August 24, 2024 Lunch - Restaurant El Pa

August 24, 2024 Lunch - Restaurant El Paso

We ate breakfast at the Posada and then grabbed our bathing suits and drove to the public pool in Colombres through a mass of people dressed in traditional dress gathered to celebrate the town’s founding.

The pool was closed for a party, so we started driving along the winding narrow old road through small villages, many of which straddled a spine of land with a view of the ocean and the Pics, such as Llavantes.  We turned off the old road somewhere near La Franca and returned to the newer road N634 and arrived at a place where we could walk to a cave and the beach near the restaurant El Paso.  We walked as far as the cave and back, about 2000 steps and then returned to the Restaurant El Paso for lunch in Buenal.

El Paso is highly rated at 4.5 stars but there was no one there eating at 1:10 when we arrived and were shown to the upstairs dining room. But by 1:35 the dining room was filled and when we descended the stairs after our meal the bar was filled to standing room only with dinners waiting for a table.

It was raining and getting chilly so we ordered an order of fish soup that is served in a bowl large enough to serve three persons easily. We counted five of six different fish. Obviously the fish were trimmings from the fillets served but they were delicious in the tomato and wine broth with one clam.

We were in Asturias, so we next ordered the traditional Asturian bean and meat stew called Fabada . The menu claimed their Fabada was cooked over charcoal, which I could not tell, but what made me want to try El Paso’s Fabada was the sight of two men carrying covered buckets of it to their cars as we walked in the restaurant. If a guy in a Mercedes was carrying 4 to 5 gallons of it home, I was going to try it.

What I noticed was that El Paso cooks the meat with the beans instead of cooking the beans separately, so much for the vegetarians, and there was much less salt in this version, which was refreshing.

We each ate 1 1/2 bowls with a bottle of apple cider sitting in a spray machine that aerated it as it sprayed the cider into a glass.

We were on a roll with Asturian dishes, so when I saw Arroz con Leche on the menu, I asked the waitress, who spoke English, and she said, “That is one of the two desserts made here”.  It was served in an elegant bowl surrounded by a plate and was sprinkled with powdered cinnamon. It was delicious, slightly sweet but creamy and the rice was velvety soft, especially with the creamy cafe con leches we drank with dessert.

This was a very successful meal and among the least expensive at 37 Euros.

After lunch we drove back to Posada Labrador and collapsed and rested until 8:00, although we did watch Michelle and Barack Obama and Kamala’s speeches at the Democratic Convention

At 8:15 we ate some bread and slices of Suzette’s cheese ball for dinner with a beer and I ate a few bites of the Pain au Chocolat I bought yesterday.

After dinner we read and went t bed around 11:00.

It is hard to eat three regular sized meals a day in Spain.  We are trying to find the right balance considering the level of exercise. Today it was a light breakfast, a big lunch, and super light dinner and 3065 steps.

Bon Appetit