The selection of
a cod-fish is the first necessity in preparing this dish, for some of
the cheaper kinds from Norway are so odoriferous as to make them
impossible to most white men.
Spain is a country which is no happy hunting ground for a gourmet. The
restaurants in Barcelona one can rely on, Madrid comes next in honour,
and the rest, to use a sporting term, are "nowhere," the customary
_table-d'hote_ dinner at the restaurants of a small town consisting of
_Caldo_, then the universal stew, then _Arroz a la Valencia_, rice,
chicken, and tomatoes, and finally quince marmalade.
Lisbon is the one city in Portugal where the cooking is worthy of any
serious consideration.
The wines of Spain are the Valdepenas, which is very strong and really
requires eight or ten years in bottle to mature, a Rioja claret, which
is a good wine when four years in bottle, and of course sherry in the
south, of which all the leading brands are obtainable. In the north I
have found Diamante a pleasant wine to drink. The Spanish brandy is, if
a good brand is chosen, excellent.
Barcelona
The busy bustling capital of Catalonia is better off in the matter of
restaurants than any town in Spain, the capital included. First in order
comes Justin's, the longer title of which is the Restaurant de Francia,
in the Plaza Real.
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