Girona Archives - About Girona

The daily fixed price lunch menu is one of Spain’s better inventions and still going strong. Post-covid and adding in recent rises in inflation, it’s no surprise that today the price range seems to be between 15 – 20 euros, more at the weekends.

Considering it includes 3 home-cooked courses, bread and a single drink, it’s still good value. Some restaurants even place a whole bottle of wine on the table and dont mind how much you consume. Portion amounts and food quality do vary of course.

Ever curious in seeking new places to dine in, we found ourselves aimlessly wandering through L’ Escala’s fishing village (nucli antic). It’s about 1pm and not our usual time for lunch, we prefer a bit later. But we’ve just successfully concluded a visit to the local town hall (ajuntament). It was a minor matter but there’s no telling how such visits turn out. The ever presence of ‘la ley de falta uno´ hangs over you like the sword of Damocles.. That’s the law of one thing missing and constantly haunts you, even when you double check what you need to take with you.

It can be something entirely trivial, as when I got caught out with passport photos that for this particular finicky functionary were the wrong size. This is bite your lip territory.

Anyway, a fine lunch and a glass of vino can help soothe tempers.

Our careless haphazard approach brought us to the doors of EL Gotim, a generous few blocks from any beach eateries.. The daily menus are normally well displayed with prices, and in touristy locations like L’ Escala many are translated into English and French. Their lunch is 20 € and we enter, their first lunchtime customers.

The interior dining area is a long narrow bare stone arched affair with well spaced tables. Today’s offering has a choice of four starters (primers) such as;

Amanida de mango amb ametlla laminada (mango salad with laminated almonds)

Perbrots de piquillo farcits de brandada amb beixamel désparrecs (brandade stuffed peppers with asparagus bechamel sauce).

Seconds (segons) also has four choices, eg;

Melos de vedella (beef stew in a ratafia sauce)

Arros el Gotim (rice EL Gotim style, min. 2 people)

We both chose the stuffed peppers and mango salad for starters (photo below) and for seconds we both had the spinach cannelloni (canelones déspinacs). A well managed timely space between starters and main is something I like and they didn’t disappoint. Portions sizes are just right and the quality shines through. As we tuck into our seconds the place is filling up quickly.

Sadly, I often find the dessert options fairly predictable and at times a disappointing drop in quality after a good result with starters and mains. It’s like all the effort has gone into the main presentation and the final last bit lets it down. But, I’m a sucker for cheesecake (pastis de formatge) and this one bucked the trend and won the day.

Their menu includes a glass of wine or a mineral water, so if you do want to finish with a coffee, you could get away without forking out more than 50€ for two. I liked the place, the food , service and will return. El Gotim offers tasty, presentable, delicious Catalan dishes that are delightfully different.

Restaurant El Gotim, Carrer Puig Sureda, 18, 17130 L’Escala

Bars and restaurants have reopened-well some of them have. You do feel for them as it’s been a case of long closures since March followed by a joyful summer of back to normal, then a slow decline to eventual returned closures in late autumn. Current Covid related rules say that cafes can only utilize 30% of interior space which equates to being uneconomic to open for many.

The sight of empty cafes, bars and restaurants is made even stranger when you consider how much they’re a part of daily culture here. No one lifts an eyelid or is bothered by seeing someone having a cana (small beer) or a ‘cigalo / carajillo’ (small black coffee with brandy) at breakfast time.

Sure, there’s plenty who’ll prefer a coffee too or an ‘infusion’- herbal tea. I should also mention the cup sizes here aren’t as big as ones you’re used to in the UK/USA.

People nip in and out of these places all day long. Early starters often pop in for their 1st breakfast (esmorzar), and again later in the morning for their 2nd esmorzar-nice.

I’ve used my local ones extensively in the past as a handy place to conduct my one-to-one English classes. In all parts of Spain the outdoor culture is ingrained and the norm.

Personally I can’t figure out how they can survive if they only charge about 1.70 euros for a coffee. I suppose it’s a numbers game and many are open long hours, from 7am to 9 or 10pm. That wasn’t always the case, many local to me have been taken over by new Chinese owners who stay open for much longer.

It’s also highly competitive as there’s so many here. The enticing offers include a coffee and a ‘mini’ (a very small piece of baguette with a simple filling of cheese or ham) for 2.50 to 3 euros.

By the way these are prices in the more residential areas of Girona. The newer, trendier cafes in the old town which cater more for the uber cyclists have a coffee menu more akin to what you’d see in a Starbucks or Costa Coffee if you’re from the UK. Fair doos, you pay a tad more, get a bigger cup and it’s not bad. One place even lets you leave your bicycle inside.

The one, continual general gripe I have is how tepid the coffee is when it’s served. So much so that I have to ask for ‘leche caliente’ Spanish for warm milk. I never order tea here, it’s just too weak and is served as a herbal tea, with a cup of hot water/tea bag or in a tiny teapot. Don’t expect to find a large mug of sweet tea with milk.

Only time will tell who keeps going and stays afloat, what appears a saturated marketplace somehow always finds its own equilibrium.

N.B. In Catalan milk is ‘llet’ which sounds like ‘yet’, ‘amb’ is with, sounds like ‘umm’ -so join it all together to make ‘cafe amb llet’-coffee with milk.