A SPOT of tapas is enough to bring sunshine to even the most rainy of days in the North West.

And so it was that on yet another rainy Cumbrian summer’s day, a friend and I decided to head to the excellent 1725, in Market Street, Lancaster.

There are some great tapas spots in north Lancashire and south Cumbria, and 1725 is right up there with the best of them.

It’s a really lovely venue, spacious and comfortable, and always with lots of natural light shining through.

One look at the menu outside and you can’t help but be drawn in. And before you know it, you are ordering dishes left, right and centre.

I enjoyed a delicious latte (£2.40) while perusing the menu, while my mate had a glass of diet cola (£1.70). We were hungry to say the least and so we decided that a mix of six tempting dishes from the lunchtime value menu would be just about the ideal solution.

If you choose six dishes, it works out that you make a saving – with two of the dishes costing better than half price – so in total we spent just £19.98 between us. This works out as excellent value, because, as I mentioned, we were ravenous and having finished our meals, did not want anything to eat for the rest of the day.

So what did you eat, I hear you ask. Well, we chose Ensalada Tomate, Pollo Paprika (chicken with paprika), Albondigas (meatballs), Patatas Bravas (potatoes in spicy tomato sauce) Gambas Al Pil Pil (shrimp with garlic and chili), and Aceitunas Y Pita (mixed olives with lime, chilli & sundried tomatoes with pitta bread).

And I am happy to report that it was every bit as tasty and amazing as it sounds.