Paella.
I didn’t realise how important that word would become when we first tried it many years ago In Peniscola. We went to this Fish Restaurant by the Harbour and Jaki talked me into trying this yucky undercooked rice with bits of Fish in it.
It was Horrible.
Who knew then that we would spend the best part of 10 weeks in 2022 seeking out the perfect Paella?
Sunday is music day but we have grown tired of the same old groups (I’m going eat my words later in this Blog but there you go, accuracy isn’t my strong point) at the same old venues and we have become Champions for local Spanish bars and restaurants.
Sunday we booked a table at Hola Ola for 3pm. I cycled along to Hola Ola and having down loaded the Phrase. “Can I book a table for Sunday at 3pm” onto my phone, I was pretty confident I could get us a booking.
My first obstacle was when the rather attractive young lady with the long peroxide hair and the arm Tat’s tried to book us in on Saturday.
“No I definitely want Sunday ( Domingo) as you have a band playing. “
‘No we dont”. She said.
As I mulled this over the owner (one of them) came past and overheard.
“Oh yes we do”. He advised.
And that was it. I had booked a table for 3 pm in Hola Ola, on a Sunday. Result
On the hottest day to date Jaki and I walked up the road to Hola Ola where we found we had been seated, not indoors as I had requested, but out on the terrace, with the smokers. Worse, they had run out of shade provided by the big umbrellas and our plastic table and chairs was meting in the heat.
Luckily, the same owner spotted our dilemma, said something very serious to the waiter and we were asked to have a drink in the bar whilst they reorganised the seating.
In previous Blogs I’ve mentioned the reluctance of some Brits to use Hola Ola due to a ‘perceived bias’ in favour of Spanish customers and I have to admit, I started to feel like the poor relation as we sat there without a Menu, being totally ignored by the staff who, in their defence were rushed off their feet trying to cope with the lunch time crowds.
After a very long wait, the owner came to our rescue once again and brought the menus. We scrutinised them in fine detail looking for a meal that wouldn’t fill us up.
That morning Dave G had invited us to his apartment for Breakfast and he had gone to town.
The biggest (and probably tastiest) Croissants I have ever encountered were served with some excellent home made Marmalade, which he bought from Badgers on the Brit Strip.
Now Badgers is a place I refuse to frequent. It appeals to Brits who want. ‘A little bit of home in the Sun’.
It offers ex Pats, Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding, Bingo, Karaoke, The Sun Newspaper, English TV, Premier League, Dads army. You know the sort of place.
Some years ago it was one of the few places you could get an authentic Full English Breakfast and I woke one morning with the craving. So I dragged jaki along there much against her will. I ended up falling out with an English Guy who broadcast his view on the England Rugby team to the whole bar.
“The reason we lost [this particular match] was because we had too many foreigners playing for us”. Was his analysis of the result.
I swore I wouldn’t go back again till hell froze over but for the sake of this particular Marmalade, which was I have to say truly amazing, I went.
I had to Pass the usual customers with their Union Jack Tattoo’s and their breakfast pints of lager to the back where a very nice lady informed me she had sold the last one and wouldn’t have any till next week.
Following on behind the Croissants was Jamon and cheese, then Eggs, Bacon and Sausages, Toast and Brown Sauce. What a way to start the day.
Dave and Steph rent an apartment at the top of a complex right at the far end of Mojacar Playa as the road turns in land and makes its way to Macenas. There are loads of apartments built into the hill side but Dave tells us most are unoccupied. Those that are used tend to be used occasionally so they often have the place in to themselves.
The view from the top was stunning both front and back.
At the back the hills were dotted with large villas that seem almost impossible to access without a team of Mules but its all so green and full of wild flowers. This looks beautiful but later in the year when it all dries out, it will become a major fire hazard.
At the front the complex slopes down to where the two giant cranes have only just been taken down. They started doing some work on the Hotel there at the start of Covid and have only just finished.
Sat on the balcony, the sun got really hot and we all huddled under one small umbrella.
Dave assures me he will buy a much bigger one soon, though Steph says he is too tight?
They explained to us how difficult it was during lockdown as they weren’t allowed outside their flat, even taking rubbish to the bins became a luxury outing which they took in turns.
The government used Drones to police this!
So we were still stuffed when we got to Hola Ola and all the huge steaks, Burgers and Lamb chops which usually look so appealing were just too much to contemplate. What we needed was fish and they had plenty of that. All the usual suspects plus Hake wrapped in Banana leaf which sounded a bit different.
Now at this point I have to remind you that Menus can be deceptive. They May well be in Spanish and English but that doesn’t mean they make any sense.
Like the offering in Cosmos the other day.
“Fried Egg with Dishes” is a hard one to fathom.
There were some obvious offerings to avoid.
‘Fried eggs with potatoes, garlic prawns and Baby eel’ wasn’t high on my list .
Nor was ‘Mussels with Tripe and spring Onions‘ though I’m sure it would be interesting.
It was at this point we fell into the trap and went for the Holy Grail.
“let’s try their Paella“. I heard myself say.
They only had a small selection and they were priced per person and had to be shared so a minimum of two people.
‘Sea food stewed rice’ was discarded straight away.
‘Black rice with Octopus and Mantis Shrimp’? Uh, no.
Noodle Paella. WTF is that?
Stewed red prawns at €24 each was a bit too expensive so we settled for:
‘Rice with Lobster”. €22 each sounded like it would be nice?
Now, although this was on the page under the heading ‘Paella,‘you can’t always take things at face value. It turned out that it actually wasn’t Paella, at least not as we had come to expected it.
It was actually Rice soup with Lobster. Or to put it another way Lobster with Rice in a soup.
It came in a deep bowl and we realised immediately this wasn’t like any Paella we had eaten to date.
It was runny, more like a Cup a soup that has been overfiled’.
It did have at least one deceased lobster on the top and the sauce was flavoured with Small Prawns, Muscles and Clams. Clams are something I’ve not really tried before ( if you ignore the time we ate Spaghetti Vongole which had a selection of very pretty shells with absolutely nothing inside them). But it wasn’t dry like a Paella, it was runny and to complicate things even further they gave us a Knife and Fork to eat it with, so we had to share the one spoon we had on the table.
That had come as part of the Thai Salad starter we ordered when we were told the Paella would take at least 40 minutes to prepare.
They called it a Thai Salad and it was advertised as having ‘Prawns, Pumpkin seeds and Mango Chutney’. However, this title was a bit of a misnomer as it was basically a mixed lettuce salad (with some grated carrot and red cabbage on top) dressed in Balsamic vinegar ?
How this got labelled as a Thai salad i dont know. And what happened to the Mango Chutney?
The 4 large prawns were tasty, coated in a crispy coating and served on sticks but eating them was short lived. Then it was just Rabbit food and at €12 it was a very expensive mixed salad indeed.
As an after thought two metal Nut Crackers arrived on the table and we were able to crack the claws in an attempt to get at the Lobster meat inside but it was very hard to extract and there wasn’t much of it when we eventually got it out. So we settled for eating the muscles, which I quite liked, the Clams, which were tasty too and the baby prawns.
But there was just no way we could consume all that liquid. We had to leave a lot of it as it was just too much boiled rice for two people.
So we are still in search of the best Paella in Mojacar (Jakis for me has been better than anything we’ve had to date) though Mike tells me Kontiki Bar currently offers the best Paella on the strip.
We sat with the detritus of our meal in front of us for some considerable time, probably longer than was reasonable but the staff were running back and forward clearing one table and delivering to another. Perhaps they just didn’t see us sat there?
By the time we had finished the staff were clearing tables and reorganising ready for the band to set up. Most of the (Spanish) diners left and the new influx of mainly Brits started to be seated. However, there was still an hour till the band were due to start.
We asked for the Bill which included an extra Beer and Bread which we didn’t actually order.
They altered the bill and I deliberately paid an extra 10% tip which made the waiter somewhat embarrassed and I hope he remembers that in the future.
Sadly I have to concede that the service we got was a bit disappointing and I can empathise with those people who feel they are ignored in Hola Ola. It would be wrong of me to suggest we had been treated exactly the same as everyone else, we weren’t and that’s a shame.
We were happy to sit there and watch the comings and goings of the customers. An older lady with slightly crossed eyes arrived with a very young toy boy in tow. He fussed over her, got the drinks, lit her cigarette and generally looked spotty.
A body builder in skimpy T shirt and shorts moved from his seat on the terrace to the bar where it was out of the wind. Either that or he had to put on more clothes and cover up his ripped body and there was no way he was doing that. Wuss!.
A squat Guy wearing a Hola Ola T shirt ( dont get me started on that) was drinking beers constantly at the bar and managed to knock the tray of glasses out of the waters hand smashing them on the floor.
One of the rather pretty young waitresses burnt her wrist in the kitchen.
A stream of elderly but rather glamorous ladies arrived and reorganised the tables which is apparently some thing the Spanish consider rude and they were forced to put them back again.
Dogs of various shapes and sizes arrived via the beach as people wandered in to see what was happening.
What the management of Hola Ola were expectingly booking the Electric owls I’m not really sure but they didn’t clear enough tables away before the start so when people got up to dance, they had to do it single file. It was OK for the Congo but not much good for dancing around your hand bag.
Eventually the band arrived and made straight for the bar where they ordered beers before bothering to set up .
One of the annoying things about Electric Owls when we watched them last week was the amount of time they took tuning up. They spent an absolute age and I’m not sure anyone in the audience noticed any difference?
We were joined by Mike and Pat just in time for the ‘Concert’ as the Spanish waiter referred to it.
The band were very good, much better than they were last Thursday. The drummer in particular impressed. Not because of the drum solo he does toward the end of the set, but his drumming on a WHO number was particularly good, in my opinion. Though the young guitarist impression of Pete Townsend with the windmill arms fell flat when his plectrum flew out of his hand and onto the floor.
He dropped his Pick-Pick!
Some of the group are well known on the Music circuit and have been involved in other bands in the past whilst one or two were younger and fresher. So we were treated to a really good couple of hours entertainment.
However, most of my amusement came from watching the audience as they got up and danced in various fashions. A young group of Spanish who had eaten solidly for about 3 hours suddenly became the young kids on the dance floor and gave it Large. The two Mums suddenly becoming wild teenagers again.
One older couple who I think were English had obviously had Salsa lessons and were keen to show off their skills. There were plenty Air Guitarist and at least two air Drummers backing up the band.
One old guy had to keep pulling up his shorts, when he danced they gradually worked their way down to his knees. Another fella looked like he was wearing Adult Pampers as his shorts were plumped up at the back.
It was all good fun and we laughed our way through the afternoon.
What wasn’t funny was the state of the Ladies Loo which was awash and Jaki and Pat took to taking fist fulls of serviettes with them so they could wipe the seat down. It really is disappointing that the only ladies toilet is allowed to get into such a mess on the busiest day of the week?
We are often asked what has been our favourite Restaurant to date ( a question often posed on the Mojacar Face Book Page) and I’m sorry to say they have all, in different ways been disappointing.
Boracay is probably the nicest environment but we were disappointed with the fish.
The Indian was good though its probably not a patch on the Frampton Balti back in our village.
I liked my Breakfast in CasaFlor but Jaki wasn’t too impressed with her Breakfast Muffin.
So the search goes on.
We still have a few days left to find the Holy Grail of Mojacar food and then we can tell you about it. But we only have 6 more nights!
This could go down to the wire.
I always end my blog these days with a little Flower!
Bill and Jaki go Travelling 