EL QUINTO TORO, A Tavern WITH MORE THAN 71 YEARS OF HISTORY IN ALMERIA

If you ask an Almerian what tapa is eaten at 1:30 in the afternoon, they will answer you: some potatoes with fried eggs and paprika from El Quinto Toro.

The tavern El Quinto Toro, or what is the same, the house of the Leal family, is one of the most emblematic places in the Almerian capital. It has over 71 years of history and is breathed in every corner and snack, and its cult to the top continues to be served by the hand of the second and third generation. Its typical Almerian tiles, its showcase with part of its menu and its wooden bar are a classic in southern taverns, so to go in and ask for the first one already makes you soak up the Andalusian atmosphere.

The street where it is located, loaded with memory and the founders name since 1994, was a point of reference when in years of alhóndiga the residents of the province moved to the capital. What today translates as the perfect excuse to take the cover of noon, when you leave the central market after making the purchase, it is known as a meeting point for friends to make a song to life.

For the pleasure of their visitors, the dishes are prepared everyday in a slow fire on the skillets of the adjoining street, under the hands of Carmen and Reyes. The audience knows it and values it, that’s why in the same space all ages coexist around a good meatballs tapa or fritada de lomo.

Her cooking, empowering the women of the family, continues to dance between the traditional dishes of the earth’s spoon and hot and cold tapas. From Monday to Thursday, two dishes are offered (one of them always served with a spoon), Friday and Saturdays, rice (with octopus and ribs respectively); and in a perennial way, it is a menu with endless delicious wonders.

Among those that stand out: the San Antón soak, the Russian salad from Almería, the Raf tomato with melva, the smoked pompano, the octopus with aioli, the tuna sauce or the dried ling roe with fried almonds. And of course, the potatoes with fried egg paprika and rice.

In addition, luckily everything has its version ration, and luckily they also have a terrace on a pedestrian street where you can enjoy the sun of the fandanguillos. El Quinto Toro prompts to ask for one after another, so it only has to be comfortable and not stop asking Curro, Manolo and José Luis.