Dismal weather (ie 2 days of rain and clouds) plus Easter Sunday has slightly hindered our mission to eat delicious food and explore our surroundings. Today we were determined to make up for this delay as we headed to downtown Torrevieja, a coastal town with some very old Moorish-style architecture interspersed with modern shops, apartments, tourist-ridden promenade cafes and street vendors...As we strolled through the promenade alongside the water, the sun finally popped into view, and it felt like a sign to stop for a glass of vino blanco and some snacks!
We settled into an outdoor table at "Casino" (pictured above), a longstanding cafe where the inside, window-lined seats are reserved solely for Spanish men. After a quick peek inside to check out the tapas on display, we decided on tortilla espanola, albondigas, gambas al ajillo, sepia al la plancha, and jamon serrano (again, this shows some restraint as there were over 50 items on the menu)! The gambas al ajillo (or shrimp poached in olive oil and garlic) were sublime, something I would love to eat on a daily basis, and the flavored oil with a bit of chile made the perfect dip for crusty bread. The sepia (or cuttlefish) prepared on the grill was more intriguing than it was tasty. Tough and rubbery in texture, we pushed it aside to focus on other things, ie: the massive amount of thickly sliced jamon serrano, served with salty marcona almonds! The freshly sliced jamon was quite delicious, super salty with a melt-in-your-mouth quality that is not found in jamon sold in grocery stores in the states. Muy bueno! The Albondigas (or meatballs in tomato sauce) were an afterthought, and a little too reminiscent of canned chef boyardee spaghetti and meatballs that I remember eating as a small child. Finally, the tortilla espanola (kinda frittata like) was very tasty, prepared with sweet onion and english peas. I told Daniel we should take before and after photos, although it is too late now...Pure gluttony, and we also had dinner to look forward too!
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