Spain offers a food culture is one of the reasons that continues to lure Ms. Buddha and I back – after a long drive from Madrid – Ms. Buddha and I were hungry for some good food and “start” our holiday properly – a little research brought us to a little corner shop called Tasca Sorolla, which is next to the Mercat Central in Valencia.
The restaurant is a small little place – but definitely popular given the number of locals that were hanging about the place – the couple behind the counter were a little eccentric at first and the gentlemen didn’t speak much English but was so sincere when we beamed our smiles at him that he tried to translate the menu as best he could.
One thing that I’ve come to quite like about Spain is the culture of afternoon drinking! And the owner was pleased to see tourists embracing that culture – so we started with a couple of glasses of whites and some local cheeses – verdict? Even generic wine tastes wonderful here and the cheese had a nice strong punch to it – excellent!
Next up we went for some squid – one thing to remember is that when you order at these local stores, things tends to take a little longer, which is great because it let’s you drink more! It also means that food is cooked fresh! The was cooked fresh with a good dose of olive oil and chilli spice – Ms. Buddha loved it and kept soaking up the oil with the bread!
It’s been mentioned before, but Ms. Buddha loves croquettes – and with the glory of Google Translate – I found the word and of course we ordered. What came was amazing! It was a pulled pork croquette that was packed with flavourful pork and the drizzle of balsamic on the side just complimented the fattiness perfectly!
Last dish we had was pork chop – it was cooked with some garlic and olive oil (you have to have olive oil when you’re in Spain!) – and the quality of the meat was once again excellent – perfect with the wine! Once again, Ms. Buddha cleaned up with the bread!
Many tourists from Hong Kong might want to have Tapas and focus on shops that accommodates English capabilities, but for those who are brave enough to try something a little more local, Tasca Sorolla is definitely a place to put on your map – the service was great with the food being even better!
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