La Tintorera

Posted on October 4, 2014 by Shawn

[photo courtesy of the La Tintorera FB page]

Every time we went anywhere in Úbeda we seemed to end up at this fabulous little bar in the centre of the old town for a drink and a snack or two. It’s the brainchild of artist Gerardo Ruiz del Moral Tauste, who also owns and runs Misa de 12, and who is responsible for the interior décor with its cool hanging lights, mirrors and wire sculptures. There’s also a pleasant terrace out on the pedestrianised street.

The staff were top notch, knowledgeable and enthusiastic, and Malu made us feel particularly at home. The food we had was all excellent, including a complimentary gluten-free salmorejo with green apple instead of bread, a delish revuelto with calamari and potato straws and an exceptionally good lomo de orzo with potatoes and perfectly fried egg.

If I lived in Úbeda this would certainly be my “local”. Warm and welcoming with terrific food & wine and great staff. Also the most interesting and enjoyable music I’ve heard in a long time (thanks for that Malu!).

Real, 27
Úbeda
Tel 622 480 049
€ € €

Food 9 | Wine 8 | Service 9 | Ambiance 9

la tintorera bar

la tintorera ensaladilla ensaladilla (complimentary)

la tintorera gluten free salmorejo gluten-free salmorejo substituting green apple for bread (complimentary)

la tintorera calamari revuelto revuelto with calamares and potato straws (complimentary)

la tintorera malu Malu with local Spiritu Santo EVOO

la tintorera chorizo bric-wrapped spicy chorizos on potato purée (complimentary)

la tintorera sea water beer beer made with sea water

la tintorera empanadas cheese empanadilla with raisins in port (complimentary)

la tintorera chicken wok wok-fried chicken & veggies with noodles

la tintorera lomo urza lomo de urza (pork loin confit) with egg and potatoes

la tintorera malu pedro top team Malu & Pedro

la tintorera cold beer cold beers on the terraza

La Imprenta

Posted on October 4, 2014 by Shawn

[photo courtesy of the La Imprenta website]

This is more of a bookmark than a review as we only stopped here briefly for a couple of drinks and complimentary tapas (a very tasty hummus and an average sausage and pimenton) on the little terrace, so I can’t really say too much. There’s also a restaurant behind the bar inside which looks impressive on the website, but was closed when we were there. Would like to try it out properly next visit.

Plaza Doctor Quesada, 1
Úbeda
Tel 953 755 500
La Imprenta Website

la imprenta sausage grilled sausage and pimiento (complimentary)

la imprenta hummus creamy hummus with jamón

Misa de 12

Posted on October 4, 2014 by Shawn

misa 12

The Misa de 12 came with a glowing, and justified, recommendation. Inside it’s tiny and charming, with a glass trapdoor covered stairway to the cellar in one corner, so most of the seating is on a little terrace outside in the shade of the overhanging first floor, looking across the spacious expanse of the plaza Primero de Mayo. On a warm summer day this was a perfect spot to stop for a cold beer and then lunch.

As is customary in this part of Andalucía, drinks came with little complimentary tapitas, in this case a Salamanca cheese, lomo de orza (pork loin confit) on toast, and later, cabrales (blue cheese) croquetas. Small, simple and delicious they performed their intended function of luring us on to bigger things – in this case a ración of flamenquin. This dish seems to be ubiquitous in this region and we’d been tempted a couple of times, so we decided it was time to give in, and were glad we did. Perfectly cooked, and with a lovely mustardy dressing. This was followed by a media ración of presa.

By the time we left every table was full, inside and out, and the atmosphere was that nice friendly buzz you get at a place frequented by regulars. Recommended.

Plaza Primero de Mayo, 7 (corner Calle Montiel)
Jaén
Tel 953 828 197
Misa de 12 Website
€ € €

Food 9 | Wine 8 | Service 8 | Ambiance 9

misa 12 bar

misa 12 (9) traditional salmorejo (complimentary)

misa 12 cheese cured sheep cheese from Salamanca

misa 12 olive oil fabulous olive oil for our bread

misa 12 lomo orza lomo de orzo (complimentary)

misa 12 croquetas cabrales croquetas (complimentary)

misa 12 flamenquin flamenquín

misa 12 presa presa Ibérica

misa 12 candles

misa 12 cellar door

misa 12 terrace

Cantina La Estación

Posted on September 23, 2014 by Shawn

cantina estacion
As you might expect from a bar called the station canteen, there’s a distinct railway theme to the décor, from the old pictures to the safety lamps and luggage rack, with the restaurant section very much resembling a railway dining car. As you walk in there is also a separate tapas bar, which extends into a sit-down tapas dining area. We stayed with tapas on this occasion and were disappointed not to make it back to try the restaurant as I’ve heard such great things about it.

The tapas menu was nicely varied and we started with a complimentary tapa of small chicken thighs with herby yoghurt sauce, and were again impressed with the standard of the “free tapas” in this part of Andalucia. We followed this with some half-portion selections from the main menu – a pipirrana de bacalao (an elegant take on the local cold salad of tomatoes, onions and peppers served with cod), a seafood burger of chipiron and prawns with ali-oli in a squid ink bun, and a complimentary “tigre” with prawn bread and Iberian cuts, all of them excellent. To finish off we decided on a media-ración of presa Ibérica in mushroom sauce. Unfortunately, although the sauce was superb, the meat was fatty and gristly. To be fair, we weren’t charged for it as we couldn’t eat it, but it did put a bit of a damper on an otherwise very good meal (though not enough to put us off going back).

Excellent service, very good wine list and great ambiance. My only real complaint was the use of a chemical “air freshener”, which was so strong that it actually interfered with being able to taste the food and wine properly.