Fifteen Tapas

It seems a day out on the town, any town, is not complete without us stumbling upon a really great restaurant. After Mariposario de Benalmádena (Benalmádena’s Butterfly Park, see two previous posts), we continued another 5 minutes into Benalmádena Pueblo (the old village). Having only been there once before (click here for my first visit), I was familiar with only one little cafe, so we parked the car and began to head downhill through town.

It was a quiet and gloriously sunny winter day already past 2:00, which meant even the stores that might be open this time of year were closed for siesta. We thought, before settling down to lunch, we’d check out Plaza de España, a charming historic plaza. There were a couple of nice-looking restaurants. We chose the second one we came to, Restaurante Plaza.

It was warm enough in the sun to enjoy a meal out on the terrace, but the cloud of cigarette smoke hovering all around decided us to head inside. We headed up some stairs to a room with terraced windows that looked out onto another street. Service was a pleasure and the menu was varied and unusual. We each chose our own three tapas and we were definitely not disappointed.

HAMBERGUESA DE CHIVO
(GOAT HAMBURGER)
MUSHROOMS AND STUFF… (I CAN’T REMEMBER WHAT
IT WAS CALLED, BUT IT WAS REALLY GOOD).
CRUJIENTE DE SALMON, QUESO DE CABRA, Y BOK CHOI.
(CRISPY SALMON WITH GOAT CHEESE.)
SALMON WASN’T CRISPY, JUST PASTRY IT WAS WRAPPED IN.

Numbers in another language can sometimes cause confusion. San Geraldo ordered his tapas by number. Cuatro (Four), Once (Eleven), and Diez y Cinco (supposed to be, but not, Fifteen). Since he was pointing to the items as he ordered, the waiter nodded and took down the information. When Judy ordered, she followed San Geraldo’s lead and requested Diez y Cinco. The waiter was a bit further away. He hesitated and looked at me. I said she didn’t want both Diez y Cinco (Ten and Five), she wanted Quince (Fifteen). The waiter laughed. San Geraldo laughed. And Judy said, “Well, that’s what I get for following Jerry’s lead!”

RESTAURANTE PLAZA, PLAZA DE ESPAÑA,
BENALMÁDENA PUEBLO.
HEADING BACK TO THE CAR.
THE SCENIC ROUTE, A DIEZ-Y-CINCO–MINUTE WALK.