Malaga's beach staple「スペインの料理」: Espetos「エスペトス」

Yummy sardines huh? 2€ skewer (or less)

Today is Friday.
The rule is to leave the office at 15:30 (given longer hours every other day). 

Instead of a late lunch at the so-so company canteen maybe... We drop by the beach for some of these yummy fish skewers which are called espetos and represent a central part of the local gastronomy, since s.XIX. Very Jonathan Yve right? Complete simplicity for the perfect product.

If you ever come by, you will probably be surprised by the amount of stalls like this one, that populate the coast line. They use an old boat (or something looking like it) as BBQ. The guys really invest time and effort to get the flame right but man, when it's on... There it goes.

Non-stop yumminess. Serious big bang for the buck.

Beyond Malagueta, in the areas of Pedregalejo and El Palo, the stall density increases, up to roughly  one every 5 meters (!!). They have funny names (provided you are Spanish) like "Los cuñaos", as engagement practice.

At the end of the day, this is not so unique. I keep saying, Spain is just like Japan (and many SE Asia countries, for analogy ). There yakitori「焼き鳥」here espetos. In an abstract way... The same:

- Simple (and cheap) local ingredients

- Apparently simple yet requiring skilled hands to get that "just right" touch

- Tasty and healthy

These days, we see health as strong "trending topic": Clean food, juicers, vegans, protein bars, powder, baking, eating the rainbows, detoxing. Ironically, the Mediterranean diet is so damn healthy, taste and cheap* (*provided you are based in the Mediterranean). 

Not talking pasta and bread here. More about little meat, tons of veg and fish. Simple cooking procedures. Little oil (it used to be expensive) and dressing/sauces. It's quite shocking, as you move to Northern Europe there it comes the gravy, béarnaise sauce, fondue... Why? Because it's cold!!! Here... It is obviously NOT.

It hurts me, when I see so many people gorging on that damn fried stuff that - I swear - I won't touch. 1st sentence I learned in Japanese 「揚げ物は苦手です」lit. "I am not good at fried things".  Indeed, I find every single oily battered thing as considerably worse than its grilled counterpart:

- Grilled squid vs Fried Calamari

- Grilled veggies vs Tempura veggies

- Grilled cod vs Croquettes

- Gyoza vs Empanadilla

- Toast vs Torrija

- Waffles (Crêpes) vs Churros

...I could go on and on for years, but I won't. Time to start the sunny weekend - enjoy (^_^)