Sol Y Playa - Carboneras

Venue:- Sol Y Playa

Location :- Carboneras Playa (desalination end)

Walking along the promenade from the beginning towards the desalination plant you pass many café/bar/restaurants, but for us the best of the bunch is Sol Y playa - a large restaurant with a nice shaded outside terrace overlooking the sea, an interior section and then a further section that appears even more a fine dining area. The place is very Spanish and you will not be offered an English menu, although they must have them. You can have anything from Tapas and a drink, through raciones to full a la carte - its Sunday, the day for a leisurely lunch so a la carte it is - the restaurant was very full with mainly Spanish people - speaks volumes for quality and service.

Starters -

Ensalada Cogollos (8.00) - don’t know cogollos and it not in our ‘dick and harry’ but we think it is a type of lettuce, little gem maybe? - anyway it came with the lettuce draped with fresh anchovies with tomatoes and a pineapple ring in the centre decorated with a few pieces of sweet corn. A very nice concoction the anchovies nice and fresh as was the salad - very nice and a good size.

Boquerones Fritos (8.00) - quite large whitebait that had been cleaned and beheaded, nicely done and presented and delicious with a squib of lemon juice. Everybody tried some and all were well satisfied with the lovely fresh flavour.

Gazpacho Andaluz (4.20) - a total disaster! Croutons already added, no bits to add and it was ’fizzy’. Thought if may have contained cava but the waiter said ‘no’. I tried it and it definitely was not right, we told the waiter as we could not eat it and he just seemed a little surprised but did not offer an alternative. This is purely personal but I believe it was on the turn and should not have been served!

Mains -

Merluza Plancha (11.00) - one of my favourite fish this (hake) and it seems a Spanish favourite as well. The two large pieces of fish were simply cooked with a nice garlic and oil dressing and served with potatoes and a small mixed veg. The fish was cooked to my liking - ie. Not undercooked! I hate undercooked fish! The fish was cross cut so had a ring of skin and the central bone still with it, not a problem as the fish fell away from the bone and the skin peeled easily if you didn’t want to eat it - I did and it was delicious.

Arroz Con Bogabante (40.00 for two) - this was a seafood Paella with an added whole lobster. The rice was excellent and there was plenty of large mussels and large clams not the usual small tasteless ones that you normally get. There was also calamari and it was topped with a whole lobster halved with the appropriate implements for claw cracking. A very very nice paella probably one of the best we have eaten anywhere so far - expensive maybe but it did contain a whole lobster, to have just a mixed seafood paella would have been 26.00.

Too full for postres, drinks were beer at 3.00 per pint, water at 1.60 and bread for three at a total of 1.00 - coffees on the house.

Total cost for three people was 85.80 - again I thought this reasonable for what we had.

If you want a leisurely meal with a nice outlook give this place a whirl, you can spend a lot less and I am sure you will enjoy whatever you have - we will return.