Good morning to our last morning in Valencia right before our train to Madrid to finish up our last few days there. We packed up and enjoyed a slow late check out prior to going to a coffee shop.
We went to Kopp food & coffee bar that looked really cute with a bathroom. We had a few more hours to chill before our train ride at 210pm.
TORTILLA DE PATATA. Potato omelette. We got a potato omelette to share for breakfast. The potato omelette was very good! It has some onions in it that was different from the other potato omelettes.
SHAKERATO. Cafe frio batido. Vince saw this on the menu and immediately wanted to get this. It is basically like a shaken cold brew with extra foam on top. It was pretty refreshing and light and airy. Vince also got a second cup for himself.
CAPPUCINO DE SABORES. Caramelo. I got the caramel cappuccino because it is yummy espresso with milk but not too much milk and slightly sweetened by caramel drizzle! Isn’t it so cute!
After our 1.5hr train ride, we checked into our hotel called Hotel Regina, which is the finest hotel we have booked this trip. We wanted to ball out on the last leg of our trip. It’s so nice and fancy! Of course not as fancy as the Four Seasons and attached Hermès next door.. but fancy plenty for us!
By the time we settled down in our hotel room, it was 5pm. Surprisingly, every restaurant we wanted to eat at closes from 5-830pm. What the heck?! Why is it closed during prime dinner hours?! Spanish people eat late!!
So we desperately went to the San Miguel food market that we discovered in our first night of Spain to get some small bites to hold us over until dinner.
Recognize these?! We went back to the Salazones station to get some more toasts! There were even some new ones that we didn’t see last time!
Smoked salmon with dill sauce. This was a generous thick slab of salmon. It tasted very fresh and yummy. The dill sauce was a nice cirrus contrast.
Smoked sardines. This toast was very good! The smoked sardines was just a tiny bit salty but the perfect amount. Lightly fishy.
Salted anchovies with peppers.the salted anchovies were lightly salted and was paired perfectly with the sweet peppers to contrast.
Fresh anchovies with peppers. This is like the above toast but with fresh anchovies again. Very fresh and mildly sweet!
Icelandic smoked codfish liver. I had this the last time and had to get it again! It’s as good as I remembered!
Honey and mustard codfish. We tried this because we loved the honey codfish that we had in Barcelona. It was sooo good! The codfish was big fresh chunks and the light sweetness from the honey complemented the fish perfectly!
Then we decided to get two empanadas from the empanadas stand.
We got the chicken empanada and beef empanada.
Both empanadas were very good. They were also filled with potato. We both think the chicken is more flavorful than the beef. We walked around while eating these. The skin is also a different type of dough than the ones we had in Valencia. They’re more crunchy.
Vince wanted to go to a brewery in Spain and try a Spanish beer.
I don’t have much to say about the beer but the brewery is very tiny and dark. It did come with a free appetizer of bread and salami.
Tonight in Spain it has been drizzling. It’s supposed to rain more tonight and apparently our hotel has a connection with a nice looking restaurant next door 10% off.
There has also been random retro-modern like artwork placed in certain major areas of Madrid like Plaza Mayor having that big wall of airplane folded papers. It’s for LuzMadrid, which is the International Festival of Light where the city will be lit up by 20 innovative works of art to celebrate the Spanish capital. Puerta de Sol also had 3 large white bunnies that will be lit up too! We plan to explore all of it after dinner if the rain isn’t too crazy.
Dinner is at the restaurant attached to our hotel called El Castizo de Alcala. They were initially all booked but one of the hotel managers managed to squeeze us in at a 9pm reservation.
They are so packed at this restaurant!! Every worker was bustling and running around and working very fast!
MI SANGRÍA. Ron Brugal Extraviejo al estilo de Singapur, vino tinto, cítricos, limonada y azúcar. House Sangria. At first I thought this was the best sangria I’ve ever drank so far. It was so fruity and sweet. However, after 1/3 in, I felt a strong rush of heat, swelling and numbness to my entire head. It was kind of scary and uncomfortable. I think this sangria masks how strong it is very well.
NEGRONI Y OLÉ. Ginebra Bombay Sapphire, Vermuth Martini Riserva Speciale Rubino, Campari trucado con vinos del sur, hierbas de la Provenza, naranjas y bitter de aceituna. There is a strong herb component that is savory, marjoram, rosemary, thyme, and oregano. Vince really loved this Negroni. He says it’s the best Negroni he’s ever had.
The bread was warm, dense and soft at the same time. The salami was lightly salted.
Gilda donostiarra. Green chilli, olive and anchovy from Donostia. The skewer was very tasty! I loved the flavor combination of the anchovy, olive and green chili together!
Navajas en aceite de oliva José Peña. Razor shells with olive oil. This was my first time back for razor clams and it was actually quite tasty! The meat was an interesting and smooth texture. I couldn’t eat it as a whole though. It looked too weird to me so I cut it into small pieces. And I don’t know why this is served with Lay’s potato chips!
Caldo de cocido en taza. Stew broth served in Bowl. This wasn’t exactly the stew I was expecting but it was a very clean and clear broth.
Gamba blanca de Huelva. White prawn from Huelva grilled. First time eating white prawns also! Didn’t know what the difference was and wanted to try! It was cooked perfectly and still very soft. Topped with sea salt!
Oreja a la plancha. Grilled pork ear. This reminded me of the Vietnamese pig snacks for when you eat with beer. There were layers of it that were crunchy and others where it was soft from the fat.
Flan casero de nata 7,00. Homemade cream caramel. I’m chasing after the Spanish flan I had at the first paella cooking class a few years ago but none of them taste like that one! It’s still very good though! This one is very eggy and the whipped cream is dense and creamy.
Sigh it is still pouring outside so we will relax in our hotel room for tonight. Good thing one of the light artworks is right outside of our hotel room in plain view. Maybe tomorrow the weather will be better!
