With Easter approaching, Emma and I decided to have a fantastic Long Weekend, and planned out each day and what we would do. There was a ridiculous amount of food involved.
We began our Easter long-weekend on Thursday night after work, when all the teachers went for drinks and tapas at 100 Montaditos. One of my favourite cheap bars, I've probably mentioned it before. There are a chain of them all around the city, and they do 100 tapas and most are under two Euros each. After a good catch up with everyone, Emma and I happened to notice a Gelato shop next door - Amorino...So yes, we accompanied our pints of beer with ice-cream at eleven at night! And was it worth it. The coffee flavor was unbelievably delicious, with coffee beans mixed in. I also got coconut that was lovely and fresh.
Then it was back to our favorite 'Meeting Point' bar for cheap tapas. One of my favourites are croquetas de jamon. Mashed potato mixed with Jamon, coated in breadcrumbs and deep-fried. Mmmmmm. This one here is a racion portion, which simply means its more meal-sized than a tapa which would be half the size.
Followed by more tapas of goats cheese with some kind of cranberry sauce that tasted amazing, and a nice tomato herby paste on the others.
There was also a food market on in one of the squares, we visited out of curiosity. It was a very small square, and there were a lot of people, so we didn't stay long as the crowds were suffocating and the lines ridiculous. We did stare longingly at this dessert truck though.
During Easter itself there were a number of traditional foods that we found displayed in supermarkets and bakeries. We decided we simply had to sample these local specialties (for science! cough) They were excellent.
This strangely shaped bread was a mix between brioche (melt in your mouth) and hot-cross bun (spicy and fruity) then covered in a light layer of chocolate. What's not to like? The 'Easter' egg was extremely enjoyable too, and tasted like a kinder egg. Funnily enough although this one was actually made of chocolate, many of the bakeries simply had real egg shells that were painted bright colors.
This was the other extremely traditional bread we found that seemed to pop up in every bakery in the city. Covered in nuts and sugar with wells of sugary goodness throughout the dough, it was also somewhat fruity and slightly hot-cross bunlike, and extremely good.
On Easter Friday we decided to go to the Italian restaurant we had been eyeing up for months in the Benimaclet neighborhood. The owner was extremely nice, and typically exuberant Italian. Middle-aged and rotund he reminded me of a mob-boss. Although we tried to order in Spanish, he continued to excitedly talk to us in English. Service was impeccable, quick, and the food was great.
We went for the set menu as it was the best value, still expensive (at least for Spain) but worth it. It came to about 18 euros each at the end for three courses and a drink. There was no physical menu, only a waiter telling us each option. Fancy but stressful!
For entree we had ravioli filled with pumpkin and amaretto which sounds weird but didn't even taste like pumpkin, it was delicious and slightly sweet.
Our main was a cut of meat with a delicious cream pepper sauce, reduced balsamic glaze, and mashed potato that I would die for. Genuinely the best mash potato I have ever had, it was smooth, silky, and flavored with some kind of herb that just made it absolutely to die for.
Dessert we branched out and decided to get something different from each other so we could share. I got the caramel panna cotta (insanely good) and Emma had Tiramisu, which while not the best I've ever had, was pretty darn nice.
The meal ended with a complimentary shot of some kind of liqueur which was quite nice, but then after chatting with the owner and him finding out my name, he became quite excited (apparently I share the name of a character from Pulp Fiction - which I have never seen) and wouldn't stop talking about it or bringing us more shots. Unfortunately this time it was limoncello which to be quite honest was disgusting straight. We grimaced it down to be polite, only for him to pour us another one! After enduring three we fled.
Overall, great experience!
Plaza de la Virgen at night.
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