Bulla: Hitting Bullseye on a Great Time
Various paellas and sangrias at Bulla (Photo credit: Bulla)
July 10 • By Michael Brown
It’s that time of the year again. The four of five months when your Instagram feed fills with photos of seemingly every person you’ve ever known on vacation in Europe. And whether it’s that unemployed crypto bro you knew in high school partying in Ibiza or that girl from college who “found” herself on study abroad in Barcelona, many of these itineraries involve Spain. Yet for those seeking inspiration for future travels or just trying to satisfy some FOMO, Orlando has long lacked a truly great Spanish tapas spot. That is until Bulla opened.
Occupying a prime corner of Orlando Ave and Morse, from the outside Bulla looks like most of the other recent openings on the edge of Winter Park. Part of this boils down to the clean brand image this small South Florida chain has cultivated. Their locations tend to be beautiful - if not slightly Pinterest-y - with a blue tiled exterior and light-filled main dining room. And as you would expect for this kind of Winter Park establishment, the service is always polished and professional.
So in short, Bulla may not have quite the same degree of character as a competitor like Santiago’s. But there is no competition when it comes to the food and drinks. Starting at the bar, many will focus on the sangria. Bulla’s selection of sangrias make great group pitchers and even their most basic sangria roja is an easy crowd pleaser, being elevated by the particular brandy used in this concoction. Venture past this portion of the menu and there is a wide selection of wines, as well as Spanish and traditional cocktails.
Then there’s the food. As a Spanish gastrobar, the focus is tapas. Still, the menu is structured to provide some alternatives, should you have a member of the group that just doesn’t like small plates. Most meals include a portion of the menu dedicated to larger plates. For brunch, many guests opt for the prix-fixe menu with an appetizer course, main dish, and dessert for $30. And in the right kind of atmosphere - i.e. most weekend brunches here - one might be inclined to add the bottomless sangrias or mimosas for $20.
Running through the main menu, there’s plenty of highlights. Starting with the basics, the patatas bravas, Spanish omelet, and Huevos “Bulla” make nice additions to any table. But if there’s any starchy base to always accompany a meal here, it would be the croquetas de jamón - tasty fried fingers with Serrano ham and a hint of sweetness from the fig jelly.
The first dish to really sell me on Bulla was the Pulpo a la Parrilla - a smoky octopus dish set atop polenta. This has actually fallen in repeat visits owing to sometimes overcooked octopus, but when it’s good, it’s great. The dish that never fails, though, is the Datiles Rellenos. Dates stuffed with chorizo and wrapped in bacon for good measure, this plate typifies sweet and savory. Climbing the ladder to their largest plates, the ‘Bulla’ Burger and paella hardly reinvent the genre, but sometimes it’s just nice to split dishes with friends and pretend you’re eating at some touristy restaurant by the beach in Málaga.
And that’s much of what Bulla and Spanish food, in general, is about - good food with good friends and family. Bulla is very much a social dining experience, encouraging large groups to get together to share bites from a lot of plates and forget the worries of the world for a few hours over pitchers of sangria. Spend enough time here, and you too may be scrambling together funds for that summer trip to Spain.
Small plates here are all under $20, while larger dishes, such as the paellas can run to around $40. Reservations are both accepted and recommended for some of the busier weekend rush times.
