My Favourite 10 Restaurants in Almeria.

 We've travelled around the Almeria region over the last few years mainly in the capital city and the nicest Spanish resorts of San José and Agua Amarga. We tend to avoid towns that are popular with Brits, amongst other things we've found in these areas the level of restaurants is often not as high as in Spanish resorts. Also the types of food people eat is different too. In most of these restaurants below, the menus often feature dishes like tuna tartare and sashimi plus lots of seafood of course. These items simply wouldn't sell in great numbers in Britain. Spaniards certainly have a different palate to us but as we've been travelling there for twenty years, our tastes have become in harmony with Spanish cuisine. We also noticed some new restaurants opening up post pandemic in the resort of San José bringing them closer in quality and variety to the Costa de la Luz area.

Here a some of our favourite places.

 1. Restaurante La Villa Agua Amarga

We were blown away by this place last month. It's a beautiful restaurant, the tables all centred around a small swimming pool. The service is excellent and the food is exquisite. The simple Gamba Roja Sosada y Holendesa Ahumada were some of the finest prawns we've ever sampled. Mrs B ordered some peppers and the flavours were just so intense, we could just not believe it. We're planning a return visit as everything we had was utterly wonderful. Highly recommended. 

2. Oro y Luz, Rodalquilar.

At this boutique hotel, there is a lovely restaurant. Everything we ate was superb (I remember the wonderful oysters ) the chef really understands flavour and the service is stellar too.

3. Asador La Chumbera, Agua Amarga.

On the edge of town, this place serves excellent chuleta in the style of Asador Etxebarri but their seafood is great too. We sampled some wonderful sashimi there as a starter. Another must visit in the area.

4. Restaurante El Cabo, Carboneras.

What a surprise this restaurant was. The flavours were superb, from the olive oil served at the beginning of the meal to a leek with sea urchin dish that blew us away (and I'm not even that keen on leeks!). In a pretty setting on the beach front.

 5. Mirador Del Faro, San Jose.

As the name suggests, the views are impressive at this fairly new place in San José. Everything we ate was good including a lovely tuna tartare and some of the nicest croquetas I've ever eaten and I've tried a lot.

6. 4 Nudos, San Jose.

I've celebrated my last few birthdays at this restaurant, which I consider the flagship San José restaurant. Excellent fish, rice and seafood.

7. Restaurante Sagoni, Carboneras.

Places like this a rare in the UK but fairly common in Spain. None 'posh' food for everyone but with an excellent level of cooking skill. The Arroz Caldoso (kind of like a much more brothy wet paella) was one of the best we've had. They also served us a free appetiser, a whipped up ali-oli which was such a great idea that I've not seen elsewhere.

8. Taberna Nuestra Tierra, Almeria.

The last few times we've attempted to visit it's been shut for holidays however it'll always have a special place in our hearts from years ago when we'd regularly visit when it was called Taberna Vasca and in another venue in the city. It's also worth checking out Tony García Espacio Gastronómico for modern tapas in a smart setting.

9. Parrosseta, San Jose.

This takeaway rice café serves three different rice dishes every day. The quality is to a high Valencian standard with plenty of chewy socarrat. I believe you can even eat the takeaway at the hotel opposite.

10. Taverna Mezes, San José.

This seafood racion restaurant is so new it's not on google and has no web presence. But it's next to Parrosseta and has a modern tiled vibe. The fish tacos were so good we had to return for more. 

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San Sebastián Pintxos Tour 2022.

 It was over the New Year 2019-2020 that we last visited the greatest place on earth for food, San Sebastián. Back then, we sedately celebrated the New Year with fireworks over the city hall and out to sea. This was supposed to be a great year! Little did we know. Over the long Covid period we had a trip cancelled so couldn't wait to finally return.

It's amazing to be back, La Concha beach as big and beautiful as ever. Everything looked the same on the surface but how about the Pintxos bars in the old town? Would all our favourites still be there? Most still were but some have sadly gone. Old favourite, Zeruko, has closed for good at both locations. I still remember our first trip to this bar and being blown away by the display, still the greatest bar top at any pintxos bar I've ever seen. A Fuego Negro has also permanently shut down. This was always a must visit at some point on a bar crawl, so sad to see this place shut too. Zazpi has changed venues and is a proper sit down restaurant which didn't appeal. It seems some of the charm of the old place has been lost by some accounts. 

However most other places were open and this occasion was probably my favourite of all our trips as we visited all our old favourites and discovered some new places and some that we'd somehow missed before.

One of our traditions is to always go to Borda Berri as a first stop and order their risotto. It seems a good start to begin our first session doing this but sadly it was closed (only temporarily I believe for holidays).

So instead we ordered Foie & Truffled Rice (€4,70) at Mendaur Berria plus some squid and 10 beers between  6 of us. A fine start to the weekend. (€62,80). Interestingly, this place is Number One on Tripadvisor if you hold any merit in that. I find it can be useful in quickly checking what a bar is especially good at.

Down a few doors to Casa Urola. Another absolute must visit. We always order the scallops here.
(€4,70) this time we also had some gorgeous Mushroom Tartlets. (€2,60), some more beer and wine to follow.Total Cost €36.

 

This is where it gets a bit hazy, maybe we went to La Cuchara de San Telmo at this point, which was surprisingly not insanely busy. I've seen this place when it's almost impossible to get in but we've been training for this for some years so we squeeze onto the last table outside. I forgot to order the Pig's Ear but we do manage some divine Foie Gras (€6). I send a quick message to Luke Unabomber who I know loves this place. Quite right, La Cuchara de San Telmo is another absolute must on a visit to the old town. Plus as it's sister to the closed Borda Berri it felt good to go here at least. Ordering more, we all enjoyed the Bacalau (€4) and a fine black squid ink risotto. We ended up spending about €60 here but again it was between six of us and who's counting? It had been too long.

For editing purposes I'll write it up as one long boozy lunch but it was actually several sessions. It's good to have a plan but you must be flexible to be able to break that route if somewhere is too busy or a bar not on your map looks inviting. It's all part of the fun. I wanted to visit all the old favourites, plus some bars I've hardly been to over the years. Txuleta is one of those places. I'm not sure why but it's never been on my must visit list, but it's as good as anywhere. We visited twice and loved it. We didn't even care that the young bartender was so moody with us especially just because we cheered when the cheese arrived. Why worry with food this good? The croquetas (€2 )are superb here as is the steak as you'd expect. They give you free chicken drumsticks here which are good and I recall a wonderful plate of scrambled eggs and wild mushrooms, so full of flavour.

Another one is Txepetxa. I'm a real lover of anchovies so this is an obvious stopping point. Sat here with a beer and a pintxo, you start to wonder, how are they all this good though? If you're a fan of anchovies, try the fine new place in Bilbao Antxoa Taberna.

We always end up at Atari Gastroleku it seems. I doubt I've visited totally sober. It's always super busy, the beer is always good and no matter how crowded it seems, ordering never seems a problem. A round of French Toast and Cream Cheese Ice Cream finishes us off. 

Walking over to the Gros area. First stop is always Bar Bergara. Forever in my Top 5, I just love the little pastry dishes we get here. It's difficult not to order everything on the menu. The Udaberri (€3) is a must as is the Anchovy Tortilla. Amongst several (€3.50) other pintxos, our bill here comes to €85 for 6. Amazing value for food this good. We also try out Eguzki Bistro Bar another busy bar, we enjoy their croquettas.

We have some raciones at another favourite place over the years, Gure Txoko Taberna. The cod and the squid were both good although their veg in tempura wasn't the best, being a bit soggy. The owner though enjoys a glass of cava at the end of another long shift.

Back to the old town Goiz Argi is rightfully famous for their prawn skewers (€3.30 each ) but we also enjoyed a crab dish I think. 

People often mention Bar Nestor as one of the places on any pilgrimage here, it was finally time we did this place justice. We did, our first visit was for the amazing steak. The following day I queued up at 7pm for the most exquisite Tortilla whilst my friends and Mrs Bacon enjoyed drinks at a bar over the street. Of course it was worth it, probably the best tortilla and not just because I had to queue for it and wait an hour. So moist and gooey inside Nestor was never going to disappoint.  I think we all enjoyed their military super organised ordering system.

We also had some fresh seafood and oysters at Hemeretzi. Off piste, we just walked in at random. Of course the food was excellent, in a modern clean setting and waiter service.

We went to La Vina twice for cheesecake, always amazing and always a must do.

Sometimes you just have to go with the flow, so it was at Bar Sport one afternoon. We managed to get an early table the last one left outside and planned to have a few and leave for somewhere else. We didn't leave for several hours. On Saturday afternoon in Donostia, tables are hard to come by. Why leave? Beside the food was so bloody good, I especially remember the Crab Crep and squid stuffed with crab and mini steak frites. I don't think we've ever been here, partly put off by the name (I hate Sports Bars but it isn't one) and the fact that it always seemed impossible to get into. But it's so worth it. Chatting, drinking and eating the finest pintxos known to man. Could there be a better way of spending an afternoon?

Postscript. Where is good for Breakfast in San Sebastián? We like Argitan, an excellent café and bakery in a prime spot. Also The Loaf great coffee and bread in this minimalist café .They have a few branches in the city.

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