The past weekend we have to go to Tomares (Seville) due a familiar thing. We decided to go in car, a 4 days trip (that I´ll tell a bit more about in another post), doing a stop in Merida to finally know a bit of it and at the same time to visit our friend Marian, one of our Scrabble pals. Sometimes in life the situations happen, with no doubt, in a strange way and you should live them to believe them, this was one of those situations.
We start the travel on Thursday 19th. Morning, from Madrid, of course, I wanted to take breakfast in a VIPS (you know my weakness about breakfasts) :D but first, it wasn´t easy to find the place (and it was one that I knew!) ;P but also all the parking around were busy and actually it wasn´t the case to left the car a lot of blocks away, with the luggage inside, it started to became late… sssssooooo… ok, we should find another place at the road.
The GPS of my Iphone recommended as best way for going to Merida to take first M40 and then R5… yes, in a toll freeway, 80 cents are definitely worth to pay for saving time and for driving almost alone at the freeway! (So, I won’t recommend anybody to take toll roads, otherwise they´ll start to be crowd as the free ones) ;PP
Being at the R5, we decided to take breakfast at the first signal indication… but the cafeteria was still under construction. We tried again at the second signal indication… again under construction! So finally it was at the first place out of the R5, at the exit 36 of Extremadura´s road… there were a couple of cafeterias where to go, but one looked nicer than the other one, so we went there.
I loved the decoration of the entrance! It was a small place, but good enough for having breakfast, a snack or a drink. We asked for coffee and a couple of “montaditos” (bread with different things like cheese, ham, etc.). till this point all was ok, nothing remarkable, but actually we didn´t ask about something as interesting as allow them to dazzle us.
The point was when after serving us the montaditos, the girl came with a dish with a bit of “ropa vieja”… “As an appetizer” she said… of course we tried it… and that was when the magic started!! SO DELICIOUS!! We told her it was delicious, she just smiled, but the owner was close and you see, I really can’t remind how exactly it happened, but you know, it was one of this times when one thing takes you to the next one and suddenly… we were inside the kitchen appreciating the great firewood things he has there! All, the stove, the oven, the grill, all heated by Holm oak wood! He showed us the Restaurant room then, so nice! It´s incredible how obvious is when a person decorates a place pampering it!
We went out thinking about when to go back to eat there… and at the middle of the travel we decided to go there for having lunch on Sunday, at the end of our trip. We called to do the reserve: they have no so many tables; it´s traditional Spanish food cooked in a firewood kitchen, so it needs it´s time, then Willy preferred to have few tables but to give a good service, so, better if you do a reserve for going there.
It was a great experience; again the girl gave us an appetizer, this time “judiones” that were almost melting at our mouths! We had a provolone cheese as starter… fantastic!! Rice with lobster as main dish… Oh my! Even in the dishes that you think that they couldn´t be better the Holm oak wood touch, the pampering at the preparation and to give to it the needed time, make the miracle!
We went out feeling like there´s still a lot to discover at Almenara! :D The pity is this place isn´t exactly around the corner for us, and actually a place like that at the center of Madrid would be so expensive and it´s not a matter of if it is as good as for paying more, but you see, in Almenara the price is also something that wonder you.
Somebody told me that actually the best places are the ones that nobody recommends you but you discover them by your own… and also that is not really good to recommend your favorite places, because then they start to be crowded, to raise the prices, to give lower quality, I don´t know! You see, Willy had been already 7 years wondering palates, and that something I had to recommend!
I told Curro how incredible is how better the taste of the food is when it´s done in a wood kitchen and if it was the way our ancestors ate, I´m not exactly sure if we had win or lost with the new technologies, actually, I could bet we lost! But well, he replied it was also a matter of not having now the time it requires to cook in that way… and I replied that also now we have a more variety and fresher products… you know! We should try to find out consolation no matter how! ;P
The address: Carretera a Extremadura, 36 exit, service road. Avenida Madrid 2, Urbanización Calypo, 45950, Casarubios del Monte Toledo. Phones: +34 918139129 - +34 918132488
Imagine what we would lose if the road cafeterias of the R5 would be already working! (Or if we would find parking at VIPS… or if we shouldn´t go to Tomares….) ;)
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