Fast Casual, Spanish Style
On our second and last day in Valencia, we went to an eatery that our boutique hotel had recommended, Cerveceria 100 Montaditos. Thinking that this was going to be a cute little tapas restaurant, I later checked and found out that it's a chain of about 130 restaurants around Spain. You write down what you want on a list of choices (like at a sushi restaurant), hand it over at a counter then wait for your name to be called on the loudspeaker (like at Panera Bread). Since I love snack-y foods and little sandwiches, 100 Montaditos ("little sandwiches") was a really fun place for me. Plus we went on a day where every montadito and drink was 1 Euro (regular price is either 1, 1.2, or 1.5 Euro). So it was quite a cost effective place to eat.
I ordered mousse de pato con cebolla crujiente (pate with crunchy onions), anchoas en aceite (anchovies in oil), chorizo a la sidra con tortilla (chorizo cooked in hard apple cider with potato tortilla), gambas con salsa brava (shrimp with red sauce), and finally, chocolate con leche y almendras (milk chocolate with almonds). I got a couple with whole wheat bread, with the rest in regular white bread. My favorite were definitely the pate (very standard, with the crunchy onion pieces being a nice textural contrast), chorizo plus tortilla (I love the sharpness of chorizo and potatoes are great with everything including bread), and the milk chocolate with almonds (the chocolate melts with the warmth of the bread). I also ordered orange juice, thinking that if I'm in Valencia, surely I should try Valencian orange juice. Well it turned out to be Minute Maid in a bottle, not surprising given my later finding that this is a 130-strong franchise!
Since I didn't think that I would get fed on my Spanair and Lufthansa flights tomorrow, and would need to wake up really early to catch my 8am flight, I got some takeout just in case for dinner/breakfast/lunch. I was so pleased to see that takeout comes in a carrying case, with each sandwich having a little parking space with dividers!
I got my three favorites from lunch, along with some new things that I had never heard about (and had to Google later to find out what I ate). Aside from the potato chips which you see at top, here are the montaditos from top right: morcilla iberica (Spanish blood sausage, usually made with pig's blood, rice, onion, and spices), sobrasada iberica (a red sausage made from pork and seasoned with paprika - the texture is less of a sausage than of a paste), chocolate with almond, pate with crunchy onions, lomo al ajillo (pork loin cooked with garlic), and the chorizo with potato tortilla. It was fun trying the new stuff, but my favorites were the same three from before. I wish I could eat them more often!
