El Canadas Bar & Restaurant, Cuevas del Almanzora

My cousin April is with us at the moment, with her partner James and part of their fantastic brood.  James has triplet boys and April has one of her daughters here too.  They arrived a few days ago in an absolutely brilliant motor home, taking their time and stopping nearLeonto stay with some friends.  We all decided we needed a night off from cooking and cleaning up and we also wanted to go somewhere low key and away from the crowds.

So, what better place than the “brasa” opposite the castle in Cuevas.  April and James have been here before, and like us, they love it.  Ok, you don’t get a sea breeze ( neither the cocktail, nor the literal one) but what you do get is the most fantastic array of grilled meat – racks of pork ribs, spicy pork kebabs, quail, chorizo and morcilla (black pudding) to name a few things on offer here every night of the week, every month of the year.  Add a huge salad and some fries and all the kids are happy as well as all of us too.  In August when everyone else is at the beach, they are delighted to serve us.

Not a word of English is spoken here but lots of great and friendly service.  It is a family affair, with mama doing all the cooking over a roasting open brasa – no mean feat in 90 degrees!  Whatever you order here, including drinks, always seems to come out at around 15 euros including a tip.  They also seem to have cottoned on that us “visitors” like reasonably decent wine with their food, and now serve very good white and red rioja, previously the wine, it has to be said, was undrinkable and only came in the house red variety!  There are some fabulous photographs of Cuevas del Almanzora in days gone by (when there was a proper river flowing through it!) so take a moment to look at these wonderful momentos.

This really is an experience not to be missed and we go there all year round – in the winter it is lovely and cosy and we sit inside, being toasted by the wood burning grill, and in the summer, we enjoy eating outside and staying late until it gets cool, and mingling with the locals.  Do give it a try the next time you just fancy some great barbeque and salad and a lovely glass of vino.