Yet again, we dragged ourselves out and drove down to Benijofar to partake in their rueda de las tapas, which was their 15th.
If you’re not aware, a Rueda de las Tapas—literally translates as “Tapas Wheel”—which is a lively tapas (think pub for the Brits reading this) crawl over several days, usually Friday, Saturday and a Sunday.
Last year was a little bit mixed as we reported here, and we really enjoyed the 2023 event. What we noticed this year was some of the really good establishments have decided to opt out, such as Las Papas Doradas, which for the past couple of years, we think were excellent, both times around.
This year the rueda de las tapas is different for us. For one, we are doing the Sunday, and for a second, instead of seeing how many we can get around, we are being more selective as to which bars and restaurants we visit. Previously the rueda de las tapas events have proven to be a mixed bag.
Squirrels
Fabulous service, a good choice of drinks including beer, wine, soft drinks and an alcohol free punch, (which Soph ordered) and also a cocktail. The beer was draft, served in a proper glass and the punch was a really nice change and a great idea.
The tapas was a beef stew in a mini Yorkshire pudding. Again, this was really good, full of flavour and the homemade Yorkie was bang on. Squirrels are active on social media to find out about all the events and offerings they have planned.
Victoria Palace
Friendly, welcoming service. Drinks were the small plastic cups of draft beer for me but Coke from a large bottle for Soph.
Tapas was freshly prepared, tasty and enjoyable. We eat here on a regular basis, so we know how good the food is. We only called in as El mundo and Olea were both not yet open.
Plaza Differente
The place was busy, service was welcoming and friendly. Drinks were draft beer served in a proper glass, Soph had a coke .
The food was good, it had flavour and the sausage was tasty (it reminded me of the Mattessons smoked sausage I used to buy in the UK)
El Mundo
Opened at noon, but was busy by the time we got there, including many people ordering pints and food off the menu, so they seem to be doing things right.
The dish we got for tapas was enjoyable, the heat from the chilli came through to add to the flavour.
The beer was a bottle, served with a plastic glass but Sophs soft drink of Coke Zero, was a can, which came with a plastic glass.
Olea
We have never been here before, so this was on our list. The chicken tikka was really good, it was very tender and moist. The sauce was tasty, again a tiny amount of heat coming through.
Drinks were served in the plastic glasses.
There are a couple of nice sounding dishes on their menu, including a canteen curry and also pork in port, which I want to return to though to try the curry first of all.
This is the idea of a tapas trail, the chance to showcase your kitchen and also, just as important, your service from staff. We’d seen some negative comments about service here but we had no issues, it was super quick and the staff were attentive to everyone coming in.
So Bar
Our first time in here and considering they don’t have a kitchen to do food, they excelled today. The roast chicken was succulent, the stuffing was just as we used to have back in the UK. A bottle of beer and a choice of soft drinks served in plastic cup.
Super friendly service, Soph took the empty plate inside to the bin, as there was a slight breeze and we didn’t want to leave litter, and the woman who served us, thanked Soph for this.
The Pines
The adage about saving the best till last, sadly, didn’t apply today. We were actually not going to bother calling here, but Soph said I’d mentioned the Pines before we set off, so we went.
It was busy, the train had just stopped off as we were parking the car, so there was a wait for tables. We did get one after a couple of minutes, and we were eventually served.
I asked for a beer, Soph asked for a Coke Zero, to be advised that soft drinks were an extra euro! When she asked why, she was told they cost too much to buy. As she was driving, she then ordered a water instead.
The food came it was okay, this was stew that was quite watery, little in the way of beef and the cobbler was probably as small as you could possibly make them.
The real let down here was the bottle of water that was brought out, as it wasn’t even the standard 500ml bottle ( which costs 18c wholesale ) but, it was an even smaller size, at 330ml. ( if you want the wholesalers details, drop me an email and I’ll share them, so you can buy cans of soft drinks and water, cheaper).
When you see people commenting on Facebook about some establishments just using this rueda de las tapas event to make a profit from, sadly, this just confirmed these thoughts.
Mediocre food, a 15c bottle of water, and it’s 3.50€.
Final Thoughts On This Rueda De Las Tapas
I want to add this in bold, so people understand my comments here, without getting too arsey, especially those who have only ever lived in one town or autonomous community. In our time here, we have lived in 3 different autonomous communities of Spain. We are not one hit wonders.
We used to live down in Andalusia in the Granada province and there you get a good tapas free with every beer, wine or soft drink, 365 days of the year. So we never had these events down there, as we had no need for them.
If you are new to the area and never done a rueda de las tapas / tapas route, or on holiday and want a bit of a pub crawl, then give these events a go.
Sadly for us, these rueda de las tapas have lost their appeal. We only visited 7 establishments today, but at 7€ per round that is 49€ which could have got us both a nice, 3 course Sunday lunch, with drinks for the same price or less.
We will be doing the Catral Event on the 18th October, which is just one day this year. But again, we will be selective as to where we visit.
