Ultramarinos, a small bar in the Mercado San Agustín in Granada, was an absolute gem. The mercado itself is part food market—featuring amazing fish, meat, cheese, vegetables, and other produce—and part tapas-bar-community, with numerous small outlets all serving specialties. Honestly, even if you don’t eat here it’s worth just going for a wander round to have a look at the variety of food on offer – especially sea food; the Spanish have and eat so many more varieties of shellfish than us it seems.
We wandered round for a bit and finally plumped for Ultramarinos as it had a spare table for two where another couple had just left – it was a Saturday early afternoon and the place was rammed so we jumped in. We had a great server, who we had a real laugh with, communicating in our broken Spanish and his broken English—especially when he was describing a couple of the dishes we had which had some more complex elements to get across!
We tried the Taquito de Cordero a Baja Temperatura en Papel Vegetal con Crema de Queso Tierno al Pimenton & Ras Al Hannout, which was a lamb neck ‘taco’ cooked at low temperature and served in a crisp vegetable paper with soft cheese cream, paprika, and Ras Al Hanout. This doesn’t really do it justice and nor does the picture below – but it was delicious!
We also had the Panceta San Pascual Hecha a Baja Temperatura sobre Crema de Apionabo, which was San Pascual pork belly cooked at low temperature on a celeriac cream. This was pork belly at its best, so well rendered and soft and flavourful and just beautifully seasoned. Both dishes had some really clever elements and we’d love to have a look at the chef’s wider menu if we’re back in Granada.
We also had some really nice local white wine, though we didn’t catch the name—well, Elliot did, Kirsty is pregnant! The whole thing came to about 19 Euros, which frankly is a steal.
Really worthwhile spot to visit in Granada, we’d definitely go back.
