Thursday, October 26, 2006

Unexpected thrills


We have had some of the nicest surprises, food-wise, at unexpected places.

For example: in Italy, on the autostrada - the fast, toll motorways - are lots of truck stop-type places, where you can stop and fill up with petrol, use the toilet and eat. These are not the kind of places you'd expect to find much in the way of good things to eat. But how wrong you would be! The truck stops are fantastic! There are excellent, fresh panini and pizza. There are salad bars with tasty, fresh selections of proscuitto, mushrooms, rocket, salade nicoise, or you can make your own combinations. There are main course choices of pasta and risotto, and there's a carver standing by to carve roast meat to your liking. Desserts - no problem - if you want a pretty good tiramisu or creme brulee it's probably there; and of course there's wine and beer and bread. There's not a greasy burger, chip, or deep-fried anything in sight. Honestly, the meals we had on the road, at truck stops in Italy, were nicer than three-quarters of the restaurant meals we ate in the UK. This says a lot about the general love of food in these respective countries, I think.

It also says a lot that, should you feel like it on your way through the truck stop, you can also buy there all kinds of good cheese, chocolate, salami, ham, olive oil, pasta, even truffle paste. It's not exactly BP Connect.

Another place we found unexpectedly good food was our hotel in Barcelona. We'd struck a weekend when, apparently, there was a massive conference on and every hotel in Barcelona was full. Consequently we ended up in a nondescript Novotel about 12km from the town centre. It was new and clean and bright, but nothing special and certainly not the type of place you'd expect to eat anything beyond bog-standard, generic, mediocre hotel food as found everywhere from Hamilton to Delhi. Our view was of a motorway onramp and a carwash, and a giant, red digital clock and temperature monitor on the outside of another hotel (actually, this proved quite useful in letting us know what day it was, and helped with our wardrobe decisions).

But quel surprise when we ate the food! The night we arrived we ordered room service dinner because it was 11 o'clock and we'd just spent all day on a train and were exhausted. I really wished I was less tired so I could have relished my meal more. Fresh, crisp salad, tender tuna, roasted peppers, grilled meats, tasty sauces; plus tomato bread, fresh fruit salad and cute wee bottles of olive oil and balsamic to dress the salad. It may be the nicest room service meal I've ever had.

Another night we ate a dinner of tapas in the restaurant. Barcelonans follow a different timetable to people in other countries. They eat breakfast as normal, but lunch is not usually until 2 or 2.30, followed by siesta (when shops and offices close) until 4.30 or 5pm. Then everything opens up again and they work until 7 or 8. Dinner really doesn't start until 9.30 or 10pm, and many restaurants don't even open for dinner until 9. If you're out before then eating dinner, you're eating in the company of other tourists.

This timetable actually works pretty well for us, since we have turned into people who really don't like to get up before 10. In Italy particularly we were often rushed into lunch a wee bit, because the kitchens all closed at 2.30. This way we can have lunch till 3.30, then have our own wee siesta. It's quite civilised.

Anyway: back to dinner. Even at 9.30 we were the first customers in the restaurant. We didn't care really; we were expecting something average anyway. But it turned out to be a source of unexpected inspiration. We had a fabulous soup of cockles and fresh artichokes, flavoured with smoky Spanish ham, and another of spicy lentils. Then a fantastic dish of piquillo peppers - sweet, red and roasted, stuffed with braised oxtail. Yum yum yum! This I added to the list of "delicious things stuffed with other things" I have eaten on this trip.

I think Spanish food is basic, hearty and good. I happen to know there is a lot of complexity to it too; but so far we've only scratched the surface here. We have had one paella (unremarkable, although I do love the theatrical way it is served: brought to the table in its cooking dish, and served lovingly by the waiter). We have had a very good roast chicken (again at an unlikely, plastic cafeteria opposite the Sagrada Familia) and some tasty baby fried fish, and some very nice tomato-based salads. The wine is good: fruity rosados and very good, inexpensive Cava. Any country where bubbly is practically free is alright with me.

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