A birthday of culinary explorations
Featuring La Terracica, Alma Beach Club La Mata & Habitus
How does a food blogger, restaurant critic and hospitality marketer spend their birthday? Eating of course.
And that was the plan Terri-Lynn had for my 52nd year around the sun, we would eat out all three meals.
La Terracica
The day began on Playa Del Cura at La Terracica. Spanish breakfast is a tostada. Basically half a baguette, toasted and topped with either olive oil, tomato, cheese, tuna or a combination of these ingredients and is typically served with coffe or juice. We have learned through our travels there is only one place in the world to get an American breakfast and that would be in the States. So, when we saw they had an ‘omlette’ available for breakfast we were of course intriqued. This is where we went for my birthday breakfast.
*A note here about the American breakfast. It is huge, maybe 2,000 to 3,000 calories which is already way over the daily limit in one meal. As an example there was a place in Portland Oregon on Mississippi avenue called Gravy. The wait could easily be over an hour to get in. This was a normal tradition in Portland, collect a few friends grab a cup of coffee and wait outside the restaurant for 60-90 minutes for your brunch. It was just a thing to do. At Gravy they served a 12 egg omelette along with hashbrowns covered in country gravy.
Terri-Lynn had a tostada with ham and cheese and I went for the omelette. As you can see it is not exactly the same as the type of omelette I may have been expecting but it was a nice way to start the day. La Terracica is one of the many restaurants that sits on the promenade of Playa del Cura beach with a view of the sea and a great place for people watching. The service has always been very good and we have had a pizza here on a few occasions.
Alma Beach Club La Mata
For lunch we decided to make a trip out of it and take the bus to the nearby town of La Mata. We come here on Wednesdays for the weekly farmers market and often times find ourselve at Seaview Restaurant for their Indian menu which is very good. Today we decided to try a new place right on the beach called Alma Beach Club.
I admit, I am a food stalker. It has been difficult here at times as many restaurants do not have a web site to view their menus, prices and food pics. And, many of the restuarants that do have web sites guess what? They do not have their menu on their web sites.
But, Alma has a menu on their web site and upon browsing the opportunites of culinary digestion this is where we chose to have lunch. Two reasons, the salmon photo looked delicious and the description of the Rabo de torro burger with bernaise sauce sounded crazy! And, the prices were good, so lets go!
Beef Brioche from La Mata with Mushrooms & Bearnnaise sauce
When I read this on their web site I was like, no way that sounds so decadent. But at only $3.50 euro of course we had to try it. It was really good and not as decadent as it sounds. But it is what it is, Rabo de torro with bearnnaise. It is amazing, totally recomended.
I should also mention there are two small pools in the restaurant so Terri-Lynn wore her bathiung suite. She thought it was really fun to get up from the table and take a dip in the pool between courses. Also, there was a table of local futball players here that day. They were very cute but also very loud, we had to move three times to try and distance ourselves from them. Pro tip- never eat in a restaurant with futball players.
BBQed Salmon Tataki, Wakame and aromatized Oil
And then it was on to the salmon dish. Very nice. It is very much how I cook at home so not really too impressive as far as experiencing something different but it is excellent and for most people, I think a bit exotic here in Torrevieja. As you can see there are wasabi peas, trout roe, snap peas, a soy reduction and the salmon is placed upon wakame (seaweed) it really is a fabulous dish. Terri-Lynn loved it, and I did too but again it just seemed too much like the food I usually cook at home.
BBQed Avocado, Red Tuna Tartar and boobs
We also did the poke, and again it was very similar to what I make at home. So, I guess I must like this restaurant since they cook like me. But you know as a foodie I do like to be introduced to new flavors.
It was time to take the bus back to Torrevieja and have a siesta before dinner. Yeah, rough day. Tonight we will visit one of our favorite restaurants here and also the restaurant that has so far, the best steak in Torrevieja, Habitus.
I have done a much more thorough review of Habitus here. So I encourage you to check that out, no reason to repeat myself. But here are a few of the dishes you will find at Habitus.
We have a nice list of favorite restaurants here for a special evening out, all that will cost you between 80 to 100 euros for two people. In no particular order they are Habitus, Sunset Beach, Timonel Belchica, La Boca and Rincon de Capris.
And that was it. It was a delicious day with my favorite person. It will take years to visit all the restaurants here (700) but we will try.
