Laury Restaurant
What a weekend! My in-laws came to visit and we spent Saturday in Santander, and on Sunday morning we did something I've been wanting to do for a long time. But let's start with Saturday first. The store where my father-in-law and I bought our suits for our wedding is owned by a man who also owns a really posh restaurant in Santander. With our purchases, we were each given a 70€ voucher for the restaurant. Saturday we cashed them in. As we piled in the car, it was decided that, on the way to Santander, we would stop in Santoña, which isn't really on the way at all, to buy a tuna pie. There's a bakery in Santoña, hidden in a warehouse where you would never look for a bakery, that makes the most amazing empanadas, pastry pies. And the best of those is the one with tuna and tomato. Unfortunately they were out of them, but had some in the oven, so we had to wait ten minutes. When we finally got our pie, which was piping hot and smelling of heaven, I had to carry it to the car. This was, of course, total torture because we were about to go to a really expensive restaurant and we had to abstain from this poor man's delight. So, on our way to Santander, we stopped back at home, which was now on the way, to leave the pie there.
The smell emanating from this bag was so delightful that it actually made me weak in the knees.
Once in Santander, we meandered our way to the restaurant, stopping in a couple bars to try the local fermented grapes.
Where we parked, there was a shop for "mobility products", which is what my employer primarily sells, so I had a peek. These phones struck me as particularly ingenious for people that are unable to type in the numbers on the phone. Every button can be programmed and then has a picture of the person to call. Nice.
The Spanish are so Catholic that even their bollards have nativity scenes!
This horrible, horrible creature was in one of the bars we visited. It's made entirely of shellfish and would not stop staring at me.
Some mussels in a delightfully spicy sauce. At first we commented amongst ourselves that there was way too much sauce, but three minutes later we were sponging the plate dry with some bread.
The two main archrival soccer teams in Spain set for a foosball match.
Finally, we arrived at the restaurant, which is so good, apparently, that it doesn't even need a web site: Laury.
The menu in the front window to ward off any upper-middle, middle, or lower class patrons. Click here to see bigger.
Right out in the open when you walk in is this huge half cow next to a red hot grill. Questionable sanitation, if you ask me.
A lobster doing the "if you don't kill me soon, I'm going to die of boredom anyway" stroke in the pool.
Finally, the real leather-bound menu.
LAN wine. This has to be one of the more interesting wine bottle labels I've seen. The text reads,
Wines do not last a lifetime in the bottle. They evolve and mature, put also get old... and die. We want this aged red wine that you have in your hands today to be shared in all its splendor and plenitude. Keep this wine in the best conditions possible. Do not save your bottle for a better occasion that never arrives... Decide to drink it at its best moment and enjoy it.
How funny! Apparently the wine companies have problems with people buying and then not ever drinking it and letting it go bad. The other thing that strikes my scientific mind is, what on earth are the units for the y-axis of that chart? Any wine connoisseurs out there have any idea?
Rabas. Calamari.
Juan, with his chuletón de buey. Now, on the menu, it said that the chuletón de buey was 34€ per kilogram. I understand that some posh restaurants give prices by weight like this, so I figured the actual amount might be a huge 500 grams (1.1 lb). But then, on the bill, it cost us 34€. So I can only assume that Juan's steak was ONE KILOGRAM!! Obviously, that's the uncooked weight, but so are all the other meat weights your brain is comparing it to right now. Wow!
My much more reasonably sized sirloin steak.
Some nicely salted fried potatoes for the table to share.
Delicious!
Juan ordered a flan with custard that was amazing.
My tiramisu. Lovely.
Marga normally orders café con hielo, which used to confuse the heck out of waiters in England. In Spain, it's normally served as a normal espresso, but with a glass with a few cubes of ice in it. I've never seen them bring a huge bucket of ice like this.
Out of after dinner digestive boredom, I put a cube in my empty coffee cup.
The window of the restaurant had this bamboo silhouette design on it. Very posh.
Outside the restaurant, we passed by this globe sculpture with the zodiacal symbols around it.
To lighten photo density, the afternoon walk that took place next will be the subject of my next post.