me it’s worth the effort. And it can only be a good thing to escape the dingy streets of Fallowfield every once in a while. Too many consecutive nights in Koh Tao can get downright depressing.

Even if sangria and Spanish pop isn’t your thing, you won’t be as tempted to head home after an hour as you would at Koh Tao cause it’s just too much effort. You’re more likely to power through it with a jug of Sangria and finish the night doing the Macarena on tables with Debbie, a human resources manager at Co-op. Olé!

What you’ll remember

Pre-Drinks

Since it’s also a restaurant, you’ve got the option of starting your night early and grabbing some Tapas and a bottle of vino upstairs beforehand. You will never have to queue for longer than five minutes and it’s a nice classy alternative to your usual pres in your Oak House prison.

Keep on Dancing

As La Tasca is known for its food rather than its dancing, you might think it would end pretty early. You’d be wrong. True to its mock Latin roots, you can boogie away till 4am. It’s not quite Buenos Aries lateness, but it does mean you can turn up there at 2am (because some freak coerced you into queuing outside Factory for an hour), and still be let in.

The After Party

The city centre definitely isn’t short of haunts where you can carry on the party. Canal Street is only a short walk away and normally has at least a few places like Club Aftershock booming out tunes till 6am. If you usually prefer an Abdul’s kebab and bed, there’s a Subway just across the road. If you close your eyes and try really hard to think about fried chicken, the Spicy Italian will taste just as good – I promise.

4am bae

Let’s be honest, even taking all the above into consideration, you still probably never intend to go on a night out in La Tasca. But perhaps that’s a good thing, because the only way to do La Tasca properly is by chance.

You just sort of end up there, confused why the same place you ate paella with your parents is now full of people throwing themselves around to songs that you never thought you would hear on a wet February night in Manchester. But that’s La Tasca, and you just end up embracing it.