August 28, 2023 Lunch - Cafe Espana, Lugo
Today we traveled from Figueres to Campados by way of Lugo.
We ate another lovely breakfast, but today I skipped the pastries and instead ordered eggs and too some salamis and Suzette toasted us each a slice of brown bread plus the yogurt with fruit.
At 10:00 we drove to Lugo and by coincidence found our way to a parking lot one block from the Roman wall that surrounds the old center with open spaces. Lugo is one of a few cities that has an entire Roman wall still entitled and I wanted to walk the wall.
The second wonderful coincidence was that in the block between the parking lot and the wall was Cafe Espana, the Michelin recommended restaurant where we wanted to eat lunch.
It was 12:30, so on our way to the wall we stopped and made a reservation for 2:00 to give us enough time to walk the wall.
We took a liter bottle of water and I had two sugar pills and my collagen and Tylenol to be taken at 1:30 and started walking. The length of the entire is 6000 ft in circumference and it took me a bit longer than 1 1/2 hours but I made it without my muscles tightening.
Lunch at Cafe Espana was the reward for walking the wall and it turned out to be the third coincidence of the day, the best meal we have had on our trip.
Our ordering was quixotic and created several wonderful coincidents. I had my heart set on a salad of lettuce, tomato, and fresh tuna.
The waiter said those are two different dishes, so I said okay and Suzette selected a third dish of beef ravioli with truffles and potato foam that sounded so fantastic that we had to try it.
We ordered a bottle of Albariño named “the Escape” in Spanish that was a little drier than yesterday’s rebiera.
We asked to split the dishes, but were served a double portion of a the tomato salad, which turned out to be a wonderful coincident because it was the best tomatoes we had ever tasted. It had three kinds of tomatoes all of which were peeled and garnished with slices of shaved Parmesan cheese on top with a dressing that included slices of pickled jalapeño pepper. The Roma tomatoes were especially dense with a burst of flavor that verged on sweetness The other two were equally interesting in a different way. One was firm and dense similar to the Roma and the other was lighter and fresh tasting. I asked the waiter if the Romas were confited and he said, “No, they are just natural tomatoes.”
The tomatoes were not natural in any world we had ever eaten tomatoes in, but we happy to be in that world for a few minutes.
The second course was a thick 1/2 entrecôte of grilled Bonita served on a pile of chunky mashed potatoes with a tomato coulis and a beautifully grilled padron pepper that was sweated all around, so very tender. It was the best fish I have tasted in a while. The waiter informed us that this is the time of the year that this special kind of bonito is available off the coast north of Lugo and this bonito is different that the Bonito del Norte that is an albacore tuna. So the second dish also included special ingredients.
The third dish was the most unusual and creative we tasted. In a bowl super creamy potato foam was on bottom, then some pulled beef on top of that, covered with a soft rice paper wonton square on top of the beef, sauced with a thickened au jus sauce dotted with small balls of black truffle. Again, I have never tasted any black truffle ball like these and have no idea the techniques used to make them, but the effect was terrific, small firm balls of black truffle essence that you could break open with your teeth and chew; a truly fantastic dish. Our waiter told us that the beef that was cooked until it fell apart was actually oxen that the restaurant raised on its farm. Our translator app had mis-translated oxen as beef.
We were impressed that each of the first three courses contained amazing flavors generated with fresh local ingredients.
We had to drive another hour to two so we ordered coffees. I could not resist the opportunity to sample a dessert, so I ordered a chocolate soufflé with mandarin orange ice cream. We had to wait about twenty minutes so I guess it was cooked in the kitchen. It had soft runny center and firm sides, like a molten cake, and the mandarin ice cream was lovely and it was accompanied with a pastry extruded pile of whipped cream garnished with fresh red currants, a blueberry and a strawberry.
All in all, an amazing meal for 111€.
We then drove to Cambados and with the help of our hostess got settled in in time to have a drink of the Monasteria de Coris cider vermouth and watch the sunset from our balcony.
Another day when a late lunch from 2:30 to 5:00 was the last meal of the day.
Bon Appetit
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