Firm closing

[The Voice of Reason]

2 minutes ago, John Wright said:

Think. It’s hidden, out of the way. The sort of place that you stumble on by accident. Not in any guide book. The sort of place I’m always on the look out for. Somewhere where they aren’t specifically catering for tourists, menu only in local language.

Sometimes, most of the time, honestly, you show a total incapacity to reason; at all.

And sometimes, well most of the time, you are rude for no good reason.

My question was really would non locals be excluded from the restaurant? Because they are not locals. Nothing to do with the restaurant being hidden etc.

You can be such a bore.

[John Wright]

3 minutes ago, The Voice of Reason said:

And sometimes, well most of the time, you are rude for no good reason.

My question was really would non locals be excluded from the restaurant? Because they are not locals. Nothing to do with the restaurant being hidden etc.

You can be such a bore.

But that’s not what you asked. You’re either able to reason or Mr Bumble. Make up your mind.

[Happier diner]

11 minutes ago, John Wright said:

Cañarían potatoes baked in salt. Mmmmmm

And the red and green sauce stuff.

The salt content of the potatoes is a bit high, but not as high as people might think. It just crystallised out on the skin. Probably more on a Macdonald's bag of fries. 

They are yummy though. 

[Two-lane]

6 minutes ago, The Voice of Reason said:

Locals only? How does that work?

It works because they sell food to people who live locally. I was passing by and I was hungry.

They have a business plan (no doubt expensively generated) that guarantees a profit while eliminating the demographics that include cruise ship passengers, people who like to spend all day lying on a sunbed, people who have a taste for 50-year-old brandy, people who want Cuban cigars rolled on the inner thigh of some young lady, people who like to sniff wine bottle corks (and God knows what else), people who like waiters fawning over them, people who... well you get the idea.

The couple who own the house I have rented have occasionally taken me to lunch (minimum 3 hours). The food is really quite simple (the meat is either rabbit or goat, and the fish is anything that swims in the sea). But they are always concerned with quality.

Wine always comes in a jug - white or red. One time I asked them if the wine was local or European. The man pointed out of the window. At the back of the restaurant was a small vineyard.

Another time they did not think the fish was not fresh enough so as the waiter went by they said something like "Bring us a couple of foot of octopus tentacle". That, they thought was more up to standard. Cut into three and, as always, drowned in olive oil.

There is a Lidl near where I stay. There are no microwave meals or tins of Cambell's soup. Bread rolls are baked on the premises and are stale by the next day.

Things are different there.

 

 

[The Voice of Reason]

16 minutes ago, John Wright said:

But that’s not what you asked. You’re either able to reason or Mr Bumble. Make up your mind.

Well it was.

You contradict yourself. You say you’re always on the lookout for the sort of place, eg no tourists, menu only in the local language ( I agree those sort of places are often the best) .
But when you find such a place and sit at the table you have already destroyed your smug feeling of finding somewhere “ authentic “ by not being a local.

You become a client in the sort of restaurant that you praise for not having your sort of clientele. ( locals only) Do you understand?

Edited October 15, 2023 by The Voice of Reason
Addition of locals only last para

[The Voice of Reason]

15 minutes ago, Two-lane said:

It works because they sell food to people who live locally. I was passing by and I was hungry.

They have a business plan (no doubt expensively generated) that guarantees a profit while eliminating the demographics that include cruise ship passengers, people who like to spend all day lying on a sunbed, people who have a taste for 50-year-old brandy, people who want Cuban cigars rolled on the inner thigh of some young lady, people who like to sniff wine bottle corks (and God knows what else), people who like waiters fawning over them, people who... well you get the idea.

The couple who own the house I have rented have occasionally taken me to lunch (minimum 3 hours). The food is really quite simple (the meat is either rabbit or goat, and the fish is anything that swims in the sea). But they are always concerned with quality.

Wine always comes in a jug - white or red. One time I asked them if the wine was local or European. The man pointed out of the window. At the back of the restaurant was a small vineyard.

Another time they did not think the fish was not fresh enough so as the waiter went by they said something like "Bring us a couple of foot of octopus tentacle". That, they thought was more up to standard. Cut into three and, as always, drowned in olive oil.

There is a Lidl near where I stay. There are no microwave meals or tins of Cambell's soup. Bread rolls are baked on the premises and are stale by the next day.

Things are different there.

 

 

Sounds idyllic. Where is it?

[Roxanne]

29 minutes ago, Two-lane said:

It works because they sell food to people who live locally. I was passing by and I was hungry.

They have a business plan (no doubt expensively generated) that guarantees a profit while eliminating the demographics that include cruise ship passengers, people who like to spend all day lying on a sunbed, people who have a taste for 50-year-old brandy, people who want Cuban cigars rolled on the inner thigh of some young lady, people who like to sniff wine bottle corks (and God knows what else), people who like waiters fawning over them, people who... well you get the idea.

The couple who own the house I have rented have occasionally taken me to lunch (minimum 3 hours). The food is really quite simple (the meat is either rabbit or goat, and the fish is anything that swims in the sea). But they are always concerned with quality.

Wine always comes in a jug - white or red. One time I asked them if the wine was local or European. The man pointed out of the window. At the back of the restaurant was a small vineyard.

Another time they did not think the fish was not fresh enough so as the waiter went by they said something like "Bring us a couple of foot of octopus tentacle". That, they thought was more up to standard. Cut into three and, as always, drowned in olive oil.

There is a Lidl near where I stay. There are no microwave meals or tins of Cambell's soup. Bread rolls are baked on the premises and are stale by the next day.

Things are different there.

 

 

You have a lovely way with the words TL. That made me quite wistful for a previous life. 

[La Colombe]

37 minutes ago, Happier diner said:

And the red and green sauce stuff.

Mojo. 

And Papas Arrugadas are boiled. Traditionally in sea water. Not baked.

[Two-lane]

5 minutes ago, The Voice of Reason said:

Sounds idyllic. Where is it?

Tenerife is, as football fans say, an island of two halves. This is a photo from the top left bit.

As I am here, and in the mood, somewhere near this photo I went to a bar at the end of a road to nowhere. I sat at a table, but no one came. I went inside the bar and found an old woman banging away with pots and pans at the back. She gesticulated that I should go to the front of the bar - ok, so you have to order at the bar, not a problem. Then she waved me outside. OK, just post-covid rules. Then she pointed down - at a small blackboard with a menu. I was about to order but she was gone.

I thought she might come back - but not so. So after a while, I went back inside to find the woman. A man asked me, in English, what I wanted to order. He gave the message to the woman, and then said to me "I don't work here. I'm just a customer, and I thought I would help you out". Hmm.

I had ordered also a bottle of water. That arrived at my table courtesy of another customer.

As the man walked off down the road, he said to me "It's different here". Oh, yes.

I ordered a salad followed by goat and Canarian potatoes. They both arrived at the same time. The salad by itself was a meal.

 

.

 

 

[John Wright]

51 minutes ago, The Voice of Reason said:

Well it was.

You contradict yourself. You say you’re always on the lookout for the sort of place, eg no tourists, menu only in the local language ( I agree those sort of places are often the best) .
But when you find such a place and sit at the table you have already destroyed your smug feeling of finding somewhere “ authentic “ by not being a local.

You become a client in the sort of restaurant that you praise for not having your sort of clientele. ( locals only) Do you understand?

There’s nothing smug about it. I try and live local and most of the time I’m with locals.

[The Voice of Reason]

29 minutes ago, John Wright said:

There’s nothing smug about it. I try and live local and most of the time I’m with locals.

And when you get back home from trips abroad do you regale your friends with tales of how you were expected to keep hold of your knife and fork from eating your starter to use for your main course?

[John Wright]

25 minutes ago, The Voice of Reason said:

And when you get back home from trips abroad do you regale your friends with tales of how you were expected to keep hold of your knife and fork from eating your starter to use for your main course?

Nope. Why would I. Eating customs, manners, and expectations, vary as much as the food.

Im currently 25 km from the nearest town. No Brits or other nationalities in sight. Just Catalans and some Spanish. I’ve had this place 18 years. There are 8 houses within a 500 metre radius.

I go to local places in the nearby villages. Spend 4-5 months a year here. Never met another Brit.

Went for lunch today to the nearest high end place. It’s 10 years since I found it. It’s a 45 minute drive, in a tiny hamlet. The last 800 metres down a gravel track. If it were in a town, and opened for more than Friday Saturday and Sunday lunch, it’d justify a Michelin star. 15 tapas size courses, fixed price taster menu. I won’t discuss specific cutlery, which you seem interested in, but there were no knives or forks involved.

Today was a special occasion. Most of my eating out is in places offering menus de dia at between €12-15 to include bread, starter, main and desert with either a litre of water or half a litre of wine. The wine usually comes in a jug and if you ask what it is there’s a shrug of shoulders and a gesticulation towards the nearest field of vines.

Although I can get sausage, black pudding or chorizo a la brasa and potatoes, plus a grilled pepper and a beer for €6 in the chiringuito across the field.

[mollag]

2 hours ago, Expat. said:

UK flour has been fortified with four vitamins and minerals since WW2 when it was introduced to stave off some of the nutritional deficits of rationing. The additives are iron, calcium, thiamine (vitamin B1) and niacin (vitamin B3). Nicotine has never been added to UK flour. Manx flour isn't fortified. However, many years ago I ate brownies in Onchan that were fortified with something pretty spectacular.

I enlarged the very small print, what of additives--not --legally demanded by the UK.?

The ability of the Isle of Man growers to produce such high quality wheat contributes to the fact that, other than raising agents and specific flavour enhancers such as contained in Sunrise and Sun-dried Tomato flours, the flour produced by Laxey Glen Mills is 100% pure and completely free from the additives legally demanded by the UK authorities.

 

 

© 2010 Laxey Glen Mills Limited
Company Reg No. 006867C V.A.T. Reg No. GB 000 1606 56

*excludes Sunrise, Granary, Soda, Mixed Seed, Sun Dried tomato and Sunrise Wholemeal

[CrazyDave]

1 hour ago, John Wright said:

There’s nothing smug about it. I try and live local and most of the time I’m with locals.

I bet they love that !!

[Kopek]

Manx Flour is free from 'Nicotinic |Acid' as required by UK flours.

It's how they get you hooked on UK breadf!!! You have a sandwich and immediately want another???😀