ANDALUCÍA - ALMERÍA CAPITAL ESPAÑOLA DE LA GASTRONOMÍA 2019 - TOUR DAY ONE

Miguel Renoir Spanish Guides
Mar 28, 2019
2 min read

Updated: 3 days ago

Almería was named Capital Española de la Gastronomía 2019 (Twitter @Almería2019), and various gastronomic events will take place in the province of Almería throughout the year.

We had the pleasure of being invited to these events by Fernando Huidobro www.fernandohuidobro.com, Twitter @FHuidobroRein, Presidente de Academia Andaluza de Gastronomía y Turismo (Twitter @andgastrotur)

We flew to Alicante after our short three-day trip to Ibiza, then drove down to Garrucha to meet the rest of the guests at the Garrucha fish auction house to learn about the famous Gambarojo de Garrucha.

Upon meeting the rest of the guests, we were given a short tour of the auction house by Gaspar Jiménez, the senior patron of the Garrucha Fishermen's Guild.

Above is the list of the minimum size per catch allowed to be landed.

After the tour, we were taken to Castillo San Ramón/Las Escobetas, on the outskirts of Garrucha.

The Castle was built in 1769 by order of Carlos III as part of the line of coastal defences to protect the coastline of Almería from North African pirates.

In the Nineteenth Century, it was used as a police garrison, but has recently been converted into an aula del mar (museum of the sea) open to the public.

On entering the Castle, we were given a glass of cava and then toured the Museum of the Sea.

After which, we took our places for the meal, which was being prepared by the staff and chefs of three local restaurants

Paco Escánez from Restaurante Escánez (twitter @GarruchaEscanez) from Garrucha itself.

Antonio Carmona from Terraza Carmona and Juan Moreno from Restaurante Juan Moreno (twitter @restajuanmoreno) from nearby Vera.

There were tables of ten in the Castle dining room, and we sat down to enjoy the following meal.

Terraza Carmona

Tortica de avión de Vera y ajo colorao

Wafer de avión de Vera and garlic colorao

Escánez

Gamba roja de garrucha a la plancha

Grilled red prawns from Garrucha

Escánez

Pulpo en aceite de oliva virgen extra

Octopus in extra virgin olive oil

Terraza Carmona

Gurullos con lomo de conejo relleno de habitas

Pasta flour ball stuffed with rabbit loin

Juan Moreno

Estornino en escabeche de cítricos y hortalizas de Almería

Chub Mackerel in pickled citrus and vegetables from Almería

Juan Moreno

Delicias de almendra en texturas

Almond delicacies in textures

After the excellent meal, there was a brief presentation ceremony for the three chefs.

The rest of the guests were going back to Almería City by coach to prepare for a tapas tour that evening. Still, since we had consumed quite a bit of wine at dinner, we decided to stay local that evening and drive to Almería City the next morning to join day two of the tour.