A 5 star pilgrim meal

Cooking with passion

Tonight we ate a sensational pilgrim meal at Restaurante Me Gusta Comer. However, let this story start from the beginning.

We arrived at the town of Rionegro del Puente or better known as the bridge over the black river. The reviews of the albergue was promising and the restaurant across the road even better. With the door to the albergue open we went in and made ourselves at home.  Hola, hola, hola …….. no response, oh well let’s just find a good bed and shower.

After showering it was time to make for the bar. Looking around all we could see was the above mentioned. Walking in we could see all the other pilgrims eating away at their lunchtime fare while the chef was running around and seriously intense.

Uno cervesia and dos Tinto de Verano I call out. Well, you would have thought I said El Sid was a fake. Much yelling in Spanish it was clear he couldn’t sell alcohol without food. I was perplexed at this as you can buy alcohol at a corner store, so I don’t imagine off licence alcohol laws exists. We assisted in our exit by the owner with the door assisting us in the back.

The waitress (if it’s still expectable to call women that) took pity and got us our order on the proviso we drink them outside. Looking around at the other closed bars this was clearly the only option.

Drinks finished we took stock of our options and with nothing in this town, that gave pause that the pandemic had a much higher mortality rate here due to the absence of locals, we knew we would need to return this evening or go hungry.

Returning at 7pm we are greeted by the chef/owner and asked how many? Cinco I reply in my best Spanish, and we are seated right next to preparation HQ.

With all the other pilgrims seated and looking nervous we sit looking towards the exit we may see sooner than we expect. Before long the theatre begins with the chef doing some last-minute dicing and plating of firsts. It was wonderful to watch and for the chef this was serious business.

I could go into what we ate like tuna pate with dates and jam swish, Galician soup and pork with apple sauce. Let me just say that this fellow has learnt his craft in Paris or London as the meal was so good we were looking for a Michelin rating on the Front door.

We got the impression that we were in the presence of a Spanish Gordon Ramsey, lots of theatre and bluff when in reality we had a meal cooked with passion to be shared on a pilgrim trail.