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This restaurant was recommended by a Valencian friend and it is a great place to go for traditional Spanish home cooking and great value.
Inside it's decorated with painted Spanish tiles and you can see the food being prepared in the open kitchen. There's a range of typical tapas, seafood and meat dishes - it was good for children as they had some plain dishes like steak, grilled chicken or fish and also some more adventurous things including Paella.
It's tucked down a small street behind the ceramics museum in the Palacio Marques de Dos Aguas but is worth hunting out.
You can see my review and photos on my blog; heatheronhertravels.blogspot.com/2008/04/evening-out-with-angel-in-valencia.html
Restaurante La Utielana, Plaza Picadero de Dos Aguas, San Andres 4, Valencia, Tel 963529414 (The road is just behind Palacio Marques de Dos Aguas)
We stayed over at La Casa Azul which is right in front of the central market and we found this lovely new Gastronomik tapas bar/restaurant called Tapa2.
We were amazed at what we got - five courses of pure delight, all served with different drinks to wet the palette.
The owner Eduardo Phillips Blanco (you would be surprised to find out he is English, with that name) and head chef Michael Baering not only provided and served some of the best food we have ever eaten but also entertained us.
Our meal cost us 35 euros each and that was with all drink included, they do a deal with three tapas dishes and a bottle of vino for 15 euros most nights though.
Find them off the beaten track, near La Lonja, not the best setting but the restaurant is cool and funky and it hasn't copped on with the Spanish yet.
Carda6, Barrio del Carmen, Valencia
+34 663 875 903
www.tapa2gastronomik.es (not up and running yet)
Great environment. Excellent Cava selection. Even though there might be a queue the line moves quickly - we were out the door and it took us less than 20 minutes to sit down (can't book). I preferred it to the sister restaurant - the flagship Commerce 24 (too sterile for me).
tapaC24
diputacio, 269
08007 barcelona
A traditional bar that is still going strong and has resisted being turned into one of the omnipresent kebab joints or pseudo-chic spots that have become so popular in recent years. Probably the only place in Granada where you pay extra for the tapas, but well worth it: pickled aubergines, potato omelette or small rolls with an infinite variety of fillings, washed down with a glass of Jumilla wine from their vats.
It's in Joaquin Costa St., just off Plaza Nueva. Take your phrase book.
The thing about Granada is that the people are probably the friendliest on the planet. The tapas is great wherever you go, though it pays to keep a weather eye on where the locals are hanging out (but that is the case wherever you go). As I was travelling on a budget the restaurants in that budget were not the Mae West (I once ordered a lemon sorbet and actually got a lemon milkshake, the fresh lemon juice curdling the milk beautifully) but you can live well on the tapas.
A great cheap breakfast is to have tostada e queso (basically cheese on toast) standing at the bar with your coffee. It is always cheaper to stand at the bar.
The sights are things you will remember all your life. The Alhambra set under skies of impossibly deep Andalucian blue are something that have to be witnessed and make your soul sing when you do. Even flying into the airport with the sun sinking behind the Sierra Nevada was a stunning way to start the holiday.
I don't remember one surly, rude or just plain moody person. And I can meet five on a trip to the shops here. I could enthuse about Granada for hours so I will now stop....
If you are visiting Seville I would strongly recommend the Murillo Hotel situated in the winding back streets of the Santa Cruz quarter. This hotel is a two-star that deserves to be upgraded, has friendly helpful staff, is clean and is five minutes away from Seville's main attractions. To top it off it has an amazing roof terrace with stunning views of the Cathedral and beyond. Opposite there is a traditional friendly tapas bar that serves reasonably priced food.
Very good tapas in the best restaurant atmosphere. We really enjoyed it. The food was delicious. grilled king prawns, steamed mussels, roast lamb, fried and crispy artichokes, patatas bravas... The setting on Rambla Catalubya was beautiful. They have another very lively restaurant in the Born area which was very welcoming and fun. We didn't try the other two but have heard good things about them.
Taller de Tapas
Rambla Catalunya, 49 (Eixample)
93 487 4842
C/ Comtal, 28 8 (Via Laietana)
93 481 6233
c/ Argenteria, 51 (Born)
93 268 8559
Plaça Sant Josep Oriol, 9 (Plaza del Pi)
93 301 8020
www.tallerdetapas.com
A great little tapas bar - Spanish beer (Cruzcampo) and great freshly cooked authentic Spanish food. A splash of your travels to sunnier parts in a little dish in the middle of Old Town.
The staff are friendly and you are just as welcome for a coffee and a browse of the paper, as for a leisurely meal over a few courses.
Wood Street, Old Town, Swindon SN1 4AN
www.losgatos.co.uk
This is a personal collection of some of my favourite restaurants and tapa bars in Seville.
Fran's is a great little lobster and tapas bar situated in the old part of town (Vranicanijeva 6). It has the best summer terrace in town. Gornji grad (the upper town) offers superb views overlooking Zagreb.
Vranicanijeva 6, 003851 4851287
Casa Luque sits behind Nerja's church in a typically Spanish square just a minute's stroll from Balcón de Europa.
This gourmet Andalusian restaurant, with great contemporary flair, is a second generation family-run business.
The good news is that everything on the menu can be ordered as a tapa. Current dishes include chicken liver pâté with pacharán sauce, ham and wild mushroom croquettes, pork fillet with rioja wine caramel and duck magret with honey and kalamansi sauce. Wonderful wines a- plenty too.
Plaza Cavana 2
29780 Nerja
+ 34 952 521 004
www.casaluque.com
A great restaurant chain for tapas and larger raciones. They don't do just ham, as the name might suggest, but all sorts of food. Calamares, Tortilla and gambas al ajillo are excellent. Prices are very reasonable. You can eat at the counter or in the salon (waiter service is a little dearer). They have restaurants in Puerta del Sol and on the Gran Via. They also do excellent three-course menu for under 10 Euro.
La Puerta Del Sol
or La Gran Via
Jamon is the delicious air-dried ham, pata negra, of the Iberic pig which is fed on acorns before its fate and then the whole hams are air- dried in the special micro climate of the Sierra de Montanchez for up to four years.
Any of the tapas bars in the main plaza of Montanchez village serve platters of jamon, cheese and bread with the strong local wine pitarra, delicious!
Montanchez 40kms from Caceres,Trujillo or Merida
A wonderfully eclectic collection of bullfighting memorabilia covers every centimetre of wall space in this atmospheric bar, sounds naff but strangely isn't. It really has been the bullfighters' bar for many years. Good selection of wines and tasty tapas or more substantial meals upstairs.
Just behing the covered market off the pedestrian shopping street of Merida
Sitting in the heart of Eastbourne, this is a real treat to come across. Wide range of really good traditional tapas dishes and some of the finest Spanish wine I have found in this country. The restaurant is relaxed and friendly, decorated in a rustic fashion with wooden flooring and of course, red and yellow colour scheme. There is a dish for everyone on the comprehensive menu.
Amazing food, cooked in front of you. All ingredients sourced a few feet away as it is in the heart of the Mercat Bocceria. Quite intimidating having to wait behind someone sitting and eating - you have to 'bags' your seat in this very un-English way! But the food was gorgeous.
The prices are high - we had two beers (on tap, San Miguel) a basket of lovely bread, one plate of gambas in burnt garlic and chilli and four tiny but exquisite croquettas and it came to 25 euros...considering our dismal experience at Les Quinze Nits, worth every penny and the five euro tip! Real Catalan through-and-through.
Mercat Bocceria, just off La Rambla
The Hospederia Zacatin in a family-run hostel, immaculately clean and very friendly, bar stays open until all hours and there is a roof terrace on the third floor as well, which does barbecues. There is also a good restaurant so lots of food choices.
La Parqu is the restaurant/bar in the middle of Alacala square. It is a beautiful area where all the family stroll in the evening. La Parque is a lovely friendly bar doing tapas and where you can watch the world go by.
Just off the central square
zacatin@hospederiazacatin.com,
www.hospederiazacatin.com
You simply must eat at the fishmonger’s pavement bar, the Mer Du Nord on the corner of Place Sainte Catherine and Rue Sainte Catherine.
It’s perfect for a delicious tapas style seafood lunch particularly if you are on a tight schedule, it’s also excellent value: small glass of Muscadet €2 (we had several).
A fantastic cafe-bar that has live music on most nights, serves excellent tapas, has comfy sofas and a couple of fires for those cold evenings. Open 5pm until late.
Gran Columbia, Cuenca
La Flamenca is an authentic Spanish restaurant, run by a Spanish family in the traditional way. We had delicious chicken in garlic tapas. Wonderful, succulent pieces of tender chicken poached in a delicious liquor of garlic and white wine.
There was ample fresh bread to mop up the juices. Extra virgin olive oil brought from Spain was also provided to drizzle on the bread as the Mediterraneans do. The service was also attentive and excellent.
La Flamenca,
12a North Parade,
Bath
(01225)463626
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