A Taberna do Bispo, restaurant review

As you can imagine from previous posts, once again, dinner was going to be another late night affair. Not wanting to go far, and looking for something cheap & simple, Rúa do Franco was about the best choice.

A Taberna do Bispo was the one elected. It was quite full, but we preferred to sit by the bar anyway, which was no problem. Wanting to keep the cost down, we stayed away from seafood, but the two guys beside us had some and they looked good, the seafood, I mean ;) . They thought so anyway, the guys, I mean ;) .

Chistorra and pimiento de padrón

Chistorra "is a type of fast-cure sausage from Aragon, the Basque Country, and Navarre, Spain. It is made of minced pork, or a mixture of minced pork and beef, is encased in either lamb tripe or plastic, and has a fat content that varies between 70 and 80%. The sausage is flavoured with garlic, salt, and paprika, which gives it a bright red colour." (Wikipedia) Something to up the cholesterol a little, haha. Pimiento de padrón is a species of baby green peppers which are usually not spicy, but you may get the odd one at any time! ;) 

Crocanti de brie

This is their star tapa. It's Brie cheese, lightly fried with egg & almond bits (I think) and served with a little jam (could be raspberry). I'm not a fan of strong cheeses, and generally avoid Brie, but this was lovely.

As you can see from the photos of the bar, there were still a lot of choices even though it was almost midnight. We had a total of 8 tapas and two soft drinks and the bill came up to €16.80!

The warm tapas are served warmed up, and service was very good. The guy behind the bar was efficient, relaxed and friendly.

Name: A Taberna do Bispo
Type: tapas bar, restaurant, budget
Website: http://www.atabernadobispo.com/
Location; Calle del Franco 37 B, 15702 Santiago de Compostela
Verdict: Highly recommended!

O Curro da Parra restaurant, a review

Sunday night. Time, about 10 pm.

I was somewhat disappointed with the type of restaurants we had been eating in the previous few days because I'd been "on strike" and did not partake in the decision process. This time, I didn't give any option, I just led the way.

Google Maps on. Destination: Rúa Travesa 20. Start navigation.

We were staying near the Cathedral (if you've been following my posts, you'd know), and it was a short walk, yet away from the populated centre. As with a lot of restaurants here, O Curro de Parra has a small terrace and a small entrance. The kitchen is on your left as you enter where you'd expect a bar. At the back, there are tables with high stools - a bar-like seating arrangement - and leading to this area, running along one side of the wall, is a narrow counter. The place looks bigger than it is because at the back, there's another entrance, a glass door. This makes it appear as though it led to another section of the restaurant. I only realised that it was an entrance when I saw new customers walking in.

According to Google Translate (mmm, they should really be paying me for the amount of times I mention them! Ironically, I've even been banned from their ads programme, and their ban is lifelong, haha), O Curro da Parra means The Vineyard. A good name for a wine bar-restaurant, but it's actually named after the street on which the other entrance resides.

Upstairs is a more formal affair, with the standard seating arrangement. It isn't very big, perhaps 16 covers or so.

I was impressed by the decoration. Now, I thought to myself, this looks more like it, thinking of all the other restaurants we'd recently been to. When a place is tastefully decorated, it has an identity; and when it has an identity, you'll have some hope that its food has some sort of identity, too.

Any reservation? No? Sorry, we're fully booked.

That aroused my interest even more. I wasn't going to give up that easily. Eyeing the counter down the side, I asked "How about standing? " "Ah, yes, that's possible." After convincing the others, we stayed. They had a large group booked and that was why they couldn't take any more people.

Our order for drinks were taken, but then, we were almost ignored after that. I myself noticed the menu and took it. We hadn't been offered one. A group of 3 ladies walked in and did the same as us. They were willing to stand. Being thoughtful, I passed them our menu. And what happened?

The waiter - probably the head waiter - took the food orders from them first! And, believe me, it took me a full 5 minutes or more later, and that, after frantic hand waving, for him to approach us. And, not an apology. So, for that, they lose some service points. Being busy is not an excuse for "discrimination". 

But, to our surprise, a few minutes after our food orders had been taken, a table became available and we were ushered upstairs. Fortunately for the previously-mentioned waiter, he hadn't given the table to the 3 ladies! Or fireworks would have flown. Upstairs was a more sedate affair. Almost all foreigners. Speaking in hushed tones, smartly-dressed, and at least the service here (from a waitress) couldn't be faulted.

The food. Fabulous. I appreciate home-cooking style, but, as a paying customer, I always expect a little more, and this little more is felt in the effort, in the creativity, in the ingredients... In this aspect, O Curro da Parra didn't disappoint. Everything we had were wonderful: the salad, the prawns, croquettes, skewered pork... Perhaps the pork was a little too dry.

So, yes, definitely recommended. But make a reservation, especially at weekends and in the summer. 

Sorpresa de langostino (Prawn surprise), €8.50

Croquetas, €8

Ensalada de temporada, (Seasonal salad), €6.50

Brochetas de cerdo (Skewered pork), €6.50

Name: O Curro da Parra
Type: tapas, gourmet, fusion
Price: not cheap; budget for €15-20 per person
Location: Rúa Travesa, 20; 15704 Santiago de Compostela
Tel: 981 55 60 59
Website: https://www.facebook.com/ocurrodaparra
Verdict: Highly recommended! Reservation is advisable.

Restaurante Abella Romero Noya Jesus, a review

I was really knackered. All that driving the day before, the walking in the rain the wrong way, the subsequent late dinner, etc... I didn't have my shower until around 3am! My exhaustion and the comfortable apartment was a combination powerful enough to keep me asleep until 11 in the morning.

I went out, looking for something to have for breakfast in the apartment, but couldn't find any supermarkets that were open. I think I wasn't fully recovered from my exhaustion, and it was cumulative exhaustion. I'm not used to driving so much...

So, skipping breakfast altogether, we had lunch at Abella Romero Noya Jesús. After the previous night's dinner, we were looking for somewhere significantly cheaper, and this looked economical enough.

For the cost, it was a fairly decent joint. It was the sort of restaurant where you would walk out of smelling like fried fish & chips though...

No photos again. The mussels were large and juicy, the sort Galicia is famous for, the seafood soup wasn't salty as it tends to be in most places in Spain, and the pulpo was good... Service was fine, but nothing to shout about. Apparently, it's famous for their steak and chips, which is nicknamed "Crocodile" - not sure if it is because of the portion or the toughness of the meat...

Recommended if you want something basic and economical, but the competition is stiff around here. So, take your pick.

It kept drizzling on and off the whole day, and the sky was overcast and grey, to match my state of mind and body. Today was to be a car-free day and we stayed in town, taking it fairly easy. It being so overcast, it was hard to get enough light to do any architectural or landscape photography, and most of the time, the camera stayed in the bag because of the rain.

Having said that, I did manage to get some shots of people instead of places. With people shots, I can open the aperture all the way and get enough speed to avoid handshake issues, although, it may not be quick enough if the people are moving. With the aperture at maximum, one step and the subject is no longer in focus.

Hold it steady now...

Drizzling in Plaza Quintana

Smiling in the rain

That's it over there

Observing

Galician Wailing Wall?

Restaurante Petiscos do Cardeal, a review

As you can imagine, it was very late when we set out of the apartment to look for something to eat. Just as well we were in the centre, so lots of places were still open and like I'd mentioned in previous posts, it was Saturday. The town was buzzing with people. There was a very pleasant atmosphere.

We walked through the pedestrianised streets, turning down an alleyway instinctively, and found ourselves on Rúa do Franco. There were lots of restaurants here; no doubt, it was very popular with tourists. Still, it was too late to risk going too far away, taking into the account the time.

The restaurant we found ourselves in was Petiscos do Cardeal. Yes, that's right and no, it's got nothing to do with cars. It was full; they had a small terrace, which was also full. We waited for a bit and were soon shown a table. The time was past 11pm and they were still serving.

You know, I searched and searched, through my hard disks, through my mobile phone, and I still can't believe I didn't take any photos here! Perhaps I was just too knackered.

I remember we decided to have tapas: "gambas al ajillo", "tortilla cachonda", "pulpo a la gallega", grilled baby squid, mushrooms, and the family weren't full so they ordered some more.

The service was good, the staff were friendly and efficient. But, to be honest, I can't remember if I liked the food much or not. I don't think it was bad, but probably not great either or I would have remembered. What I do remember, however, is that the bill came up to €40+, so it wasn't cheap.

Bold black cat

No, it's got nothing to do with the restaurant, but it belongs to our apartment host. It would have jumped into our apartment if we'd let it, but no way! Windows were closed whenever we left.

Look out for the next few restaurant reviews!

First lunch

Continued from First Tour.

We'd just come down from Mount Artxanda, and we were hungry. Also it was getting late for lunch and we were afraid we won't be able to find somewhere decent and which was still serving. We walked a bit from the station, looked at a few menus, until we came to Restaurante Zubizuri (Paseo Campo Volantin, 23), the first we liked the look of; there were interesting-looking pintxos on the bar, and the prices were not too off-putting. There was also quite a crowd, so we figured that it must be good, or at least decent.

We went in, asked if we could sit down, were told yes, so we did. No-one came to the table although there were waitresses busying about. Minutes passed by until we thought it must be a self-service restaurant (in spite of seeing waitresses carrying food). Wrong. They offered menu of the day, tapas and pintxos. We weren't even offered the menu to look at, and they had one.

Tired of waiting, and not wanting to leave, we ordered drinks from the bar, took them ourselves to the table, ordered some tapas and pintxos and also brought them ourselves to our table. The cod was good; the rest, sort of average. Price was costly €3.50 per pintxo - I left the restaurant still feeling hungry. Service was non-existent. For us anyway. We left more because of the service than the price. In Plaza Nueva, you can get good service, good food - 12 pintxos cost, on average, €20.

So, pay heed to me. They don't deserve your money. They don't want to work, don't give them any. It isn't a cheap place, so you should expect some form of service at least. Go elsewhere. It could be that the staff were not happy, but that isn't the problem of paying customers.

We left as soon as we could.

Woes were forgotten when we stepped onto the walkway of Zubizuri bridge.

We'd, of course, seen the bridge before, but this was the first time we actually crossed it. It must be the first bridge I've crossed whose walkway is foamed; I felt like taking my shoes off and walking barefoot. Just adds to the sexiness of the bridge - the softness of the walkway, I mean, not my walking barefoot!

Thus, a sexy bridge needs a sexy photo...

The sexiest bridge in the world?