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A TASTE OF TORREGUADIARO

By Mike & Rachel Lawrence

Restaurant El Trasmallo (At Eastern end of Torreguadiaro village just above the beach)

Specialising in fish, shell fish and some local dishes.

On entering one goes through a long bar (about 20 covers)with a good selection of tapas and half rations. Pass through this and then you come to a large no smoking, well appointed dining room with about 60-70 covers. Beyond this is another dinning area on a large glassed in terrace, smoking permitted with possibly the best view over the beach, Sotogrande Port, Gibraltar, Morocco and Ceuta, on the whole coast. About 24 covers. On my last visit, 2 months ago, I did not have a starter but a main course of lamb chops and an in house desert. These were very good. The lamb chops were very slightly pink and thicker than usual for Spain but still crisp on the one edge, they were served with small portions of stir fried vegetables, slightly al dente and Duchesse potatoes, extremely good. Wine was Rioja Eterra at 12 Euros a bottle, followed by coffee. On previous occasions I have just had fish or shellfish which are also very good. Sometimes they have Portuguese Oysters, but they were a waste of money being very small and unresponsive to the lemon test. The service was good without being obtrusive.

The bill was 33 Euros for 1 including IVA and cover charge of 1 Euro. If you go on a Sunday, get there before 1.30 as by 2.30 it’s packed. Open all day till midnight. Closed Mondays.

Restaurant La Verandah (Opposite El Trasmallo at Eastern end of Torreguadiaro village)

Spanish with international overtones.

The entrance is down a few steps on the left side facing the restaurant and leads you straight into the L shaped dining area with two 8 seat round tables at the bottom end. At the other end is a smallish bar with a few tapas. The main dinning area, smoking permitted, has about 40 covers all surrounded by large windows. I went with my wife for a birthday lunch. For starters I had Galician oysters, more about these later, and my wife had a delicious carrot mousse with goat’s cheese and honey decorated with edible flowers. For the main course I had very thin slices of duck, about 15 in all, covered with a rich orange sauce with 5 different vegetables, a little too al dente for me but my wife thought they were just right. She had roast rabbit with a few al dente vegetables. We skipped desert and went straight to coffee and liqueurs. Bill attached.

The second time, I went alone as my wife was in England. I started with a bottle of dry house wine and 4 extremely large Galician oysters (Photo enclosed). They were too large to swallow, who'd want to anyway, but each one needed to be chewed in smaller pieces. They were superb and apart from a little lemon needed nothing else on them. They were quite as good as any I've had at Wheelers in London or Concale in Brittany. As I was feeling a bit full after these I went straight onto desert. This was an orange terrine with accessories. Finished with a large black coffee. The table next to me had steaks which were large and cooked just right. All in all, beautifully presented with good service. Excellent value if a little expensive at 34 euros plus service but perfect for special occasions.