Can Miguel

can miguel

I went to Calella twice this week with Oli and Nookie. We had been warned that restaurants on the Costa Brava could be for tourists only – all pizza and bad tapas (tapas do not come from Cataluña), but we embarked on a mission to find somewhere good regardless. Earlier in the week we thought we’d found and excellent restaurant, the menú diari looked good, it was full of Catalans and the camarera was charming. It all went well until we got to the main course where the fideuà was tasteless and rubbery. I think it was the first time I’ve ever had a bad fideuà! Needless to say, my camera went back in my bag and the restaurant will be nameless.

Today our luck changed and we found an excellent place called Can Miguel. with huge parasols to shade us from the sun and friendly staff.

menú diari

You will see from the menú diari, above, that the food promised to be good – 3 course with wine or beer for €12.50.

vi rosat

I ordered my usual vi rosat, which did a very good impression of Carlsberg in the film, Ice Cold In Alex.

musclos can miguel

To start, Nookie ordered musclos “Can Miguel” – Can Miguel’s signature mussel dish. Normally these come with garlic, but they were very happy to adjust the recipe to suit their guests. The bowl was enormous, so we all ate them. Despite the missing garlic, they were delicious!

amanida russa

Oli ordered Amanida Russa – Russian Salad, a very popular dish in Iberia, made of potatoes and other vegetables in mayonnaise. It is said that mahonnaise originally came from Mahón in Menorca.

gaspatxo a la andalusa

As it was about 30º C outside, I chose gaspatxo a la andalusa – an Andalucian Gazpacho, a cold raw tomato soup, chilled in the fridge and designed to cool you down. Note the little bowl of chopped crunchy vegetables to float on top of the soup.

amanida mixta amb tonyina

Nookie quite often wants a second starter instead of the main course. You will see here, that she was very well looked after with an Amanida Mixta amb Tonyina – a mixed salad with tuna.

pollastre al curri

Oli ordered Pollastre al Curri – chicken curry, which he pronounced excellent.

lluç a la planxa

I ordered Lluç a la Planxa – hake cooked on the griddle, which came with a generous helping of potatoes, mixed vegetables and asparagus.  Nookie had half the asparagus – her second favourite vegetable after artichokes and she did give me lots of mussels!

fruites

For pudding, Nookie had fresh fruit which came in a lovely glass bowl in the shape of half an apple.

panna cotta

Oli ordered Panna Cotta, an Italian sweetened, cream pudding, set with gelatin in a mould.

tarta de fresas

My pudding was a Tarta de Fresas – a strawberry tart, which I expected to be more French in style, but nevertheless, it was astonishingly light and quite delicious.

carajillo

Nobody will be surprised to see me finish my lunch with a carajillo de cognac, a fantastic pick me up of espresso topped up with Spanish Brandy. They even serve it with a Malteser like sweet.

la cuenta

We werendelighted with Can Miguel, which compared extremely well with some of our favourite restaurants in Barcelona. It’s also worth noting how good value it is at lunchtime.

Can Miguel is at: Riera Capaspre, 4, 08370 Calella, Cataluña.