Monday, February 9, 2009

Fresc Co Restaurante

Saturday afternoon and I needed to do the shopping, but I was lazy. I was also hungry, but the fridge was empty. It being Saturday, there wouldn’t be many restaurants open for a menu del día. So I decided to try Fresc Co, an “eat as much as you can” or “buffet libre” restaurant. I have nothing against such restaurants, especially when I’m on my own and for €10,95 I was willing to give it a try. The experience has made me come to the conclusion that there are a lot of people who really don’t care what they eat, as long as they get a lot.


On entering it’s a bit as if you’re in the airport or in any old canteen; you get your tray, your plate and cutlery and join the queue. In case you don’t know how this works it is explained on a big sign in both Spanish and English. The queue starts at the salad bar, which is about 10 meters long and the salads look fresh, as they should. Because it’s “eat as much as you can”, you will try everything that fits on your plate. I tried a potato curry salad; some coos coos; some regular green salad, tomatoes and some cauliflower. I say potato curry, because that’s what it looked like, the taste was watery and mealy, the rest was so cold I was wondering if I wasn’t in an ice cream parlor. The hot meals are found through a maze of tables (the apparently low price as an excuse to cram in as many tables as humanly possible) in the back of the restaurant and for good reason; they are very limited and shit. Pizzas: heavy, infinitely chewable dough with tomato sauce and mushrooms; pasta: supersize penne with something (I didn’t want to try); chicken drumsticks: dry but the stocky sauce with peas was not that bad; and soup: mwah.
The amount of food that is thrown away as a result is shameful.

I know, I know, it’s easy to slate places like this. But for €11 you can do a lot better in some “Manolo” bar even if it were only for the authenticity. So that’s where I’ll be going from now

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