I agree Sam. We ate there Saturday night and enjoyed the food and friendly efficient service. Wine by glass tasted great, albeit at 3 euro a glass. Like you, I'll visit again at Hallowe'en. Michael

HI, I have read many posts about hole 19th restaurant and some of them criticizing the fact that Morales doesn’t speak English, I have to say that Morales has made many changes in the menu thinking of the English people. You should see all the changes he has made in the restaurant, in times, in menus ... instead of seeing that he does not speak English.
Normally, in Spain, people over 40, don’t speak English and in the same way, I think in England only few people can speak in Spanish.
Sometimes one forgets that we are in Spain and in Andalusia, except in restaurants made for tourists, don’t speak English. Maybe some of you, those who criticize this aspect, should start speaking Spanish.
I'm pretty sure that if I went to a restaurant in England, they wouldn’t speak my language and if I didn’t speak English or tried to, I would stay without eating

Actually, Marisol, I hate to contradict you, but having read through the last few months of this thread there is only one mention of Manolo not speaking English - and that is my post #1096 which specifically says that we should not expect him to!

That is not the problem - nor should it be.

The problem is that he does not appear to empathise with his customers - many of whom are English and in the summer many of them are tourists and do not speak Spanish. But, I know of many local restaurants whose owners do not speak English and they do seem to get on well with their customers so this should not be a barrier. Nearly all the posts on this thread have been supportive - and we as a community are very very keen for H19H to continue to be a success. Many of the criticisms have suggestions on how it may be improved in order to ensure that it remains successful.

Hi Mike
you are right, i didnt read all the posts, in fact, i only read some of them so i was wrong. But, sometimes i understand Manolo because the empathise can be lost when after a lot of years attending English tourist some of them are not able to say even a single word in Spanish, like "hola" (hello) or "buenos dias" (good morning) or whatever.
Actually the same happens when Spanish people go to Portugal, some dont say even a single word in Portuguese.
Sorry for my English Mike

Hi

Here are 2 photos:

The opening times of 19H We are big fans of Manolo and family and always get a good welcome, their chef 'Shamo' is a good cook and I hope is still there - but I heard a rumour he had left. So we will try the new guy, if thats the case, and report back later.

The great 8 euro all-incl menu at the 'solar panel' resto in MF. It has been revised slightly since I last posted. Great home cooked food in a local family type resto. Not 'posh' but we like it that way too. We eat there at least once a week. Great roast chicken in red wine sauce yesterday, with a simple but very tasty tomato salad, (why arent our Toms so nice in North EU!!) patatas asadas with garlic (yummy).. Several desert choices (we were stuffed so shared a single portion of melon) - coffee and wine all for 8 euros! In fact a big group of us are going there tomorrow. SO more than happy to go more than once a week. We haven't yet tried the Sunday menu at 9.50, will post when we do.

Note they are open 12-22pm so if you have (say) come in to the airport at an 'odd' hour.. you can go there.

I posted a map showing all the choices in MF if you are interested and can search better than me .

Also I dont know if they are still doing events at weekends in MF but here is a thread I started... http://britishexpats.com/forum/ayamo...sco-mf-799654/

Great place, MF, and fantastic that the closest restos there (outside CE and the m-way) are actually in there another country Portugal, a few minutes away!!


Happy noshing!

Jon

Ah, excellent info, Jon. We enjoyed sampling the tasty grilled chicken, accompanied by rice, chips and salad. Plenty to choose from the sweets menu, too. Thank you for posting the menu and opening times of these two restos.

As requested, here are the links to two events on the Portuguese side of the river in the Alcoutim area.

The first link is for the Partridge Festival on the 7th & 8th November:

Site Autarquico de Alcoutim

The second is the Autumn Gastronomic Festival in Alcoutim Council from the 7th November til 8th December:

Site Autarquico de Alcoutim

Scroll down the page to download the program of participating restos.

Anybody know of any restaurant that does suckling pig, either in Portugal or Spain. (in the Ayamonte area)

If you want to DIY then you can get paletilla de cochinillo in Mercadona - frozen meat section

Hi Pete, hope you and Mo are well.

Drive along the N125 heading from Esuri to the Gran Plaza shopping centre in Tavira. Just before the roundabout that takes you to the GP there is a Restaurant (can't remember the name) on the right hand side with a picture of a Suckling Pig on the sign. I'm sure there are others but this is the only one I can think of. Hope it helps, Mike

Restaurante da Bairrada Has suckling pig Bairrada style on the menu

That's the one :-))

RECOMMENDED IN VRSA. HONORATIOS RESTO. HI all, we planned to go to Lupis tonight, but forgot it was indonesian buffet night. We declined and went down to Vrsa. We planned to go to the naval ferry resto on the quayside, but instead ended up in this Pizza type place. We were feeling lucky!! Now I don't see the point of pizzas, but they seemed to have a good menu of grilled fish , meat etc, plus some nice pasta dishes. We settled for the lasagne forno and the taglatelli fungi. Both were outstanding, served seriously hot, fresh and good quality. Big carafe of tinto only 7.50 euros and smooth. We also saw some grilled fish on the next table that looked superb. Staff nice too. Will be going back soon. Its opposite the water just outside the main square in the main drag.Well worth a try!

We've actually made special trips to Barraida - but turned away as the car park was empty. Its certainly on our list to go - maybe at a weekend. Especially now as they have suckling pig! Thanks for the info. When passing by we have headed for O Cyclista, keep going West past Barraida and in a couple of mins, just before the bridge over the valley turn off right (towards Cachopo on the brown sign) and the resto is under the bridge/viaduct. Best steak we've had so far in the area. https://www.tripadvisor.co.nz/Restau...t_Algarve.html

Some resto's to consider.

We spent a lot of time at the 'solar panel resto' in MF (mentioned above with the new menu) ...

... and also the sushi resto in MGordo, Osaka - the salmon just melted in the mouth! Its all-you-can-eat, dishes individually prepared (so no buffet ). About 70 dishes, about a third sushi and the rest non-sushi, so OK for all. The salmon just melted in the mouth. 12Eur for lunch 15 for dinner. I am totally addicted to sushi, one of my 3 fave food groups and its amazing I didn't explode. Really nice house white 6.50 can you believe, so nice that we bought a few bottles when we saw it at LIDL, and friends chose it as the best in a taste test we did with 2 others. Adega de Borba white, must be chilled! A steal at 3EUr http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restauran...t_Algarve.html

We tried a few new restos as well, Including the newish one on the 125. Casa de Pasto A Casota. Head away from Pingo doce, towards MGordo in a few mins you will see the Rodizio resto on the right (sadly always empty so we don't go there).. carry on just a few hundred yards and you see a small door and sandwich board offering fresh fish. Nice simple Portuguese resto with dishes of the day and good pricing.

Also Artres in Ayamonte. Come out of the theater turn right towards the plaza and on your left just before the end its there and recommended on tripadvisor A3 - Casa Manolo, Ayamonte - Restaurant Reviews, Phone Number & Photos - TripAdvisor. Posh tapas and a resto, we did the resto, but a tad expensive so for special occasions as we had, and the tapas looked really good, giving Puerta Ancha a run for the money I would say. Thanks to fellow forum members for telling us about it.

Also the resto in VRSA on the banks of the river, great views! Only fish and potato. Sorry forgot the name. But cant miss it. Imagine you are on the river road coming out of VRSA, you pass the ferry terminal on your right - go on a couple of hundred yards and you see all the camper vans and turn in and drive alongside the river till you see it. During the week they have a choice of dish of the day - for a good price (eg 2 dorada's) BUT beware otherwise buying by the kilo means you pay normal full price resto prices. The meal for 3 with drinks (and we splashed out) was 163 Euros - so another special occasion. So next time we will go in the week and double check that there is a dish of the day. Absolutely delicious clams to start with... and really fresh fish. I think he keeps fish alive in a special tank, in the river so if the run out they pick a fish out. Cant get fresher than that!

Finally O Sapal on the ‘square’ in Castro Marim. Turn into CM and carry on as if going to the post office/Chemist. About 50 yards before the T junction where you turn left at for the chemist is a ‘square’ its there and the prato da dia(s) are on a board pinned to a tree by the road. Nice simple food, great pricing again and nice to sit outside on a sunny day - even in November!

Happy munchin'

Jon

Hi Jon we will be back in the area next week so I took the trouble ( 2 mins ) to do the search

Thanks for that - I am no good at searching!

Have fun in CE

Jon