Also known as Taberna El Piyayo, this was probably the first restaurant I walked into in Spain. It was also the place where I learned about a couple of dishes. I was walking around in the old city, and decided to eat here when I heard only Spanish being spoken by the few customers that were inside. I walked up to the bar and the lady that was working smiled and said "Hola" (Hello) to me. She was really pretty. I looked at a few dishes that were on display at the bar and pointed to them. I asked, in Spanish,
"¿Que es esto?" (What is this?)
"Pulpo," (Octopus)
"Quiero, por favor," (I want, please)
Since she knew that I cannot speak Spanish really well, she also began to speak in English as well and was fairly fluent. She asked me if I wanted anything to drink, I said, "Cerveza" (Beer). She gave me a small glass of beer. The octopus was pretty good, the meat was thick and fresh. There were peppers, onions and tomatoes inside this dish, and doused with a vinegar-like sauce. The vegetables were cool and fresh. It came with a piece of bread and it was decently good as well. Beer was refreshing and I liked that in Spain they serve their beer in a small glass. After eating, I decided to get another tapas dish. I pointed to another dish, and asked the lady what is it:
"Ensalada rusa, you want it?"
An "Ensalada rusa" literally means "Russian salad" in Spanish. This is basically a Spanish style potato salad, but what makes it different from a typical potato salad in the USA is that it has more ingredients, such as minced vegetables and tuna. I decided to get that as my second tapas dish. I thought it was fairly tasty, liked the flavour of the mayonnaise and the softness of the potatoes.
Overall, I thought I had a decent tapas lunch here, and from that experience, I learned about a couple of tapas dishes in the process. I am not sure if I would come back here again, but the food was fairly good, I spent under €8 for my tapas dishes and the pretty lady who worked there was really nice and can speak English. I would eventually eat octopus at other Spanish restaurants back in the USA, but I think I had the best octopus dish in Malaga. read more