[Tuckerman]

On the coast at Arenyas De Mar-only about 20km from Can Fabes but a gastro world away, Hispania is a an old family run restaurant right on the coast road going south out of town specialising in Catalonian staples

It is a much smarter place than one anticipated but it had a relaxed casual atmosphere and was still buzzing at 3.30 pm with local workers like only a Spanish restaurant can be. We asked the Mama in charge to bring us a selection of their specialities.

Out came some some wonderful Pata Negra to start, beautifully coloured with just the right amount of fat-then a succession of local dishes including Chicken Escabeche (marinated in olive oil and spices), plump, juicy Anchovies, Buitifarra with peas, Squid, Langouste with a broth and boiled potatoes-a beautifully homely dish-seafood Paella, thin crispy chips, a beautifully tasty salad of white beans, tomato, onon, pimiento and oilve oil, and that ubiquitous Catalan bread rubbed with the tomato, oil and garlic-which the whole region appears to consume in vast quantities at all opportunities.

This wasn't a cheffy meal but local cooking at its best-excellent ingredients well prepared and presented as they have been for fifty years, and, hopefully will be for another fifty or more-timeless food that people round here eat every day, and none the worse for that.

[Wilfrid1]

Now I'm hungry. Love butifarra.