Granada Eats

Although we had been living in Spain for a month and a half already, Granada was the place where we re-discovered the joys of pan de cristal (glass bread). We knew about pan de cristal from Jaleo, one of our favorite restaurants in the USA, where we always order the pan con tomate. Why, I always wondered, does Jaleo go to the trouble and expense of importing the bread from Spain?

On our first evening, at Jardines Alberto just below the Alhambra, we ordered a simple meal of jamón Iberico acompañado de pan de cristal y tomate. I drizzled the warm bread with a bit of olive oil and spread on some grated fresh tomato. When I took a bite, the bread’s thin, fragile crust shattered delicately in my mouth, giving way to the soft, airy crumb inside. It was mind-blowingly delicious. Now I understood!

We ordered pan de cristal again the very next day, on the terrace at El Huerto de Juan Ranas in Albayzín. This time, we had olives instead of jamón. Instead of grated fresh tomato, we were served a cool, chunky salmorejo-like sauce to spread onto the warm, crunchy bread. Different, but also sublime.

On our second evening, we had dinner at our hotel in the Alhambra, the Parador de Granada. We had an amuse bouche of salmorejo. Steve had the tasting menu, and I ordered a couple of lighter dishes. We both had the bregua de pollo arabé (Arab-style chicken in pastry) and sopa de legumbres harira (Moroccan soup with chickpeas and lentils).

On our last evening, we walked down to the city center for dinner at Mezze, a trendy eastern Mediterranean restaurant near Granada Cathedral. (Mezze also happened to be vegan and gluten-free.) We tried a selection of tapas, and they were all delicious: Thai red curry, kofta, tajín, and patatas napolitana. Dessert was a chocolate orange tart, accompanied by a glass of Pedro Ximenez vino dulce and sugared walnuts. Absolute perfection.