In Spain, It Is Not About the Food or the Drink. It Is About the Company and the Conversations.
On a recent trip through the South of Spain, it struck me how one just orders a red wine or a beer. You don’t order a Rioja El Diablo 2015 or a Tripel Trappist beer from the monks in West Malle. You order the type of drink and that’s it.
In Sevilla, a red wine is often a basic Rioja and a beer is definitely Cruz Campo, a local brew. There aren’t many other beers on the menu. Belgian beer conglomerate InBev must be scratching their head why there incredible beer selection hasn’t found any footing in the South of Spain.
The answer is becoming more clear to me. It is all about the people you meet at the bar, and not about what your drink or what you eat. Just order some tapas and something you like to drink - beer or wine. The main course is the conversation of what happened last week or last night.
Luckily you don’t have to settle for cabbage rolls and vodka here. Gambas al ajillo, patatas bravas, or boquerones aren’t too shabby. Add a cold beer or any Spanish wine and you have a great starter menu.
And thus, many conversations and night adventures commence. Until around midnight that is, when for some local ordinance, this place closes down faster than a restaurant with rats in the kitchen.