On the 26th of May, I finished the first part of the tour. The last gig was in Lugo, and it was so amazing I still feel Like floating after more than a week. The audience was so great they asked us for three encores, and we couldn’t resist, of course 🙂

We ended the night having some drinks outside pubs, chatting with some of the people in the audience. It was nice. The next day we decided to try Paprica, a nice restaurant I came to know about in the Forum Coruña thanks to Álvaro Villasante, the executive chef.

We didn’t want to eat in the restaurant itself because we’d already had some tapas somewhere else before they opened (when you are on tour sometimes you have breakfasts that last until you have luch) I knew they had the option of having some tapas on the bar in the entrance, and after checking it was OK with them to sit there, we ordered some drinks.

Lugo is a city famous for two things: its Roman Wall and free tapas with each drink. Usually they ofer you a pincho and a tapa (the difference here is that the pincho is cold and the tapa is hot).

I didn’t expect them to offer us anything in a restaurant, but it is still Lugo, and with the first round of drinks came a really refreshing tapa. It was a bite-sized salad. I really appreciated the crunchiness of the lettuce, contrasting with the smooth peeled cherry tomato. All of this was perfectly joined by a savoury, creamy and light sauce (probably a delicate homemade mayo) The flavour of the onion was subtle and nice.

After that, we were going to order two dishes for the three of us, but inspecting the menu we noticed that both dishes we were going to ask for, were included in a promotional menu with a dessert for a better price. As we were willing to try as many things as possible without eating too much (again, Lugo had already offered us a couple of tapas) we thought it was a good idea to try the dessert as well.

The first course of the set menu consisted of a jumbo shrimp carpaccio (which I am always willing to try, because normally I don’t really enjoy raw shrimp). You know I like to be surprised and I was. It was probably the best dish I’ve tried this year. As much as I loved the whole meal at Kausa Nikkei (which was perfect) this carpaccio took me somewhere else. The texture of the shrimp was amazing, but the flavours were out of this world, the intense sweetness of the seafood contrasted with the citric flavours. I think I remember a nice olive oil, but I can’t swear it because it was not the main flavour in it, which wasn’t at all something to reproach. Then, some texture, and flavour, was offered by an apple cut brunoise in the center. And the freshly ground black pepper, crunchy and pungent was something you couldn’t easily forget. Although the rest of the meal was very good, this dish knocked me down and I thought about it all day. Literally all day.

The second course was a fajita, but they told us they didn’t have that one and that they could offer us a mini hamburger instead. After that delicious tartar, I wouldn’t mind if they wanted to bring me any other thing. I was still feeling the flavours in my mouth so I didn’t complain. They let us choose between the two they had. We ordered the one with candied cherry tomato and goat cheese.

No complaining on our side, they offered us a not-so-mini hamburger in between a really nice bread. The meat was perfectly cooked and juicy, even though it was veal. It had a lot of flavour, the cheese combined very well with the sweetness of the candied tomato. The only thing, I would have ordered the other one if I knew they were going to give me the same one (minus the bun) as a complimentary tapa with my second glass of wine. Just to try more stuff. But being such a good dish, I didn’t mind having it again.

In fact, they excused themselves for not noticing that (which was very thoughtful, and totally unnecessary…it was a free tapa, they didn’t even have to give me anything, I was grateful for it and it was delicious. But that makes a good service great, don’t you think?) Actually, I want to make a special mention to the service. The two waiters that were there, were terribly good. They were nice, lovely and the one that was in the bar most of the time, was always smiling. That is something I really appreciate (he even laughed at a very bad joke I made…so, extra points for him hehe).

Dessert arrived, and we noticed it wasn’t the “promised” soufflé. They apologized again because it wansn’t available and brought us a flan ice-cream instead. It would have been perfect if they had told us before, you know I can’t have ice cream when I’m singing. Anyway, at risk of losing my voice for a couple of days (which, by the way, was exactly what happened, but only because I ate another ice cream later) I tried the dessert, and it was incredibly delicious. Flavourful, yet not too sweet (which for me is necessary, as far as desserts are concerned) It really tasted like egg yolk, it actually reminded me to that day at Mijo Minibar in Vigo and the deep egg yolk flavour from the pot de crème.

The crunchy and roasted flavour of the crumble contrasted with the textures and nuances of the ice cream. The caramel mixed with all the other elements made it a real deconstructed flan. Everything reminded me of it, but it was served, and cooked, in a very different way. They actually called the dessert Frozen Egg Flan, not flan ice-cream.

Because of all the changes in the menu, they gave us complimentary drinks for all. Again, not necessary, but it was a nice gesture. We weren’t going to complain, because everything they offered us was good, but I guess it is not their intention to change people’s choices.

I’d seen in their Facebook page, they had a dinner harmonized with wine (kind of a wine tasting with a dinner, no spitting involved) the following Tuesday. The three of us (Cris, although she doesn’t drink, and Carlos…although he probably don’t like this kind of events) noted our names down for that, but that’s a story for another post that I’ll write soon. Have fun!