I had been craving for pintxos these past few weeks, and Sarah had recommended we try out a place along Aguirre street: Picada Tapeo! Picada is right beside Need Coffee, a really great coffee place (it was tempting to go there right after, but it was already dinner time and I really didn't need a caffeine boost in the evening). Interestingly, even the hour we came to this place was so Spanish (well, close enough): around 9PM! But that's according to Philippine standards.
Anyway, I scanned through the menu and saw a number of Spanish items I immediately recognized. However, I gravitated towards the pintxos and ordered three items off the menu.
Above is the pringa, which was basically slow roast beef & pork that's been shredded, with a serving of tomato chutney on top. It's nothing you'd commonly see in Madrid, to be honest, but it's probably an item that could show up in San Sebastian. I looked it up, and Google search results pointed to Sevilla... which makes sense, since they also invented piripi there (it's a tapa you could only find there, made of ham & cheese.
My personal favorite from the lot was the smoked salmon, smoked ham, with herb cream cheese pintxos. It was closer to what I imagined my tapas experience to be like. What I loved about it was the mixture of flavors you got in your mouth when you took a bite... but especially when I had a part of the pickle. It was like a nice surprise just waiting for you! I'd order more of this again next time!
The last item that arrived was the morcilla & gambas pintxo (morcilla is a blood sausage). Again, this is something not commonly found at bars around Madrid but I can imagine finding it at a few places, and more likely at pintxos heavens like San Sebastian! It was nice~ thought of course the tail of the shrimp does get in the way and it totally falls apart when you eat it. But... it was a great combo!
I wasn't originally planning to eat a paella but Sarah recommended their paella negra, and that it was especially good. You know what, she wasn't kidding. The last time I had paella negra was at Tomatito... and I was a bit underwhelmed with what I ate. I mean, it was okay... paella is paella. But it wasn't anything particularly memorable. This on the other hand, it had enough highlights of steady bites and flavour highlights for you to enjoy the dish.
While we were with Sarah's friends, it was solely up to the two of us to finish this dish (they had their own order of paella negra). The dish was really good, but I was just too full to get the last two spoonfuls. Perhaps if the pintxos weren't part of the mix!
I liked Picada Tapeo a lot, and I think i'd come back here if I craved for Spanish food at Aguirre. For pintxos though, I would probably look at more places as they only had 6 options to choose from on the menu (in my mind, I'd love to be able to choose from 15 - 20, if possible). But yes, the food here is good!
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