Pick and Choose What Pinchos You Want at Lizarran
I was going around the Historic City of Toledo and I was amazed how commercialized it was. I know, any place popular enough would end up like this. The streets were lined with numerous shops and restaurants. This reminded me that I still haven’t had lunch. I arrived at the train station a little past twelve noon and I still haven’t had lunch yet after walking up to the city center. I was browsing through the numerous restaurants here and was quite dismayed at how similar the food was here. Each restaurant was practically selling all the same stuff, including that ever present paella. Sure it is probably Spain’s most famous food but there has to be more than that. The other dishes were disappointingly ordinary, generic “Western” fare.
My Pick of Pinchos at Lizarran
That was until a ran into this rather unique restaurant. It was a small place and looked more like a fast food place. There was a sign which said Pinchos. Although I am familiar with a lot of Spanish dishes, I didn’t know what this one was. Apparently Pinchos or Pintxos is a small snack usually served at bars. It is usually all sorts of stuff, chicken, ham, cheese on top of a small piece of bread. There is usually a pincho or toothpick which holds all the stuff together. I never had this kind of food before so I was curious about this restaurant. In this case, the restaurant here is Lizarran which specializes in this kind of food. There were a lot of people in the shop, which intrigued me even more.
A Glass of Mahou Beer at Lizarran
It seems that Pinchos are meant to be eaten with a lot of people, which explains why there are a lot of people standing around chatting. The staff at Lizarran was very busy, but still they were able to accommodate non Spanish speaking people like me. I got myself four pieces of pinchos and I thought it was quite interesting. It was like being served finger food at a hotel before a major occasion. I also got myself a small glass of Mahou beer, it seems that this is the country’s best selling beer. Lizarran also serves “normal” fare and they have a menu for you to choose from. Apparently, they are a big organization, and have even expanded overseas. Maybe someday they will come to a place near you.
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