It can be exciting to discover something new and secrets inspire curiosity. So the title "iberian secret" made me wonder. The menu at the small restaurant here at Martos can be quite uninformative and this was just such an example.
I had photographed the menu, the sole example of which is posted next to the door, and had sat down to decode some of the entries. Rather than look up every word, I choose a menu item and try and confirm what look like key words. The Spanish words I know are unhelpful in enquiring about these things. Hello. Yes. Good bye. Thank you.
I had started on a longish phrase in the starter section when the waitress turned up. She deposited an open bottle of coke with a glass and ice that she knew I would order and looked expectantly for my decision. So far I had discovered " hollow of hump" which was as helpful as "Iberian secret". But I plumped for it by pointing at my photographed menu ( much to her amusement) and found she had added the "secret" as my second course. It is one thing to ask what the secret is, and quite another to ask in a way that was going to produce something I had to eat.
I returned to my choice of first course and translated the last 2 words. "With fried egg".
In far too short a time for fresh produce to be cooked, the first dish arrived. The hollow hump turned out to be thin slices of meat, quite tasty and requiring salt that was deposited for my use beside the plate. The fried egg was to one side. The salt turned out to be useful in soaking up the grease that characterises the cuisine in this establishment.
Once finished and the plate was removed and shortly replaced by Iberia's secret. So here it is as a picture.
As far as I am concerned, Iberia's secret is still safe. Perhaps it is that the meat looked thick but was so thin it had curled up under the ends to make the illusion. But whatever it was, it was tasty enough and the bread mopped up the grease from this course.
Just to complete the picture of my culinary adventures for you, the desert is not written but related by the waitress at lightning speed; perhaps to inspire a flash of inspiration? I recognised a word that sounded like 'flan' and pounced on it even as I remembered that this choice was anything but flan-like when I had chosen it before. I said "si" to the option offered and received a caramel pudding on a hard base (or that had gone hard round the edges with time) and, presumably, with the optional cream round it.
The coffee was placed in front of me as she asked "café?" so that was a done deal, and my adventure of the day was thus closed. I added all the sugar provided to make it drinkable and paid the fixed price fee.
So do you know what the Iberian secret is? If you do, do please tell me what i just ate! Thank you.
Terry
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