FOOD | CULTURE
Should You Judge a Restaurant by Its (Translated) Menu?
High and low culture in the Spanish hospitality trade, in unexpected places
The Hostal de los Reyes Católicos in Santiago de Compostela could reasonably claim to be the most venerable hotel in the world. Quite aside from its five-star rating, it occupies a palatial edifice within a UNESCO world heritage site: the Plaza del Obradoiro, for centuries the destination of pilgrims following what is seen by many as the very genesis of tourism as a phenomenon.
Accommodation really doesn’t get much more culturally rarefied than this.
My parents treated themselves to a night of luxury there once on their way to visit me when I was living nearby in the port city of Ferrol. I met them at the hotel the next day, with the plan to have lunch in Santiago before heading off to the coast. Maybe we could push the boat out and sample the delights of the 5* establishment’s restaurant?
We decided to take a look at the menu, and as my folks didn’t speak much Spanish at the time, picked up the English version.
Wow!
Not an ‘ooh, my mouth is watering’ kind of wow. More an ‘ouch, my head is hurting’ wow, with a capital OW!
