Thursday, April 7, 2011

Costa Dorada, Spain: Tarragona and Cambrils, Spain, Snacks and Lunches


Last Summer, my good friend Jenny and I took a lil trip to Spain to relax in the beautiful southern beaches... I was a lil tardy, as usual... since i didn't pay attention to my ticket, and forgot how to read military time and ultimately... missed my flight... it was a crazy crazy 24 hours getting my ass from Toronto to Madrid, to charter to Barcelona, train to Barcelona Sants station from the airport, and catch the second to last 2+ hour standing train ride to Salou and cab it to the resort... but i made it! and will NEVER mistake 20:55 for 10:55PM AGAIN.... on our second day, we made a trip to Tarragona, Spain. It's a gorgeous southern Mediterranean coastal city, and as you can see from my pic above, boasts ruins from ancient roman times,

a few steps from our sidewalk snack break

mmm fresh spanish gazpacho
We went for a huge walk, as, we're (or i am) a horrible map reader, and was super parched for refreshment.  Since Gazpacho (a cold tomato based veggie soup), originates from Spain, I had to have it! And no wonder, a great summer soup, it was super refreshing, like herby/savoury yet fragrant, it was actually my first time! yum yum! 

fresh? or not fresh. but mussels aioli plucked from the sea.. beard and all
I also figured, hey im at the sea, might as well have some seafood, and ordered the Mussels Aioli, which i only knew how to pronounce from watching Top Chef... they love making aioli,  the waitress was so impressed i could pronounce it, and i was so impressed that she was impressed, so i went to figure out what the hell it was: Aioli is like a creamy garlic, olive oil, yoke sauce, and hmmm i think they grabbed the mussels straight out of the sea, cause parts of it was still attached to it... but the sauce was good!

A few days later, we took a catalan over to Cambrils, another fishing village on the south, to the east this time, of where we were staying in Salou.  What i LOVE about spain, is their prix fixe menus, i read that since lunch is the largest meal of the day, cheap prix fixe meals are sanctioned by the gov't .. awesome for me! I mean check this out. a drink (beer or mineral water), appy, main, dessert, for 11.90 EUROS. that's not even 20 bucks CDN for a great lunch.  and the food, do i even need to say, was great.

so here's my lil cervasa! otherwise, my preferred drink is Fanta. haha.

Here's a free tapas from the bar, we were outside at the patio, but i think if we were to hang out inside, that's were the freebees are. its like a fried tater cheese top.

Started off with some Calamari, great light breading, not overcooked or stringy, though i will reconsider ever ordering a squid dish for myself again cause it can get super heavy.

My main was this awesome grilled fish on top of deep fried battered peppers. I really liked the fried crispy veggies as a contrast to the fish, it just gave me some texture to play with. super awesome.

And look at this! decadent piece of awesomeness, I have no idea what i ordered, can you read what i ordered? but it was good, and soaked in sweet goodness. 



And here's Jenny's prawn salad! Those prawns are the size of giant fingers!




1 comment:

  1. I also figured, hey im at the sea, might as well have some seafood, and ordered the Mussels Aioli, which i only knew how to pronounce from watching Top Chef...
    cotton sofa covers online
    plastic sofa covers

    ReplyDelete