Saturday 23 October 2010

Restaurante Granada, Nueva, Ronda

One of many similar restaurants competing vigorously for your custom on this pedestrianised nineteenth century street, Granada offers large portions of mostly Spanish food at keen prices. As part of the cover, you are given some saggy and salty green olives, plus shrink-wrapped rolls of bread. As you peruse the plastic menus in several languages, you may spot one of the cooks opening and closing the microwave. Among the main courses, the large mixed paella, served in a wok, is full of grisly chicken and pork, king prawns, fat mussels and clams. It is salty, but pretty good for the modest 9.50 euros a head. The mixed salad (six euros) is an eclectic mix of wafer-thin Palma ham, manchego cheese, tinned pineapple, beetroot, sweet corn, shredded carrots, loads of lettuce, sliced tomatoes and peppers. The okay spaghetti bolognese is filling, while the Spanish omelet is also substantial and passable. Granada's tacky decor, with a gold-trimmed Alhambra-theme, is reminiscent of the seventies. Even as if it fills up with tired tourists, this unremarkable restaurant lacks atmosphere. 5/10