A cloudier day but still warm and lovely to be in Spain and sit on the terrace and enjoy the beautiful view while eating breakfast. After a lazy start to the day, Linda and I headed off to explore the local area a bit and she took me to Vall de Cavall near Gata de Gorgos for coffee. There were lots of horses around as the name suggests, but also a smart restaurant where we were able to sit outside and have just a coffee and enjoy the wonderful setting. We were too early for lunch but the menu looked very good and Linda had heard good reports of the place, so maybe somewhere to return to. Though I might give the kangaroo dish a miss …
We wandered around Gata for a while, once famous for its woven baskets and where a few shops still had displays spilling on to the pavement. Linda told me that although they were once made locally, many are now imported. There wasn’t as it turned out much of interest to see in the town, but we did find a good wine shop in the main street, El Celler de le Marina, which was also a deli with a great selection of preserves, pates in jars, olive oils and even small hand-made soaps. I bought a bottle of Enrique-Mendoza Merlot. This is a local Alicante producer that’s gaining a good reputation. I’ve already sampled and enjoyed their Pinot Noir and thought the Merlot was worth a try … so maybe tonight?
On to Benissa, we headed for one of Linda’s favourite local restaurants, Casa Eusebio, which also has a tapas bar at the front. It’s a lovely little place and as soon as I entered and looked at the array of wonderful tapas, I knew I was going to like it.
We sat at the bar on stools as it seemed more fun, especially for lunch. I ordered a glass of rose, which was nicely chilled and very good, and we chose our tapas. I had some excellent tortilla, made with just potatoes and onion in the traditional style; a thickish slice of courgette with grilled fresh tuna and sun-dried tomato on top; a small scallop in shell with cheesy sauce; a tomato and aubergine stew with fried quail’s egg on top (all three in the photo above). It’s all home made, cooked by the wife of the couple who own the restaurant, and came on pretty traditional plates. Everything was beautifully prepared and presented and the food itself delicious. There was a great choice too, although we were only able to sample a few. They were some of the best tapas I’ve had and it’s certainly a long time since I’ve had any as good as these. If you are in the area, it’s definitely worth a detour to Benissa to try this restaurant out and I can’t wait to go back there.