Midday today was time to return the car, which we’ve had for the last three weeks. The car rental office is in Benissa and, after having returned it, we wandered up to Benissa’s main square to kill a little time with a beer or two.
Our route took us through some of the backstreets which were busily being prepared for a medieval market, we presume scheduled for Saturday. Without a car, we wouldn’t be able to come back and see it in all its glory,
What we were killing time for was a lunch at a restaurant called K L’iva. We had eaten there a few days ago as part of a group of six which was very pleasant but the size of some of the portions were not best suited to be shared among six; three or four would’ve been much better. I should explain. The restaurant doesn’t offer traditional main courses as such but a selection of inventive tapas in the form of raciones. Dividing some of the raciones by six is less than ideal but by three or four is fine. We returned as a threesome.
With three easy-to-feed diners, we chose four dishes that appealed to us. The proprietor gets the dishes ready in an appropriate order: fish first then meat, for example. First up was Fritura de Pescado Fresco de la Lonja fried small fish which we think were baby hake. We didn’t get the camera out before everything had been devoured.
Next up we tucked into Tartar de Atún [chopped raw tuna]. This was given an oriental dressing of toasted sesame oil, sesame seeds and pickled ginger, with a few bits of greenery underneath. The taste combination was simply sublime. Like the fried fish, this was a repeat of the dishes we chose when we were six [very Winnie the Pooh].
Our third choice on the table was octopus; Pulpo de Galicia a la Pancha. This is not something readily available at home but is something we seek out. Our normal source is sadly closed for the month of January so the alternative source was welcome. There’s a little bit left here but again, the camera was a bit tardy.
The last dish was a real experiment: Mollejas de Tenera con Chimichurri. We needed Google translate. It was Veal Sweetbreads with Chimichurri sauce. There’s a commonly held misconception that sweetbreads are testicles. Not so; they are the pancreas and thymus glands. These were very soft and absolutely delicious.
The young chef who runs this restaurant, along with its sister restaurant, Bar Trinquet, works very hard and very long with 16+ hour days. He puts an enormous effort into a very inventive menu, presents the food brilliantly and deserves to do very well.
In pleasant but relaxed surroundings, we were very well pleased with what we had.
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