Algernon Bastard

Food and wines of the country—Barcelona—San Sebastian—Bilbao—Madrid—Seville— Bobadilla—Grenada—Jerez— Algeciras—Lisbon—Estoril.

A candid Frenchman, who had lived long in Spain, asked as to the cookery of Spain compared with that of other nations, replied, "It is worse even than that of the English, which is the next worst." That Frenchman was, however, rather ungrateful, for the Spaniards taught the French how to stuff turkeys with chestnuts. The Spanish cooks also first understood that an orange salad is the proper accompaniment to a wild duck, and the Spanish hams are excellent. The lower orders in Spain have too great a partiality for ajo and aceite for oil and garlic. Their oil, which they use greatly even with fish, is not the refined oil of Genoa or the south of France, but is a coarse liquid, the ill taste of which remains all day in one's mouth. Garlic is an excellent seasoning in its proper place and quantity, and the upper classes of the Spaniards have their meat lightly rubbed with it before being cooked, but the lower classes use it in the cooking to an intolerable extent. Capsicum is much eaten in Spain, being sometimes stuffed, but in any quantity it is very indigestible.

In the south of Spain the heat is tropical in the summer, and the only meat then available in any small town is generally goat. As in India, the chicken which you order for your lunch is running about the yard of the inn when the order is given. The principal dish of Spain is Puchero, which consists of beef, very savoury sausages, bacon, fowl, and plenty of the white haricot beans known as garbanzos, some leeks, and a small onion, all put together into a pot to boil. The liquid is carefully skimmed before it actually boils, and as the scum stops forming hot water is added. The broth, Caldo, is used as soup; the remainder, which has had most of the sustaining quality boiled out of it, is the daily dish of the middle and upper classes, who call it Cocido. Gazpaco is a kind of cold soup much used in the southern and hotter parts of Spain. It is made of bread crumbs, bonito fish, onions, oil, vinegar, garlic, and cucumbers. All these are beaten into a pulp, then diluted, and bread broken into the mixture. The better classes drink this as we should afternoon tea. Bacalas, or dried cod, is one of the staple dishes of the poor in the north, and the English in Spain also often eat it. The favourite mode of preparation is to first soak out the salt, then let the cod simmer, but not boil, adding afterwards pimientas dulces and chopped onion fried and pounded. 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'hÔte dinner at the restaurants of a small town consisting of Caldo, then the universal stew, then Arroz À 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 ValdepenÀs, 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. It is an old-established house with a good cook, and excellent wines in its cellars. It is a restaurant that the French would describe as non chiffrÉ, for it does not mark the prices on its card of the day, though they are not higher than at most of the other restaurants of Barcelona. There are some very pleasant private rooms at the restaurant, and a large room for banquets. The cuisine is almost entirely French. You can get a very fair dinner, wine and all, at Justin's for about 6s.; but if you are giving a dinner party, and are prepared to pay 30 pesetas or 18s. a head, Justin's will give you such a dinner as the menu I give below, wine and all:—

HuÎtres de Marennes.
ConsommÉ Colbert.
Hors-d'oeuvre variÉs.
Loup. Sauce Hollandaise.
CÔtelettes de Sanglier Venaison.
Salmis de BÉcasses.
Chapon TruffÉ.
Petits pois À la crÈme.
Glace Napolitaine.
Desserts assortis.
Vins.
Rioja blanco.
Vinicola.
Cliquot sec frappÉ.

The Rioja Blanco, Diamante, and Vinicola seem to be the wines most generally drunk at Justin's. MM. Marius and Gerina are the present proprietors.

In the central square, the Plaza Cataluna, is the new and gorgeous Restaurant Colon, attached to the newly finished hotel of that name. The decorations of the interior are artistic, and the building bears on its faÇade in gold and colours the arms of the principal European nations. Here, as at Justin's, the cookery is almost entirely of the French school. The chef is M. Azcoaga, the manager Mons. Scatti. There is a good fixed priced lunch and dinner, specimen menus of which I give:—

5 Pts. DÉjeuner.
Hors-d'oeuvre.
Œufs pochÉs Princesse.
Filets de Sole Waleska.
Poulet Cocotte Bayaldy.
Buffet froid.
Filet grillÉ. Pommes fondantes.
Biscuit glacÉ.
Dessert.
6 Pts. Dinner.
Hors-d'oeuvre.
ConsommÉ Duchesse.
CrÈme Windsor.
Turbot. Sauce Hollandaise.
CarrÉ d'Agneau Maintenon.
Haricots verts Anglaise.
Caille sur CanapÉ.
Salade.
PÊches Richelieu.
Dessert.

The Continental and Martin's may be said to run a dead heat for third place. The former is in the Plaza Cataluna, and its cuisine is both foreign and of the country. On its bill of fare are always three plats de jour, and that on one day, Raviolis Napolitaine, Escargots Bourguinonne, and Filet grille Bordelaise were the three dishes, and on another Œufs Meyerbeer, Filet de veau froid aux LÉgumes, and Rap Marinera shows the variety of the fare. The prices of these dishes are all between one and two pesetas. Under the heading of fritures, all kinds of conchas and Escalopitas and Croquettas are to be found, as well as the Frito Mixto; and the fish column gives an interesting selection of the sea denizens of the coast, Rap, Calamares, Merluza, Pouvine, and others. The banquets at the Continental are entirely French in character.

Martin's in the Rambla del Centro is almost in front of the Opera House, and has a number of snug little rooms for supper parties, of two or more, after the theatre. This is a dinner for a dozen given at Martin's. The position in the menu of game, hors-d'oeuvre, and fish is in accordance with the usual Spanish custom, and is always adhered to in this establishment:—

M. Martin, who is the proprietor, will give you a dinner at any price from 4 pesetas upwards. He was caterer to the kings of Portugal and of Sweden when they were at Barcelona in 1888, and has furnished all the banquets given by the municipal council since 1881. Filet de sole Martin, one of the dishes of the house, proves that he has the Parisian ambition to give a name to a filleted sole.

The Maison DorÉe which has lately been increased to double its original size, has as proprietors the MM. Pompidor, Frenchmen, who march with the times. It is in the Plaza Cataluna. It makes a speciality of a prix-fixe breakfast and dinner on Thursdays and Saturdays, and it serves tea daily À l'Anglaise from 4 to 6.

Port Bou

There is a little restaurant at Port Bou, kept by Francisco Jaque, where you are likely, if you are making a stay to see the Pyrenees, to be better looked after than at the station on the French side of the frontier. There are rooms to be hired there.

San Sebastian

Crossing the Spanish frontier on the western side from France, the first important town reached is San Sebastian. The great sea-bathing place of Spain is a town where one would expect to find some excellent restaurants, for the Queen-mother lives for a great part of the year in her palace on the sea-shore, and the Court is with the King whenever he is in residence there, which is generally in summer and autumn. A large hotel, with a good restaurant and all the latest improvements, is projected, and no doubt San Sebastian will soon be as well catered for as any French watering-place; but in the meantime it is as well for the casual seeker for a meal to go to the Continental, which overlooks the bay, and where a very fair breakfast is to be obtained for 4 francs in the verandah whence all the life of the place can be watched.

The Casino has a restaurant with a wide verandah which should be a delightful place at which to take dinner. I had been warned that I should not be well served there, but one day I thought that the view of the town and the garden, with its picturesque crowd, would make amends for any dilatoriness. This was the menu of the dinner that I partook of, and, though wine was included in the repast, to conciliate the haughty Spaniard in dress-clothes who came and looked at me as though I were an "earth-man," I ordered a pint of Diamante:—

Hors-d'oeuvre.
Potages.
CrÈme de volaille. ConsommÉ Riche.
Poisson.
Langouste. Sauce Tartare.
EntrÉe.
Salmis de Perdreaux au Jerez.
LÉgumes.
Tomates farcies ProvenÇale.
RÔti.
Filet de Boeuf PiquÉ Broche. Salade.
Entremets.
Arlequin. Dessert.I do not think that I ever had a worse-served 7 francs worth of food. Once in my life, at a Chicago hotel, I saw a negro waiter shaking up the bottle of Burgundy I had ordered, just to amuse his brother "coons," and I felt a helpless exasperation as I watched him. The same feeling of voiceless anger was upon me as I watched the gentleman who was supposed at the San Sebastian Casino to keep me supplied with hot food, bring a dish from the interior of the cafÉ and then put it down on somebody else's table to cool while he strolled across the terrace to ask the military guardian at the gate how many people had paid for admission, or at what hour the band played, or what number had won the lottery.

Bourdette and the Urbana, both with French cookery, are the restaurants patronised by the Englishmen in San Sebastian who talk Spanish, and both are said to be fairly good.

Bilbao

It is curious that at the great northern town of Spain there should be no first-class restaurants. The two best in the town are the Antiguo, in the Calle de Bidebarrieta, and the Moderno. Both of these boast what the Spaniards term Cocina Francesa, which only means that if you make a request, as the English always do, the cook will fry your food with butter instead of oil.

At Portugalete, the port of Bilbao, there is a restaurant, good, as Spanish restaurants go, attached to the hotel of the place, the proprietor of which is Dn. Manuel Calvo. The cook and the staff of waiters come from Lhardy's, the best restaurant in Madrid, and spend their summer by the seaside. The prices at this restaurant are high. Portugalete is only a summer resort.

Northern Towns

At Santander, a little further along the northern coast, the best food to be obtained is found at the HÔtel Europa; but the best is bad at Santander. At Burgos and at Zaragoza the two largest hotels in each place give the least indifferent food.

Madrid

The capital of Spain cries aloud for a Carlton, or a Ritz, or a Savoy, and is, I believe, soon to have a really large hotel with a restaurant managed on the lines which we are accustomed to in all the important European capitals. The HÔtel de Paris, one of the two noisy and expensive hotels on the Puerta del Sol, has always had a reputation for its cookery, always remembering that the standard in Spain is not high. There is a table-d'hÔte lunch and a table-d'hÔte dinner, of the latter of which I append a menu which is a fair specimen:—

ConsommÉ Julienne.
Merlan Sauce aux CÂpres.
Filet de Boeuf Renaissance.
Galantine TruffÉe À l'Aspic.
Haricots Verts SautÉs.
Cailles au Cresson.
CrÈme au Chocolat GlacÉe.
Desserts assortis.

The cookery of the house is French, but Spanish dishes can be obtained by an order given in advance. There used to be a manager at the Paris who was known as Constantino—what his other name was no one knew. He was a universal provider, and the Englishmen who knew him and who used to stay at the Madrid, never hesitated to ask him for anything procurable in the capital, from a ticket for a bull-fight to a genuine Murillo, quite sure that next morning they would find in the office what they had asked for the previous evening.

Lhardy's, in the Curera de San JerÓnimo, is the typical Madrid restaurant not attached to an hotel. The appearance of the ground floor is that of a charcutier's and pastry-cook's combined. The restaurant you will find on the first floor, where a table-d'hÔte dinner and lunch are served. The annexed menu shows what the daily lunch is like:—

Potage Tortue À l'AmÉricaine.
Turbot Garni. Sauce Crevettes.
Filets de Boeuf À la Vatel.
Bellevue de Perdreaux À l'Ecarlate.
Dindonneaux rÔtis au Cresson.
Salade Russe.
Glace CondÉ.
Dessert.
Vins.
JerÉz.
Bordeaux.
Champagne FrappÉ.
CafÉ and Liqueurs.The CafÉ de Fornos is also well spoken of by all who have experimented. The restaurant at the Fornos is in the cafÉ on the ground floor. On the first floor are the private rooms. There are several of the restaurants with cabinets particuliers where little suppers are given after the theatre, the Fornos being one; but the Madrilese dandy, wishing to sup À deux, generally chooses the CafÉ InglÉs, as the private rooms are very well decorated. The Perla is also well spoken of. All these restaurants profess the French cuisine, and at Lhardy's as good a dinner is obtainable as at the best restaurants of Barcelona.

Seville

At Seville you dine and breakfast at your hotel, whether it be the Madrid or the Paris, both very good hotels for Spain. There is a table-d'hÔte dinner at each after the style of the meal of which I have given a menu under the heading of Madrid. At both hotels an extra charge is made to those aristocrats who will not sit at the long table which runs down the centre of the highly ornamented dining-room and are accommodated at little tables at the sides of the room. The great patio of the Madrid, with its palm grove and creepers, is a delightful place to sit in after dinner.

The dinner-hour at Seville is seven o'clock. There is a Restaurant Suizo in the Calle de las Sierpes, and a little restaurant, the Eritana, with a pleasant garden, is to be found near the turning point of the drive that the beauty and fashion of Seville take on fine afternoons down the Paseo de las Delicias by the river. If you are tempted to try the Manzanilla wine with its proper accompaniment of snails or langostinos, visit the Taberna, opposite the Madrid Hotel; and if you are a bachelor, do not mind an atmosphere of smoke, can make yourself understood in Spanish, and like local colour, take your cafÉ au lait of an evening in the CafÉ Cantante of the Calle Sterpes. You will recognise the house by the little dancing-girl on the lamp.

Bobadilla

The junction of the lines to Seville, Granada, and Algeciras is Bobadilla, and there all trains wait for half an hour that the passengers may feed. The meal is a very fair sample of Spanish cookery, and you are given soup or eggs, according to the time of day, an entrÉe, a joint, and fish. I can still recall a Bobadillian meal, with the taste of garlic acting as a sort of Leitmotiv in all the dishes, of omelette, stewed beef and beans, a ragout of veal, fried fish in butter, and cheese. Do not omit to cast an eye on the fair damsel behind the bar. She is a typical Andalusian beauty and is used to admiration.

Grenada

The hotels Siete Suclos and Washington Irving are the two principal hotels near the Alhambra, and are crowded with tourist-trippers of all nations, Americans and Germans predominating, during the tourist season. At the Siete Suclos the cookery is said to be Spanish in character. My personal experience is confined to the Washington Irving, and on the first day of my stay, when I tried to order breakfast and the waiter, in answer to my query as to what dishes were ready, rolled out with great rapidity, "Beefsteeake, colfolanam, baconnegs, mutton-chops, mutton cotolettes," I thought that the local Spanish dishes sounded something like English ones. Englishmen who live in Spain tell me that they generally go to the Alhambra, which I take to be the Casa de Huespedes, 3 Alhambra, a lodging-house where I fancy only Spanish is spoken.

Cadiz and Jerez

At Cadiz the cooking at the Grand HÔtel de Paris is Spanish and good of its kind. At Jerez the cooking at the Fondas de Los Cisnes and La Victoria is Spanish also. This is the menu of a dinner at the HÔtel Los Cisnos:—

ConsommÉ de Quenelles Á la Royal.
Filetes de Tenguados Á la Tutus.
Chuletas de Cordero Á la Inglesa.
Pechugas de Pollos Á la Suprema.
Perdices al jugo.
Ensalada Rusa.
EspÁrragos de Aranjuez, salsa blanca.
Mantecados de Vainilla y Fresa.
Postres variados.

Algeciras

The town on the Spanish side of the bay has redeemed Gibraltar from its ill fame as a place of entertainment. The late Ignacio Lersundi, under whose rule the Bristol in London—now converted into a ladies' club—gave one of the best, if not the best, table-d'hÔte dinners obtainable in the English capital, supervised the arrangements of the HÔtel Reina Christina, and the table-d'hÔte dinner there still is an excellent one.

Lisbon

There are good hotels to stay at in Lisbon and there are restaurants in plenty, but to try the cookery of some of the town eating-houses a gourmet requires to have his taste educated up to, or down to, the Portuguese standard.

At the Braganza, a little club of bachelor Britons have been in the habit of dining together and ordering their dinner in advance, and this is a fair sample of what the steady-going but very comfortable hostelry can do when it chooses:—

A good table-d'hÔte breakfast and dinner are served daily at 11 A.M. and 7 P.M. and the price is moderate, being about 800 rÉis and 1.200 respectively. (It is well to remember that the exchange varies considerably, and it is therefore difficult to give the equivalents in sterling for the prices quoted, but 5500 to 6000 rÉis may be roughly taken at £1 sterling.) The proprietor is M. Sasetti, who is ably supported by his manager and by a head waiter named Celestino, a most useful person in every way.

Wines, spirits, and liqueurs of foreign origin are expensive at the Braganza, as they are everywhere else, owing to the high custom tariff; but the local wines, amongst which may be cited Collares, Cadafaes, Collares Branco, Serradayres white and red, etc., are all good and cheap table wines.

The next restaurant as regards comfort, cleanliness, and cuisine is the CafÉ Tavares, situated in the Rua Largo de S. Roque. It is essentially a cafÉ restaurant, and is open from breakfast time in the morning till 3 or 4 the following morning. Tavares is the principal rendezvous of the young bloods, both Portuguese and foreign, particularly so after the theatres and opera are over and suppers are in demand. The revel goes on from twelve o'clock until any hour of the morning, more especially as regards the cabinets particuliers, which are best entered from the back entrance situated in the Rua das Gaveas. A very good table-d'hÔte lunch and dinner are served daily at the very moderate cost of 600 and 800 reis. The proprietor and manager is Snr. Caldeira, who is most attentive and obliging to his guests.

If any visitor to Lisbon is anxious to try the Portuguese cooking, he cannot do better than pay a visit to the LeÃo d'Ouro, situated in the Rua de Principe, adjoining the Central Railway Station. This formerly was, and to a great extent still is, the rendezvous of actors, authors, and professional men. The food is good and very cheap, served À la carte. Portuguese food may be called "highly seasoned," but for all that there are many good dishes, one speciality of the house being Sopa de Camarao, a bisque of prawns, which in no way is to be despised. With regard to wines at this restaurant it is advisable to drink those of the country.

Estoril

Estoril is a very picturesque and beautiful spot about three-quarters of an hour from Lisbon by rail. Here there has been lately established a high-class hotel with cuisine À la FranÇaise and good wines. The hotel is owned and managed by M. Estrade, who has had a long experience in this class of business.

N.N.-D.