The longer I am in Spain, the more I feel like I am constantly falling in love with Spanish food over and over. Whether its a classic dish like tortilla de patatas or a new experience for me like the Galician delicacy pulpo a feira (octopus), I am loving every moment and every bite and trying to take advantage or every opportunity to experience more. For example, the concurso del tapa de Vigo:
For the past couple weeks, there has been a tapa competition between many of the restaurants in Vigo. What this means is that all the restaurants who are participating prepare one special
tapa del concurso which they serve customers who come to participate in the competition. There are brochures that provide a list of all the locations and tapa served at each place: too bad all the names of the tapas were in
Gallego (official dialect of Galicia), so we frequently had no idea whatsoever of what we were about to eat!
The tapas were all sold at 1.50 euros, making affordable to try a lot of them without breaking the budget. I wish I had more time to try them all, but I did manage to get about halfway through the list (not all in one night)- here are some photos to prove it.
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| Guiris out for some tapas |
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| Beef and gravy with melted cheese at the bottom |
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| Mini Spanish omlette |
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| "Hamburger" that was a chick pea patty with tomato bun |
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Octopus in a biscuit
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| Calzone with ham, cheese, and a mushroom creme sauce |
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Chocolate mousse and sweet cream cheese with cafe liquor
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| Mexican toast |
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Shish kebob with chicken, shrimp, and veggies on a toast
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Cheese with a sardine on top and small bowl of gazpacho
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| A large shrimp with a strange seafood bread roll |
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| Fried dough filled with chicken and corn, with ali-oli to dip in |
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Toasted bread topped with goat cheese, caramelized onions, and ham
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Toasted bread topped with carrot sauce and cheese
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| Mini pizza with goat cheese and walnuts |
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| Best way to enjoy the tapas, with a vino or cerveza |
I can honestly say that while I had a few favorites (goat cheese with caramelized onions! Shrimp shish-ka-bob!) there weren't any that I DIDN'T like. It was an overall fun experience with friends and food.
