Day Three continued...For dinner, we chose to go to La Parrilla de San Lorenzo in Valladolid. "Parilla" is the Spanish word for "grill." Interestingly enough, though some may find it gruesome, this grill restaurant was named in honor of St. Lawrence, who was burned to death over a grill.
During the sixteenth century, the building had been a monatery. It certainly still possesses reminders of that time, including religious pictures and items. You also feel like you are dining in a cellar. A very quaint and rustic setting.
Much of the food is cooked in this old clay oven. It certainly does an excellent job. Even their delicious bread is cooked in this oven. 
We began with a bottle of wine, a 1998 Vina Tondonia Rioja Reserva. This was a light, Old Style Rioja. An excellent wine with more subtle fruit flavors. It went well with our meal, even the fish.
We began with a Cod Salad, which consisted of raw salt cod, tomatoes, greens and shrimp. There was a hot oil atop the salad as well as something slightly sweet. It was a great mix of flavors and everything was very fresh. We also started with a different potato, egg, and bacon dish. It was like a type of potato salad. This was also very tasty.
One of our entrees was the Sea Bass, butterflied, topped with shrimp. As you can see, they include the head and tail. The bass was excellent, with a nice sweet flavor. Very tender with a mild sauce that only enhanced the taste. Just a great piece of fish and there was plenty of meat.
Our second entree was the Roast Lamb. This was an incredible dish! It was a large piece of lamb, grilled, and the meat was unbelieveably tender and juicy. It was a much light color than the lamb I am used to in the U.S. The meat just about fell off the bone and there was so much of it. This was just a heavenly dish, one of the best lamb dishes I have ever had!
For dessert, I had a simple strawberry ice cream with pistachio nuts and strawberry sauce. A simple but very good dessert.
Service was very good. Overall, I highly recommend this restaurant, especially the roast lamb. Great atmosphere, great food, reasonable prices.
Your excellent blog on the Parilla de San Lorenzo brings it all back! What a fantastic evening we had there, enhanced by being with colleagues from the town who were determined to show us all the delicacies that they could.
ReplyDeleteMy whole time in Valladolid seemed to centre on wonderful food at roughly hourly intervals as you can see from my own blog of my visit there.