Tapas at home

After a wonderful lunch of calamari, pork burger, salad and dessert at La Campana, we decided on tapas at home for dinner. Unfortunately, my risotto cakes were a flop -- I forgot to add an egg which would have kept the cakes from falling apart and the pate we purchased at a local grocery store was disappointing as were the olives. So in the spirit of keeping it real... not every culinary adventure in this house is a success! But we live and learn and move on to the next meal. (Our tapas plate was pretty though, don't you think?)

No ordinary tapas

Mo Gastrotapas... we discovered this restaurant on Trip Advisor's website for Nerja restaurants... it was ranked #1 in Nerja and we soon found out why. The food is that good! The restaurant is named after Montserrat Mayor Heimer, thus Mo, who trained with the top chefs of Spain including Ferran Adria of El Bulli. The photo above is of Mo as a little girl and is a wallpaper sized photo in the restaurant along with a modern eclectic design in orange and lime green and an industrial touch of concrete panels and textured walls. Beyond the welcoming modern interior, Mo's menu is an exquisite expression of classic small bites of tapas… artistic, beautiful constructions of the most glorious food imaginable from split grilled shrimp on a fish cake with piquant sauce served on an artful pick to a wondrous meal of dorado wrapped in nearly sheer zucchini ribbons and bacon, stuffed with a tomato confit, and resting in a pool of buttery saffron sauce. Each plate is a stunning presentation of color, texture and flavor, evidence of the thoughtful consideration brought to every dish. 

And then there are all the little additions throughout the meal… did I mention those? from the welcoming amuse bouche of the croquette del dia to the finishing touch of a vanilla-scented buttercream cup over sweet wine… scoopable with a flattened, macerated raisin on a decorative skewer. You scoop out the cream with the raisin and then sip the wine. Sheer billance! We ate at Mo Gastro twice during our stay and it was without a doubt, one of the highlights of our trip to Nerja! Tapas photos below:

Sadly I don't remember the names of these different tapas, but they were all amazing!!

Friends, tapas and time

One of our first adventures in Nerja was attending the annual end-of-year bash of the American International Club of Nerja (AICN ) held at the Hotel Rural Alamazara in Frigiliana. We joined about 50, mostly British and a handful of Americans, enjoying a scrumptious dinner, dancing to live music and bidding on silent auction items to raise money for a local Spanish charity. (I’ll post later about the sculpture I bid on and won… just love it!)

Weeks before we headed to Spain, we stumbled upon a link to the AICN website and after a bit of email exchange managed to wrangle an invitation to attend their event. What a fun time! We soon realized we had a lot in common with many of the members; the use of “gypsy” in my blog title is no accident. We ultimately made a few new friends with whom we re-connected for lunch today in Nerja (photo). Jean, from New Hampshire, who has lived here for nearly a decade and Herb & Trish, from Omaha and Scotland, who’ve been here half that time are all three intimately familiar with the pros and cons of living here, the paperwork and bureaucracy involved and, of course, all there is to enjoy in Andalucia. We can’t help asking them a million questions!

The Restaurant El Puente where this photo was taken, serves tapas and dinner both inside, and on their terrace outdoors. Since it was again a lovely, sunny day, we ate outdoors staying over 4 hours chatting, eating tapas and drinking Spanish wine with our new friends. We spent only $14.00 for the 2 of us and so enjoyed the Spanish tradition of waiters never interrupting table conversation to whisk plates away, turn our table over or hurry us in any way… it’s just so darn civilized! There was no rush for us to leave, no check to figure out. You just tell the cashier what you had to eat and drink and they tally it up, you pay and you’re on your way. Love that.

Tonight, more tapas at Mo’s Gastrotapas… a wonderful place worthy of a blog post of its own. Tomorrow, Almunecar for market day and lunch by the sea with Americans!