What are some of your all-time favorite restaurants?
Hippocrates said: ‘Let medicine be thy food and food be thy medicine’. And I can't find a better phrase that sums up how important eating is to me. Last week we wrote about travelling and I think eating complements that previous theme perfectly.
Personally, every time I travel I like to go to the local restaurants, from the most popular to the most exclusive, getting to know the gastronomy of the countries, cities and towns can be a delicious and rewarding experience.
I remember when I was a child, every time we passed the school year, my father would take us to an Italian restaurant called Francos where we would eat the most delicious pizzas in the world. That was our prize: to go and eat pizza and ice cream. All year long we could eat pizzas and ice cream in other cheaper pizzerias, we only went to Francos once a year and it was our longed-for outing.
In my city, there was also a French restaurant that I only went to seasonally, as it was very luxurious and expensive. I remember that I tasted crepes there, but also Cassoulette, La ratatouille, Moules frites, Le foie gras. I remember I had a declaration of love there that I will never forget and I celebrated my Magister degree there. I don't know if it was the place, the atmosphere, but I remember that my eyes sparkled when I went to this place that no longer exists.
Another place I enjoyed visiting was an Arabic restaurant in Maturín, the city where I did my master's degree, called Clara Luna. No matter how tired, stressed and disappointed I was, going to Clara Luna would reset my soul. Many times we went to celebrate a grade or the end of a semester over tabbouleh, hummus, manakish, kibbe. We knew the time of arrival, but not the time of departure.
I would probably be hard-pressed to pick just one famous restaurant that I have been to that has been an incredible experience. For example, one of the first times I visited Merida I went to a restaurant called La vita è bella. It was on a mountain and is perhaps one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. It was run by a Frenchman and a Venezuelan woman who fell in love, got married and had been together for more than 30 years. They told their story to everyone who wanted to hear it.
I also remember the grape beach restaurant. Oasis was its name and it had the right name. A place by the sea where you could eat all the marine delicacies you could imagine. You didn't go to Grape Beach if you didn't pass by the Oasis. There the dishes came with petals from the flowers in a paradise-like garden.
Just as I remember luxurious and exclusive places, I also remember with great nostalgia La cazuela de Petra, a popular restaurant where you could eat the best seafood casserole, the best paella, the best asopado. Every year, after my birthday party, it was necessary to go and eat a seafood asopado to get rid of the hangover. The owner, Petra, welcomed us with a smile from ear to ear and with very folkloric jokes.
As I write, I am certain that every restaurant I visited was attracted by a curiosity that could be satiated with a simple visit, but I only returned to restaurants that stood out not only for their gastronomy, but also for their attention.
However, I am certain that these places have a place in my memories, because there I lived important experiences with important people. Because as the title of this post says, more than the places, it is the people who make the spaces valuable to us and unique in our memory.
This is my participation this week for our great friend @ericvancewalton's initiative: Memoir monday. If you want to participate, here's the link to the invitation post.
All images are from my personal gallery and the text is translated at Deepl
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It sounds like you have a lot of great memories. These restaurants are like a blank canvass on which our memories are painted. It's a little sad when these places close. We've lost a lot of them in our area since the pandemic. Thank you for taking part in #memoirmonday, Nancy! I hope you're having a good week.
Yes, it's very sad, because you feel that a part of you stayed in those spaces. In Venezuela, I don't know if in other countries, it has become customary to do new business in newly closed spaces. So where there used to be a nice restaurant, now there is a supermarket; where there used to be a café, now there is an electrical shop. Then you go around saying: Do you remember there used to be a bar here...? It's like taking away people's memory. A pleasure to participate in this initiative, my friend. Hugs