FERIA DE MURCIA - WINE AND TAPAS EXHIBITION

We went up to try the food and wine exhibition at the Feria de Murcia on Sunday.
We arrived at 4pm and the market area doesnt open till 7pm then the exhibition opens at 8.30pm. So We wandered off and found a great little square with a tapas bar and sat al fresco and consumed tapas and vino.
At 7pm we wandered down to the Botanical garden area where the food and wine exhibition is, We had a walk around the market stall area.

Lots of little stalls

Including a man selling corn on the cob (not quite sure what he is doing with the hairdryer!)


This then went into the area which they were just setting up for the Moors and Christians Encampment

The Huertos de Malecon area was all set up, with lots of little places to eat

And a jazz band playing


A quick Mojito in the Cuban stall

And we made our way into the area set up with all the food and wine stalls

You go to the little stall selling tickets and for 9 euros you get a tray with a wine glass and some containers. You get a voucher for
3 tapas
3 glasses of wine
1 beer
1 vermouth
1 joker (ie you can use this for 1 of any of the above)
1 scratchcard (where you can win bottles of wine ect..)


You then make you way around the stalls and choose and plough your way through whichever wine takes your fancy

or tapa

or maybe some delicious cheeses? These were MONTESINOS cheeses.


It was all incredibly delicious and great fun, but one stall and wine sticks out and it was the BODEGAS JUAN GIL there wine was just sublime, so much so we had another glass!

The gentleman on the right is Antonio Caravaca (the comercial director of Bodegas Juan Gil) and the wine is their 12 month old - 2008.

You must try it, this is there webpage http://www.juangil.es/ing/index.htm

All in all a great evening, I could not reccomend this event highly enough. It is running until 13th September

Its so easy to find, just head up to Murcia, then take the turning to the Cathedral and its just there on your right.

For more info click here

http://polarisworldandbeyond.blogspot.com/2010/08/feria-murcia.html

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.

TAPAS TRAIL UPDATE

Well, we went down on Sunday to try the Tapas Trail (in the interests of keeping you informed of course!) And what a superb idea, loved it. Unfortunatly it was Sunday and some of the bars were closed. See my blog earlier for more info running from 20th August to 29th August, alongside the Audi Med Cup Regatta.
http://polarisworldandbeyond.blogspot.com/2010/08/audi-med-cup-and-tapas-route.html
You can print off the trail below by clicking one of the pics which will take you to the page.



As you can see each bar and tapa is numbered and this correlates to the map. Once you go into the first bar, you can pick up a proper smaller version.

We started at Number 18 - El Barril del Tapeo. And I must say this was my favourite, due to the food, ambience, and decor.

Located just down from the roman ampitheatre, this is a picture taken from the door to the ampitheatre (above)
A Place I would have never have found, had I not gone on the trail.
Busy with local people and service was great. The bar was laden with Tapas.
An amazing looking coffee machine!
These were the best Tapas we had, aubergine slices which were sandwiched with a tuna mayo filling and gratine on top! And a couple of beers to wash it down! all for 5 euros (2.50 each! I couldn´t reccomend this place highly enough. And will go back again and again.

Our next stop was number 16 which is "La Vieja Taberna"

Where we had a Meat and vegetable croquette on top of a carrot puree with cherry toms.

We did gobble this one down too quickly that I had forgotten to foto it! So asked lady next door and she kindly held hers up to foto!

Just along from this was the number 17 - restaurante Casino. But we decided not to have one in here, as needed a walk first.

So we continued on and ended up in Restaurante La Marquesita, which was just simply gorgeous,
Here we had a cannelloni filled with duck confit and mushrooms in an almost sweet and sour sauce.

This was a restuarant and not a tapas place, but very very nice and quaint, the food coming out to the diners looked sublime and extremely well presented. I will definatly go back and try their restaurant menu next time I am in Cartagena, service was great and friendly.

We continued on, but by now were actually not that hungry, so spent a while walking the streets staring upwards at Cartagena bulidings because they are incredible
Churches and the most fascinating buildings!
We walked by number 4 "Cerveceria Azafran" which unfortunatly was closed on a sunday.

Other wise I reckon we could have been tempted into another! As each participating place has a Poster in the door with the Tapa on it and check this one out!

Yummy looking or what!

I Have also been reccomended EL PINCHO DEL CASTILLO (number 34) and BARRIO DE SAN ROQUE (number 6) but unfortunatly both were closed on Sunday. So I will have to go back and try them.

This trail runs alongside the Audi Med Cup Regatta where there are also loads of concerts, parades, kids entertainment on, I have added pictures of the Village area to the Earlier blog post

http://polarisworldandbeyond.blogspot.com/2010/08/audi-med-cup-and-tapas-route.html

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