Garimba-- Vejer De La Frontera, Spain

Hello! I have moved on from Portugal and am in the town on the mountain, Vejer De La Frontera, in Spain.  Beautiful town, but not so big on food.  However, there are a couple yummy spots, and I went to one of them tonight, across the street from our hotel.  Garimba has a very cool, modern interior-- smooth wood paneling, wine stacked on shelves across the walls, and a beautiful bar with a big clock.  This is mainly a tapas restaurant, as most of the restaurants here are, but there are also some larger plates to share.  We started with the Tempura Fried Cod; very tender, crispy and flakey.  Then we had the Spring Rolls-- very generously filled with lots of veggies, and nice and hot.  For our first larger dish, we had the Tuna Tataki, which I was definitely looking forward too.  The tuna really melted in your mouth, and the addition of the soy and sesame enhanced the flavors of the would-be bland fish.  Presentation was great too, such a pretty looking dish.  Afterwards, we had the Grilled Octopus cooked in its own ink.  Now that's a cool take on grilled octopus.  It was extremely tender, but a touch too salty.  Also, the potatoes on the side were surprisingly cold, unlike the octopus.  Strange combination, and it definitely didn't mix well together.  We also had a dish of BBQd vegetables, which included tasty zucchini, snap peas, asparagus, and leeks.  To finish the meal, we ordered a Spanish classic-- Paella.  Unfortunately, I was very disappointed.  It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either.  Not crispy on the bottom at all, so the rice was way too wet.  I expected it to be more like bi bim bap than risotto.  The calamari in the dish had a chewiness that contributed nicely, and the shrimp I thought was a bit boring, and a bit stringy.  Overall, I was impressed but not impressed.  I give Garimba 3 pineapples.  Till next time!

-tdg