VALENTINES MEAL AND BAND AT ROLDAN GRILL

Monday 14th February 2011



AN EVENING OF ROMANTIC FOOD, WINE AND MUSIC


WITH THE EVERLYS TRIBUTE DUO


TREAT YOUR LOVED ONE TO SOMETHING SPECIAL.






START YOUR EVENING WITH A GLASS OF PINK CHAMPAGNE






STARTERS






Homemade hot Tomato & Oregano soup served with warm crusty bread


Passionate Prawn Cocktail served on a bed of lettuce with Marie Rose sauce


A cheesy moment for two - Baked Camembert cheese served with garlic toast


Tear and Share - Cheesy Garlic Bread






Main Courses






Voluptuous Breast of Chicken served with mushroom sauce


Saucy Sirloin steak or Randy Rib eye steak served with peppercorn or Roquefort sauce


Sexy Salmon steak served with Chive and Champagne sauce


Lusty Lasagne a vegetarian delight






All above served with chips or dauphinoise potatoes, Salad or seasonal vegetables.






Desserts






Fresh Strawberries and cream served on a heart shaped shortbread


Down And Dirty for two -Fresh Fruit whisked with fresh cream and crushed meringue


Chocolate seductive Hanky Panky served with fresh cream






End your romantic meal with Coffee and cherry liquors






25 Euros per person






Booking Advisable - Limited seating.

roldangrill@hotmail.es

(0034) 968 589 446

RESTAURANTE VENTA LA GARRUCHAL

Today we had a drive up to Garruchal, which is only a matter of minutes from La Torre Golf, El Valle and Hacienda Riquelme. We had heard about a great little Venta to eat in.

If you have never eaten in a Venta you should, for those who do not know them they look rather frightening from the outside, but once you get inside you get some great food.

This one has some stunning views:

From this venta is where the walks in the mountains start, I have heard there is a stunning 3 hour walk which starts and ends here, then afterwards you can have a good hearty lunch at the venta.
There is a map with a description of the walk

Now to the good bit, food:

The Venta has 3 parts to it

The bar area, which also has some tables and chairs

The large dining area

And this is where we sat, as it had lovely views of the mountains:

Now we went for the Menu del Dia

We had some yummy almonds to nibble on till the food started rolling in, with a salad to get us going:

There were about 5 choices of starters (Primero), but we all went for the tuna spaghetti, which was delish.

Again there was about 4 or 5 choices for mains (Segundo)

2 of us went for the Paella

And one for the Pork chops (chuletas)

Puddings (Postres) , well ....

Rice pud (arroz con leche)

Choccie cake (Tarta de chocolate)

And mine was Pan de Calatrava (which is inbetween creme caramel and cake mmmmmmm )

This was finished off with coffees

The whole meal, including coffees and 2 large litre bottles of beer for 3 of us came to 27 euros!

We then decided to drive on and drove through some great scenery and mountains

There are signs saying beware of frogs and reptiles on the road!

the road took us down to Murcia, we avoided Murcia by following the signs to El Palmar, which took us through the outskirts of Murcia

Ver mapa más grande

From The marker on the map above where La Tercia  is go in the direction of the C3319 and turn right at  first cross roads, continue up this road till you see the Venta on your left.

From La Torre, go up past Valle Del Sol, when you get to the crossroads where you can turn left to El Valle Golf or Right To Hacienda Golf, Go straight on and keep going till you see it on your left.

Good food, great spot and very reasonable.
Go and Enjoy :)

LA PARPADELLA - THURSDAY SPECIAL MEAL

La Parpadella Italian Restaurant on the Boulevard is doing a special set meal on Thursdays, to coincide with the live bands playing at Mombassa every thursday night. DINNER AND BAND NIGHT

 You can see the Menu below, which includes drinks

And also includes a Cocktail at Mombassa afterwards while you watch the band!. Remember this thursday 21st is Chess, see my blog before http://polarisworldandbeyond.blogspot.com/2010/10/chess-play-mombassa.html

THEMED BUFFETS EVERY DAY AT GINGKO

Every evening at the Hotel Intercontinental La Torre Golf, from 6.30pm to 10.30pm there is a different style Buffet from a different country in the World.

HACIENDA RIQUELME FACILITIES OPEN

The old hacienda has finally opened.

Outside seating in the plaza and to the frontover the gardens

As you walk in the big old main doors, there is a grand staircase to you left, leading to a chillout area, and another room which at the moment is set up as a press room for the golf competition shortly.

At the end of a corridor is the bathrooms plus a glass window that looks down on the bar area.

Coming back down the stairs, directly infront leads to the bar area, which wraps round to an eating area.

Directly infront of the eating area,is another room for eating with tables,but as there were quite a few people eating, didnt want to disturb them by taking pictures.
From the entrance corridor, if you go out through the doors onto the garden area, you are greeted by a serene Old Hacienda Style Garden, with outside seating

You can see more pictures of opening night here

http://www.hrgr.es/images/photos/haciendaopen230910.pdf

and daytime pictures here

http://www.hrgr.es/images/photos/hacienda240910.pdf

Some people may think it is too modern, personally I love the blending and contrast modern and old make.

LA TROPICAL

The other day I nipped into one of my favourite restaurants for a spot of tapas.
La Tropical.

This is the new one they have opened, the original one is down in Los Alcazares, but this one is on "the Boulevard" outside of the Mar Menor Golf Resort, on the road that goes from Torre Pacheco to Los Alcazares.

The outside does not do it justice, but on the inside its bright and modern, with a restaurant area

And then a bar area, the two are divided by a wall with glass units full of blue bottles

The service is always superb and has a great atmosphere and vibe in there.
We ordered the "tapas plate" where they bring you 4 tapas to share, you can choose, but we asked him to bring the 4 tapas he thought were the best, and this is what we got.

And I must say all were rather delicious, washed down with a couple of sprites and a sangria, came to 18.00 euros. We also got to try a sample of the speciality of the house ...

I know it looks a little frightening, but it was very yummy, and is black rice with cuttlefish (arroz negro con sepia) The rice is black as they use the ink from either cuttlefish or squid to colour it black!

The bar is laden with lots of different tapas .

All in all I couldn´t reccomend this place highly enough. And if you are ever in Los Alcazares, try there one there too, this is down the road to the side of the Townhall that leads to the beach.

TAPERIA CASA TOMAS AND TAPAS

Whilst in Cartagena the other day, we nipped down to Taperia Casa Tomas for some breakfast.
This place is superb, so I grabbed some more pictures for you to see.
As we were there for "second breakfast time" we were sat to the far end of this picture, as the rest of the outside area was set up for lunch.

Inside there is seating and a bar area.

And the bar area is just covered with tempting looking Tapas.

And cold meats.

We had a "racion de pan tostada con tomate" which is french bread toasted, you then drizzle olive oil on it, add the chopped tomatoe and sprinkle with salt....It is also rather scrummy with Jamon serrano on it.

The Tortilla on the counter was far too tempting for my friend to resist (see proof below) and she had her first taste of Tortilla Española here.

Tortilla Española is an omelette made with potatoes, eggs and onion, very scrumptious and is sliced like a cake and served with bread. Sometimes it has vegetables in.

This place serves a delicious 3 course meal, which includes a salad, starter, main, pudding, bread and a drink or coffee for 11 euros.

They also do a Tapas menu.

Service is quick and friendly.

It is real Spain though, so you may need to bring a dictionary with you!

For info of how to get there and a google map

click link below

http://polarisworldandbeyond.blogspot.com/2010/07/restaurants-in-region.html

WALKING THE PLANK

Today is the day of Santiago Apostol. And lots going on down in Santiago de la Ribera well into the early hours of tommorrow
See earlier post to see what´s on tonight http://polarisworldandbeyond.blogspot.com/2010/07/day-of-santiago-apostol.html

We went down to see the "Cucaña" where there have a greasy pole directioned out to sea and the local lads try to walk to the end to grab the flag and then they win a leg of ham.

The start of the festivities was a huge BANG of a firework.

The pole was coming off the end of the ferry and the spectators were bobbing around in the sea!

And then the boys started trying to walk the greasy pole....

They would inevitably lose their balance and...

fall with a splosh into the sea and have to do the walk of shame back through the bobbing spectators

Some did manage to hang on .... literally ;)

and occasionally some got soooooooooo close that the bobbing people cheered and oohed and arghh just like when a golfer misses the hole by a milimetre!

Finally one lucky lad did manage to make a flying leap whilst falling and took the most sought after prize!

For more local festivities around the beach click here http://polarisworldandbeyond.blogspot.com/2010/07/los-alcazares-santiago-de-la-ribera-and.html
The afternoon was finished beautifully by a "Menu del Dia" at Meson del Molinero down in Lo Pagan with views across the sea

You can see more info of this restaurant in my Restaurant Guide here
http://polarisworldandbeyond.blogspot.com/2010/07/restaurants-in-region.html