OK, so I have banged on about food here before but I make no apologies for starting again with the subject. However now I want to write about the rather convenient “menu del dia” that most restaurants provide at lunch times here and range from as little as 9.50€ (£6.60) up to an eye watering 22€ (£15.25) per head.
Well needless to say we have some favourite places that we like to go and we have some others that have gone out of favour (after a bit of a “Meldrew moment” as Pete S would say).
So in no particular order lets look at the places we have been, will go back to and of course those we wont go back to.
S'ALTRABANDA IN SANTA GERTRUDIS
11.50€ (£8.00)
Great lentil and vegetable potage (soup?) and a really tasty main dish and includes a pudding but not a drink which is extra. The position is not great but Santa Gertrudis is a great little town to eat anyway. Good friendly service where the staff make allowances for dodgy Spanish.
Rating : * * *
CAFE SIDNEY – MARINA BOTTAFOCH (IBIZA) & PUERTO DEPORTINO (SANTA EULALIA)
12.80€ £8.95) - at week ends there is an all day serve yourself buffet at an excellent 15€ (£10.50)
Varied meals suiting mainly German tastes, three courses but not including the drink. I have had several really good meals here but we prefer it when it is quiet as there are lots of German residents here together with a fair share of Laptop WiFi enthusiasts apparently “working”. They have National Theme weeks which can be interesting. The buffet is a winner for me though!
Rating : * * *
CAFE TOMATE – MERCADO VIEJO – IBIZA
10€
A great place in a nice little square where the market is at the foot of the slope up to Dalt Vila. I had one of the best toasted chicken sandwiches I had ever had there and the goats cheese salad is also pretty good. The menu del dia is yet to be sampled at 10€ - I will update this entry when we have eaten it.
Rating : * * *
LA RAMBLA (SANTA EULALIA)
9.50€ (£6.60) – At first this seemed like a good value place but after a few visits I started to think that no matter what I ordered I seemed to get the same thing served up to me. I had a chicken escalope one day so decided on chicken supreme the next, however I am certain I got the escalope again! When I queried this all got was a shrug and ignored for the rest of the meal. We WONT be going back.
Rating : * (grudgingly)
SA BOTIGA (AVDA. IGNASI WALLIS, IBIZA)
16.00€ (£11.00) – This is really good food in a nice bar with a small courtyard at the rear. The staff are friendly and the food is excellent and although at the top end of the price range it is very well worth the money and the eating experience. We have always gone back here when we want to eat good food inexpensively in a warm atmosphere.
Rating : * * * *
ANCIENT PEOPLE (AVDA. D'ESPANA, IBIZA)
9.500€ (£6.60) – This is an Indian restaurant (I think the chef / cook is Spanish though) it's a rather basic menu that you could eat your way through in all combinations in about a month. However, the curries are tasty and spicy rather than hot as we Brits would expect them to be. Again, a very very nice lentil soup is served with French bread which is almost as good as S'altrabanda's pottage. As ever here in Ibiza if you order hot or spicy you actually get a fair dose of salt and some sugar but aside from that the food and service is great. One amusing theme is that you can sit at a table or sit on raised areas with cushions and eat cross legged – NOT for us I have to say!
Rating : * * * *
CARDOMAN CLUB (SANTA EULALIA)
Now this one is not exactly a place for a cheap menu del dia but I can't avoid adding it here as we had one of the best Indian meals (for two) on Ibiza here for a mere 40€ including a glass of beer and a glass of red wine.
The highlight of my meal was the fantastic Masala Mash to die for!!! The curry was traditional as we would expect it from Indians and what's more.... the restaurant is owned and run by a British couple (who are also Indian of course) – A real pleasure of a place to eat and simply sit in a nice relaxing atmosphere.
Rating : * * * * *
THE CONTINUING SAGA OF THE CAR PURCHASE
Yes, I know, we have been here before! But it's been one obstacle after another and finally I think we may have found a temporary solution....... Alix buys the car. Well I buy it and she registers it in her name, I insure myself and she gives me the car on loan while I find another way to gain a NIE number and residencia for Val and I.
We have now hired one car for two weeks and borrowed a Micra, a Peugeot 206 and now a Clio. The target for our purchase is another Peugeot 206 which we test drive later this week.
It has cost us so far (less the original rental car and fuel) One garden plant and fancy pot and a litre bottle of Black Bush Single Malt!!
I will let you know the good news when it actually happens!
HOUSE HUNTING
Well, save the best for last......... after a few false starts with a two bedroom house in the country that was too dim and too small, then a really nice renovated “finca” that lacked the obligatory bath (and was too expensive really, particularly when the rent was hiked 100€ as we arrived to view it) to a four bedroom place that was a tip we finally placed an advert in the local paper. Mature couple, no pets no children....... and bingo! We were contacted by a Spanish couple who took us to see an amazing finca on a hill only minutes from three local beaches, a small supermarket and views that are uninterrupted all around. There is an outdoor kitchen and several large terraces with a nice easy to manage garden. It does however lack the obligatory bath but Val was so taken with the house she compromised!!! Oh and yes, it has a double garage and three bedrooms too.
One fear I have is that the place lacks Satellite TV at the moment and I am not sure what the cost of setting it up will be. I have been reading about some freeview boxes working here (well on the mainland) but I have to put up with Spanish TV for a while I think.
PC PROBLEMS
Yes, it had to happen........... my new superfast PC crashed big time for the third time since I bought and this time it finally gave up the ghost. The time for a reformat has arrived .... fortunately I had backed up my photographs this time and saved them to DVD. My old PC seems to have gained a new lease of life since good old Alan East worked his magic on it before we left the UK.
No comments:
Post a Comment