Just to add this quotation from Dani Carnero, the chef of Malaga’s wonderful La Cosmopolita:
"“As a chef, when I see people spending time at the table after lunch, I feel that it’s a sign that everything has gone well, but oftentimes people enjoy themselves even more than during the meal itself. The sobremesa can be magical.”
I always loved the sombremesa in Spain, yet never knew it had a name. Ages ago at the late Asador Fronton on Tirso Molina we sat there for 2-3 hours after we finished eating. That said for our desert we ordered another bottle of a Reserva Rioja, we just sat and enjoyed. That was when the dollar was very strong and the bottle was something like 20-25 euros.
