Bar La Escueva — Restaurant in Setenil de las Bodegas

Saturday morning getting up late I hoped on a taxi and for 29 euro(tip included) I reached Setenil de las Bodegas. I won’t dwell on this little place too much because I am planning to write an article at the end of the series mentioning all those places I found wonderful in my trip. However I will stop and write a short review for Bar la Escueva, a place I took a small meal in on a busy Saturday week. The bar is big, well at least comparing to those from Ronda and I can honestly say that I think it is about the same size as all three places I tried in Ronda. Plus a couple of tables outside so yes, it is big. The prices are a bit higher than in Ronda but even though I ate just a small meal I can honestly say that the food was good. The liver pate, the bread and jamon blended wonderfully and this was one of the nicest surprises from my trip even though it was just a...

We were the last people to arrive for lunch before they were due to close so it felt a bit weird as more attention was given to removing chairs and preparing for closing than us. Generally speaking the food was quite tasty but the whole dishes just didn’t work together. Duck came with thick fat skin covered in sauce, potatoes with cream and pickled peppers. It would have been better to have sauce on the side or crispy skin as there was so much fat to remove before you could get to meat and by then most of sauce went with it, pickled peppers just didn’t not work, simple roasted veggies would have been better, oh and loose the cream from the potatoes. Same for flamenquin de merluza, which came with rice, far too dry, needed some sauce and perhaps those pickled peppers and for sure potatoes, not rice. So yeah quite tasty individually but together it just...

Setenil is cute, but really only destined as a day visit unless you are a serious hiker, bird watcher etc. As such it could be so easy for the eateries to put out pretty much "any old thing", on the basis of a captive audience. But they clearly do not. Food being mostly traditional at those restaurants we walked past, but a nosey at plates all appeared well prepared and looked very appertising. We chose to eat at La Escueva because their menu is that little bit different; for example the salmorejo of beetroot with cheese sorbet did not disappoint, for all it may sound strange. Salad with mango, toasts loaded with duck, cheese and quail eggs The staff, despite being overwhelmed, though I'd imagine weekends and holidays are always like that (!), were polite, efficient and very friendly.

Setenil es lindo, pero en realidad solo está destinado como una visita de un día a menos que sea un senderisto serio, un observador de aves, etc. Como tal, podría ser muy fácil para los restaurantes sacar casi "cualquier cosa vieja", sobre la base de un cautivo audiencia. Pero claramente no lo hacen. La comida era en su mayoría tradicional en los restaurantes por los que pasamos, pero un entrometido en los platos parecía bien preparado y se veía muy apetitoso. Elegimos comer en La Escueva porque su menú es un poco diferente; por ejemplo el salmorejo de remolacha con sorbete de queso no defraudó, por extraño que parezca. Ensalada de mango, tostadas cargadas de pato, queso y huevos de codorniz El personal, a pesar de estar abrumado, aunque me imagino que los fines de semana y los días festivos siempre son así (!), Fue educado, eficiente...