Well folks, Monday morning and I'm back in the office after a great weekend! After a nice ride up from Malaga in the Talgo we dumped our bags in the 4 star Hotel Melia Cordoba in the centre of town and we were off on a four hour tapa crawl around the Jewish Quarter. We had some lovely tapas in a variety of places, including El Caballo Rojo and Meson Bandolero, followed by the much needed siesta.

Then it was time for the main attraction and after a quick stop en route for fino at Casa Pepe de la Juderia, we arrived at El Churrasco. The head waiter sat us down on a long table with complimentary glasses of fino and plates of jamon serrano and we immediately started to take off our clothes.....well, just the jackets and sweaters anyway, because under the long table, behind the floor length tablecloth, were placed several "braseros" or braziers (this could be where we have difficulty with the differences between English spoken on either side of the Atlantic!!)which were filled with red hot glowing coals. Watch your toes! This set the mood for a cosy evening in a wonderful atmosphere. We couldn't agree on starters so the waiter suggested a selection of dishes such as fried berenjenas (aubergines), small boquerones and the revuleto de la casa, which had prawns, beans, garlic etc mixed in but not sea urchin spawn, unfortunately, so I'll have to return one day for that!

Main courses included fillet steaks, T-bone steaks, lamb cutlets, beautiful fresh fish (lubina) - all cooked to perfection on the barbecue. Several of the party chose the Churrasco Cordobes, which was a whole solomillo de cerdo or pork fillet, or tenderloin, which came with the sauces as described by Natalie earlier in this thread. It was succulent and certainly tender and was enjoyed by those who opted for this dish, myself included.

We were struggling to manage a dessert, but one of the offerings was on the menu as Gin and Tonic Jelly with Lemon Sorbet, which after a quick word with the obliging waiter became a large glass of Vodka and Lemon Sorbet and everyone was soon sipping appreciatively through a straw! Coffees followed, with complimentary servings of apple pie and little round chococlate covered ice cream treats.

Not wanting to dehydrate during the course of the evening, we had worked our way through 8 bottles of Rioja which was extremely pleasant, plus beer, plenty of water and lemonade. So now it was time for the bill and I have to admit that 6.500 Pts per person including the tip was lower than we expected, so we were pleasantly surprised.

The night was finished off by taking in a few of the lively bars (avoid the rum cocktails in La Habana - they're lethal!!) and finally to bed in the comfortable Melia Hotel (only 8.000 Pts a room per night with Bancotel - see my posting "Good accomodation..cheap" in the relevant forum).

Great weekend and so begins the planning for the next destination.........

[This message has been edited by Anchovy Front (edited 11-20-2000).]

ah, brilliant description!!! i for one can say i wish i was there. happy to see that everything was as wonderful as you had hoped for. with all of this buildup it would have been a shame if things hadn't gone as well as planned.

curious, which of the many rooms did they have your party in? if i recall, they had several salons that were decorated in a variety of styles based on cordoba's history. glad to see you had the berenjenas.(aubergines) did they come with the requisite salmorejo? very happy you indulged in the cultural twist we had a laugh about in previous posts. 'tis such a perfect culinary melange of spain's cultural history. when at el caballo rojo, what did you have and did you enjoy it? that's another great restaurant. you should give it a try at some point. hahahahaha...oh, and by the way, we here on the other side of the atlantic DO use the word brazier. no worries of translation. =)

after reading your post, this brings up and idea i've been thinking on. it might be an excellent idea to set up a list of all of our suggestions for places to eat. we have so many people who ask where to eat here, there and everywhere. why not give a list from all of us. what do you say madridman. how about a "madridman's member's eating recommendations." course you can play around with the title, thats a rough work in progress. =)

Hi nicholeye! Our group was in the Patio, where every table was occupied and a nice ambience prevailed (specially after the vodka sorbet!). We didn't have the salmorejo with the aubergines, as we'd had that earlier in the day at El Caballo Rojo, along with media raciones of chorizo, calamares (they are so good everywhere in Andalucia just now), mushrooms, beautiful tender meat cooked in Montilla fino and something else which escapes me now! Incidentally, El Caballo Rojo have some recipes including Samorejo on their web site www.elcaballorojo.com

Nice idea about the suggested restaurant site. It's always good to know what Joe Public likes or dislikes about a particular place. Glad the brazier bit was ok! I feared people falling about laughing because they had visions of glowing coals spilling out of items of ladies underwear. You say tomato......