On Saturday our family visited with the intention of doing a bit of shopping at the markets on Manchester Road. We had a quick look round last month and thought they would enjoy it… and they did. Very much.
For anyone who is even newer to Chorlton than us, they are every 3rd Saturday of the month, just outside the Library. Lots of the stalls were the same as last time, but that didn’t stop me having a good look round again. My girlfriends parents bought meat, olives, some very ugly tomatoes (the uglier the better) and some plants. We stuck to what we know; cakes and biscuits. We tried some super chocolately cookies from a stall called Polka Dot and some caramel shortbread from Tea Hive. The friendly lady on this stall told us they are opening a tea room where Partytime Uk was situated. Very exciting news! Really looking forward to this opening. There are plenty places serving coffee on our doorstep, but I’m not a coffee drinker, so a proper tea room would be very welcome on this side of Chorlton.
The parents offered to take us out to lunch and we have been looking forward to the tapas at Bar San Juan, so that was where we headed. As it was really sunny, we wanted to sit outside. There was a table for 6 outside, but just as we got there one man sat down, so we had to squish round two bar tables and sit on stools. I was very much hoping it would be worth it! There wasn’t a wine list, but the waitress assured that the house wines were good, so a bottle was ordered and I also had a nice cold pint of Cruzcampo.
The table was pretty full before we even got our food, but the way it was served meant that we were very comfortable. There were small forks in a pimento tin on the table, we were not given little side plates, so we were all sharing from each dish.
We ordered about 10 dishes, including the albondigas, tortilla, patas bravas, choriza and white bait. There wasn’t one thing we didn’t enjoy. My favourite was the patas ali oli, as it was really heavy on the garlic, and I like that. Everything arrived bit by bit, which was great, because we could make room for more. I don’t know much about the history of this place, apparently it has changed hands, but the place really filled up as the afternoon went on, so I’m guessing it is still very popular.
It’s no wonder though. We found it very relaxed, with good service, good prices and a tasty selection of tapas. We do have one huge criticism though. When we went inside, heard the music and smelt the food, we felt like were were on holiday. It was such a great way to spend a few hours, relaxing, eating and drinking. I really felt like going for a swim and a snooze on the beach afterwards! Coming back down to earth and realising we weren’t actually on holiday was a bit of a let down!
Gem xx
So...Chorlton 