Visiting Rota

[jameswilliam]

Hi

I'm visiting Rota near Cadiz for a couple of weeks and I wondered if anyone might be able to recommend any restaurants to eat at or dishes I should try? I've been before and found a few nice places like one by the harbour where they do great shrimp omelettes and cuttlefish stew, but beyond that I found it a bit hit and miss - my Spanish is pretty limited and I don't know anyone there which makes it tricky to ask for recommendations.

I saw the other thread about Sanlucar and it looked like a visit there might be worthwhile, what about other towns nearby like El Puerto de Santa Maria or Chipiona?

Any advice anyone could offer would be very much appreciated

Thanks

James

[Alvaro]

Chipiona is not exactly beautiful but there are some points of interest. One of them is the local Muscat. The other is the local industry of dry-cured-fish (Mohama). I really like Casa Paco, in the port of Chipiona.

Sanlucar is much more interesting. In Bajo de Guía (which used to be the old port), there's an impressive array of decent restaurants, all of them fish-oriented: the famous Bigote (excellent restaurant's bar too), Secundino, Casa Juan, Poma, Joselito Huertas, Mirador de Doñana. Although the local speciality is the impressive local prawn, it would be a mistake to neglect fish stews: cazón con tomate (shark with tomato), raya en Amarillo (skate in yellow sauce), corvina con chicharos (I haven’t found a good translation for Corvina, since there's confusion about different species. Anyhow, it is a great fish).

Plaza Cabildo is the "official" town's centre. Balbino is a well-known hot spot, although it can be overwhelmingly crowded after 21.45. They have an impressive list of tapas. Shrimps omelettes are great there. Actually, Balbino's version of this traditional dish, is slightly sophisticated (probably, they have improved the local recipe). Just a few yards from Balbino, just crossing calle Ancha, Barbiana. Barbiana is a great place to taste unfiltered manzanilla (manzanilla en rama): excellent tapa of local potatoes (papas aliñas), and, sometimes, superb prawns. In the very same Plaza, La Gitana. It is a good alternative when Balbino is unbearingly crowded. They excel in fried fish (acedías, baby squid). Don't miss the superb -and old-fashioned- manzanilla Pastrana.

Of course, don't forget the local market, near the Plaza de San Roque. Not far away, in calle Bretones, there's a tiny shop where you can buy different types of Sherry. If you like Manzanilla style, I recommend Aurora (Pedro Romero), Pastrana (Hidalgo), Barbiana (Delgado Zuleta), La Cigarrera (beautiful tiny bodega in the city centre), Manzanilla en Rama from Barbadillo (you can get it from Barbadillo's winery, which, by the way, deserves a visit), and San León reserva de familia (Argüeso). Don’t forget amontillados: Quo Vadis? (Delgado Zuleta), Don Pedro Romero Prestige (Pedro Romero), Amontillado Viejo Hidalgo (Hidalgo), Amontillado Viejo Pastrana (Hidalgo), Príncipe (Barbadillo) and Amontillado Viejo (Argüeso). And finally, the rare palos cortados: Jerez Cortado (Hidalgo), Palo Cortado Viejísimo (Hidalgo) and Obispo Gascón (Barbadillo).

Finally, Casa Guerrero and to a lesser extent, Casa Pozo, both in Calle Ancha, should'nt be neglected if you sigh for sweets. Local specialities like tortas de polvorón, bollitos sanluqueños, cortadillos de cidra, carmelas, masa real, etc. are great. I also recomend Tony's tocino de cielo (Tony is a local ice-cream shop located in Plaza Cabildo).

Cheers

Edited June 30, 2005 by Alvaro (log)

[JesusBarquin]

I'll quickly add to my friend Alvaro's wise advices that 'yes, you should visit El Puerto de Santa María'. For instance, take the boat there for a nice trip to Cádiz. In any case, do not miss Cádiz nor Jerez. And excuse me if I cannot answer any possible question, as I am leaving on my northern holidays in hours... Enjoy your trip!

[jameswilliam]

Hi

Thank you very much for your replies, that's all terrific information. Looks like we'll definitely be making a trip to Sanlucar. It'll be good to have specific places in mind rather than just wandering around aimlessly. I'll try and take some pictures and post them when i get back.

btw I found this article on Casa Bigote, it does sounds great

http://www.verema.com/en/articles/article.asp?articulo=6

Thanks again for your help, and if anyone has any recommendations within Rota itself that would be great as well

[annieb]

A classic dish based on a local fish is Urta a la Rotena. Urta feeds on local crustaceans, and has a sublime flavor because of it, and a pinkish flesh.

Haven't been to Rota, but had this dish in a family-run establishment in Cadiz (name long forgotton) and it was outstanding.

[Alvaro]

Urta, also spelled Hurta. There are two things in which Rota is noteworthy. One is the local sweet Sherry made of an almost extinct red grape (tintilla de Rota). Having discussed this issue with Jesús Barquín a few days ago, we've got to the conclusion that it is almost impossible to find the real thing (although Lustau has a Tintilla de Rota in its almacenistas' range). Within the context of local agriculturists it is well known the high quality of Rota's variety of green pepper (specially when fried)

A short list of restaurans/bars deserving a visit:

Cádiz: El Faro, El Balandro

Road from Cádiz to San Fernando: Ventorrillo el Chato

El Puerto de Santa María: El Faro del Puerto

Jerez: Casa Juanito, El Bosque, Gaitán, El Gallo Azul

Sanlúcar de Barrameda: El Veranillo (traditional food based on local recipes)

Cheers

Edited July 2, 2005 by Alvaro (log)

[Bux]

. . . .

Sanlucar is much more interesting

. . . . .

←

Those interested in the Sanlucar should read the recent Sanlucar de Barrameda, A lazy week in Cadiz, Andalucia thread. In spite of a local garbage strike that made the Bajo de Guia a no go, Adam Balic was most enthusiastic about his visit.

[jameswilliam]

Thanks for that Bux, I'd seen that thread and that's certainly more food for thought (if you'll excuse the dreadful but unintended pun).

Annieb I actually tried Urta a la Rotena last time I was there and it was okay, but not spectacular, although I think that was down to the restaurant where I ate it rather than the dish itself. Something else I tried and enjoyed was arranque roteno, a mixture of bread, tomato and green pepper, very tasty.

Anyway, thank you all very much for your suggestions, I'll post some photos when i get back

Cheers

[Alvaro]

For those interested in Sanlúcar and with some skills in Spanish, I'd suggest to read the modest contribution that forumite Jesús Barquín and I wrote a few months ago:

http://elmundovino.elmundo.es/elmundovino/...icia=1107330493

[jameswilliam]

Hi

First of all I wanted to thank you all for your advice, it contributed a lot to our holiday, both in terms of the specific places you recommended and also the specialities you mentioned, Manzanilla for example, something I might not have thought of trying otherwise and ended up taking quite an interest in..

Anyway, we spent most of the time in Rota, but we did have one day in Sanlucar. There was still some kind of rubbish strike going on, but it seemed like they were organizing things so that instead of lots of small piles of rubbish everywhere there were a smaller number of enormous piles of rubbish.

While we there we tried a number of your suggestions Alvaro. The Cigarrera bodega was terrific, very friendly lady showed us round. The smell was incredible. We had lunch in Casa Bigote, which was great, very friendly people and excellent food. We had langoustines, rape al pan frito and huevos a la marinera. Got a selection of sweets / biscuits from Pozo some of which I liked a lot, particularly the biscuit you can see in the picture

below bottom right which just sort of fell apart when you bit into it.

Here are some places we found in Rota itself which were all good in different ways, in case anybody else happens to find themselves there...

Bar Cantina Marinera - In the fisherman's port. Good range of fried fish and a very nice menudo de choco. Frequented by all the local fishermen.

Bodegon gastronomico - In the centre of town, a lot of grilled fish on the menu here, we had a whole urta which the lady brought out to show us and then explained how it was a local delicacy. They also had a different kind of arranque rotena here which had a rougher texture a lot more bread-y than it usually seemed to be, less blended.

Cafeteria Angarilla - Good churros / breakfasts

Bar la Costilla - In the centre of town, a good range of tapas different from most of the other places in town. Had a nice Berza Rotena here, a stew with beans / pork.

Bodega Something - I'm not sure of the name of this, but right in the middle of town opposite plaza de san roque. Was generally very full and quite intimidating, but we went in one day when it was less busy and it was excellent, with a wide range of sherries and moscatels in barrels along one wall, had a 'moscatel pasa' which was very good. Incidentally does anyone know what a 'solera vieja' is, I tried it expecting it to be some kind of

sherry, but it seemed quite fierce..? Is it brandy or something like that?

Incidentally I found a bottle of the Tintilla de Rota in the local off-license, which was apparently from 'Bodegas el Gato'. I wasn't that keen on it, it was really very sweet, but interesting to try nonetheless.

I also picked up a recipe book 'Cocina rotena' with recipes for local dishes like arranque, urta a la rotena, etc. as well as an essay on generally how to cook something 'a la rotena'. If anyone's interested in any recipes I could scan or type in, etc.

Thanks again for all your advice, here's some pictures I took, sorry they're kind of dark.

The courtyard at La Cigarerra:

Cakes / biscuits from Pozo (looking slightly forlorn after a bus ride home):

Menudo de choco:

Frito variado from Bar Cantina Marinera