We are just back from a short but well deserved break in Spain, in Denia on the Costa Blanca to be precise. Now Denia is not short of decent eating places – it’s home, after all, to the multi Michelin-starred Quique D’acosta’s restaurant to name just one.
But this year we came across a little treasure of a restaurant we wanted to tell you about. In fact, let me correct that – it’s not really a restaurant, more of a bar. In fact it’s a small bar – un baret. It goes by the name of El Baret De Miguel Ruiz.
From the outside its quite unpre-possessing, all the more so as we approached in the midst of an Biblical-style torrent of rain. Once inside it is soon apparent that this is not your normal little place. The design is quirky and not in the least intimidating. The chefs work behind a open kitchen so you can see exactly what they are up to.
As we mentioned it is really a bar and in Spain that generally means one sort of food – tapas.
But these are not any old tapas. In the UK you may have become bored of being served up with chewy, rubbery calamari or with slices of burnt-to-within-an-inch-of-its-life chorizo, but you need have no fears with the bold Miguel.
Here is just a sample of some of the tapas available on the night we visited:
Carpaccio of octopus. Yes, that’s right, wafer thin slices of RAW octopus dressed in olive oil and lemon juice with little chunks of peach to create a contrast.
What about a burrito of morcilla, the famous Spanish blood sausage? Two corn tacos were filled with delicious morcilla before being baked and then topped off with avocado and rocket
Or perhaps you would prefer a “turron” of foie gras, a delicious slab of the smoothest pate, sprinkled- bizarrley, but deliciously – with cocoa powder and sea salt?.
Everything looked and tasted fantastic and to top things off the prices were extremely reasonable too, with tapas for 4 people as well as two delicious bottles of “tinto” and a couple of beers coming in at just over 90 euros.
Now you’ll notice I haven’t included the address. If you want to go there, you’ll find it – but don’t expect me to make it too easy for you because I want to be sure I can get a table next time!
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