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El Rincon de Rafa

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Liam Hetherington
Liam Hetherington
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4 out of 5
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23) El Rincon de Rafa - Never Mind the Ballearics!

23) El Rincon de Rafa - Never Mind the Ballearics!

Spain - 03/05/09

If ever a restaurant deserved the tag ‘hidden gem’, it would be El Rincon de Rafa. But once found, it is never to be forgotten!

Paul and I had decided to seek out a tapas bar for a Spanish meal as we had already been in town for a free May bank holiday festival organised by the tourism department of the Balearic Islands (Majorica, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera). This involved a large marquee occupying Albert Square that hosted musicians, flamenco dancers, displays of Menorcan equestrianism, and stalls showcasing traditional crafts and foods. I had cheered the suave horsemen on their rearing black horses, photographed the parade of drummers and geants (giant mannequins) that paraded down Cross Street, and had been whacked in the cojones by a broomstick-weilding dancing devil for my troubles! The dressage was particularly impressive, where the horses not only walked and trotted, but reared, bucked, sidestepped, pranced, hopped, danced and high-kicked. After a few nibbles at cheese on oil biscuits, flao (like a custard tart), and a shot of pomado (a worryingly potent gin and lemon) we had had our appetites whetted somewhat. While Manchester is not short of tapas bars, I had only heard of El Rincon the day before, where it had been described as a totally authentic one-off, staffed by Spanards, and which was the equal to anywhere one might find in Spain itself. This was good enough for us to set out on our voyage of discovery.

To find the place walk south down Deansgate from the Peter Street junction, take the first road on your right (just past the Scientology centre). Then immediately double back to the right onto Longworth street. A sole Cruzcampo sign shows that you are nearing your destination, something confirmed by the stencilled tiles straight out of Andalucia – ‘El Rincon de Rafa – Manchester’. A doorway leads onto a descending flight of stairs. At the bottom is a surprisingly high hall, bar down one side, crammed with tables and benches. The music was not Spanish, but certainly from the Spanish diaspora, with Colombian Shakira interspersed with the Argentinian Gotan Project. The walls groan under a collection of sporting memorabilia, from signed cartoons of golfer Seve Ballesteros to Deportivo la Coruña scarves. In particular check out the ’90s vintage Manchester United shirt signed by the squad. The décor should not be a surprise – I hear that Rafa himself first came from Spain to play football for Stockport County FC.

Apparently waiting for a table is a common problem at El Rincon. Fortunately we had popped in for a Sunday lunch, and the joint was almost empty when we arrived; however when we left every single table was occupied. So this place is hidden, but not unknown! Paul and I were immediately seated in a corner with good views across the restaurant and provided with menus.

First off I ordered a pint of draught Cruzcampo. Not being a natural lager drinker, I found this Spanish brew far too gassy at first. However, as I got into the meal it became a lot more refreshing – I don’t know whether this is the beer going flatter, or whether it just does naturally complement the taste of Spanish food. And at £3.00 for a pint it is not a totally extortionate price. Which was good as I have often discovered that tapas meals can end up quite expensive as you end up ordering far too many dishes. In the end Paul and I ordered seven different tapas – eight if you include the basket of bread (£1.50), which I personally reckon should have been complimentary. Prices for the tapas varied between £4.35 and £5.75, and they were enough to fill us. They would probably have stretched to four if the individuals concerned were not particularly hungry. A word of warning – don’t get your heart set on having the dishes in any particular order. They get delivered in dribs and drabs – essentially as soon as they are ready they appear.

So first to hit the table was a plate of queso Manchego, the distinctive tart sheep’s cheese from La Mancha. These were firm triangles of robustly mature cheese, topped with a blob of some sort of marmalade that worked well, its sweetness contrasting with the tart Manchego. Frankly I preferred to savour the cheese on its own without diluting it with the slices of crusty baguette. Next up were gambas pil-pil, spicy king prawns. Or at least, that was what I expected. The king prawns were thick and meaty, but the sauce they came in was sadly rather insipid. Some sort of stronger flavour was needed to bring out the best of the prawns in my opinion – either chilli or lemon.

If the prawns (one of my choices) were underwhelming, another of my choices was a great success. Alcachofas fritas were fried artichoke hearts in a salsa / ratatouille sort of marinade. Very simply prepared and cooked, but certainly none the worse for that. The flavours were much more delicate than those of some of the other dishes and were very refreshing. As the cheapest dish we ordered (£4.35) this is one that I can wholeheartedly recommend.

Two of Paul’s choices were next up – lentejas and filetitos. The lentejas was a thick browl lentil soup. So thick in fact, that it could be scooped up with a fork. Lentils were not something that I would have ordered, but it proved to be a good hearty broth. It had been thickened up with odd bits of meat however – chunks of some sort of black pudding, and some slices of what we took to be tripe (and which we didn’t care to try). Vegetarians beware! The filetitos were shreds of fillet steak in a thick sauce redolent of red wine and chopped chilli.

A red wine also formed the basis of the sauce for chorizo al vino, as the name suggests. Rather than slices from a larger salami-style chorizo as I had become accustomed to in other (chain) tapas bars, these were entire nuggets of roughly shaped chorizo. The insides were a lovely paprika orange-red. These had a good spicy tang to them, which the boozy sauce suited well. This was another dish that I can really suggest you try – and again, at £4.50, it was one of the cheapest.

The final dish was a plate of the famous cured Spanish ham, jamon serrano. For £5.50 we got quite a substantial amount of ham spread over a plate. It really was wafer-thin, almost translucent in fact. Draped over a fork, one could make out the shadows of the individual tines quite clearly. Yet it tasted a lot thicker, if that makes any sense. Because the jamon was dry and firm it had a great impact in the mouth and was a great way to finish off the meal.

The total bill came to just over £40.00 for two – not the best value in the world compared to some all-you-can-eat places we have discovered so far this year, but still reasonable for the variety of dishes we consumed, and the generally high standard of the food. As I said, really it was only the prawns that left me disappointed. The place is very atmospheric, particularly when full with the hubbub of conversation. It feels authentic. Emerging from the underground dining hall, we fully expected to emerge into a wave of heat and bright Andalucian sunlight rather than an overcast Manchester back-alley. El Rincon de Rafa may be hidden, but apparently it’s not quite that well hidden!

(As stated, there are a surprising amount of Spanish restaurants in Manchester. The mainstay would be the La Tasca chain, with eateries on Deansgate, in East Didsbury, the Trafford Centre, Wilmslow and Bolton. Purists may hate me for saying this, but I have eaten there a number of times and cannot really complain. They also often have salsa and tango lessons. A slightly more prestigious chain would be La Viña, with establishments in Hale and Alderley Edge as well as on Didsbury. Other independents would be Evuña, further down Deansgate towards the Hilton, Grado on New York Street near Piccadilly, Casa Tapas on Wilmslow Road in East Didsbury, and Pinchjo’s on Burton Road in West Didsbury.)

From journal Around the World in 80 Meals! (part 3)

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