I’m back again for the fifth time in recent years. Many of the restaurants I will visit are ones that I’ve already written about here, sometimes more than once. These include my “top three:” RESTAURANTE ANTONIO (Zahara de los Atunes); EL CAMPERO (Barbate); and LA CASTILLERIA (just below the town of Vejer).
I could not wait long to check out my old favorite, EL CAMPERO in the rather nondescript (but surrounded by glorious coastline stretching in either direction) town of Barbate. Happily, I detected no change in the visuals, the service, or the food since the recent change in ownership.
Three plates; each impeccable:
Amuse of salmorejo with tuna bits:
Not only will I visit many of the same restaurants, but in many cases I plan to order the same dishes that have become my favorites: I could not visit EL CAMPERO or ANTONIO, for example, without beginning with sashimi of ventreuca (raw blue fin tuna belly).
Instead of delving into detail about places Ive covered before, I’'ll post a few comments and photos, and will elaborate more on restaurants that are new to me.
I commented on my dinner at the superb LA CARBONA in Jerez de la Frontera, on the great three that Maribel recently contributed; as it happened, I had the exact same dishes as she did several weeks prior to my own visit.
I visited all of these restaurants alone, and had no problem booking for a single diner; I usually prefer to sit in the bar area, if not at the actual bar, at a table in the bar area rather than in the main dining rooms. There are a few exceptions, though.
I rented a car from SIXT at the small, easy-to-navigate, airport of Jerez, about 20 minutes taxi ride from my hotel in the center. (PALACIO MARIA LUISA, one of the finest in southern Spain). I’ll have the car for 18 days before returning it at the airport and flying back to the US. Despite the recent storms, roads have recovered and I’ve found only a couple one, fairly minor, disruption on the routes that I’ve driven so far. This is along the N-340 near the turn off for Santa Lucia.
Now that I’ve figured out how to hook up my music to the car’s system, the drive from the airport (via Medina Sidonia, not Cadiz) flew by and about an hour after leaving the airport, I was approaching Vejer. Late afternoon and I was tired, so before even checking into my hotel, I stopped at VENTA PINTO, in La Barca de Vejer (bus stop) for their iconic bocadillo of pork loin with red lard…one taste of this juicy marvel and I knew I was home!!! Could be the best 5 euro sandwich in Andalucia.
The following afternoon I was at my usual high-top table in the gleaming white bar area of EL CAMPERO in the rather nondescript port town and tuna capital of Barbate. This venerable eatery, to which blue fin lovers flock from as far away as Japan, had recently been sold to a restaurant group from Madrid but I was thrilled that nothing seemed to have changed..there are my pretty young ladies at the front door, here is my usual waiter, Manuel, offering hugs…all was well in Barbate, at least on this first visit.
I had but three dishes, each one impeccable:
Amuse of Salmorejo (cold Andalusia soup blending almonds and bread) topped with bits of tuna
If I had to confine myself with one dish during my entire stay, this would be the one: Sashimii of blue-fin tuna belly (toro) served with wasabi, soy, ginger, etc…this is a half order@30 euro:
Classic atún encebollado, chunks of the fish in a tomato-ey onion sauce…signature dish found on menus across the coastline, done to perfection.
Fries were mediocre but good bread sopped up the sauce:
Total: 46.25 euro
