FoodNet

The gourmet's guide to Europe

1903

Page 156

Presented as published in 1903. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
I do not think that I ever had a worse-served 7 francs worth of food. Once in my life, at a Chicago hotel, I saw a negro waiter shaking up the bottle of bur- gundy I had ordered, just to amuse his brother “ coons,” and I felt a helpless exasperation as I watched him. The same feeling of voiceless anger was upon me as I watched the gentleman who was supposed at the San Sebastian Casino to keep me supplied with hot food, bring a dish from the interior of the cafe and then put it down on somebody else’s table to cool while he strolled across the terrace to ask the military guardian at the gate how many people had paid for admission, or at what hour the band played, or what number had won the lottery. The Urbana in the Plaza Guipuzcoa is a Spanish restaurant which prides itself on its French cuisine. Of the cafes the bright Novelty in the Alameda is the most amusing. The view from the terrace of the Monte Ulia is so fine that the cookery of the establishment, which is always sufficiently good, becomes a secondary on a clear spring morning. The San Sebastian Clubs The Real Club Nautico is built in the shape of a ship and commands a splendid view of the bay. In the hot weather it is very pleasant to dine on the deck of this ship ashore and listen to the music of the Casino band, the Casino being just behind the club-house. La Urbana, 15 Plaza Guipuzcoa Novelty Cafe, Alameda restaurant of Monte Ulia consideration 2 84 The Gourmet's Guide to Europe The Cantabrico Club, of which the Cantabrico Restaurant forms part, is in the Calle Miramar. The restaurant is the scene of many • banquets. The Cantabrico Club has acquired a great stretch of land two miles away from the town on the Urumea River. Here a Country Club is to be formed, a club-house is to be built, and lawn-tennis courts, a golf course, and a pigeon-shooting enclosure are to be made. Senor Felix Dotres has made a golf course on his property round the Villa Zinza, and has formed a golf club of which many members are of the Spanish nobility. The Cercle Fran^ais on the first floor of the Cafe de la Marina is another of the San Sebastian clubs. Bilbao It is curious that at the great northern town of Spain there should be no first-class restaurants. The two best in the town are the Antiguo, in the Calle de Bidebarrieta, and the Moderno. Both of these boast what the Spaniards term Cocina Francesa , which only means that if you make a request, as the English always do, the cook will fry your food with butter instead of oil. Of the clubs of Bilbao the Real Sporting Club is the most interesting to English visitors. Its floating pavilion in the bay is a two-storied house-boat with a shelter over the deck. PORTUGALETE At Portugalete, the port of Bilbao, there is a restaurant — good, as Spanish restaurants go — attached to the hotel of the place, the Inza, the proprietor of which is Dn. Manuel Calvo. The cook and the staff of waiters come from Lhardy’s, the well- Spain 285 known Madrid restaurant, and spend their summer by the seaside. The prices at this restaurant are high. Portugalete is only a summer resort. Madrid