Cafe El Fútbol (Granada, Spain)

Plaza Mariana Pineda 6
18009 Granada
Spain
Ph: + 00 34 958 22 66 62
Timetable: Mo-Sun 6am to1am. 
Website (in Spanish)

Located in the charming Mariana Pineda Square, this is a traditional place to eat churros and chocolate (or churros and coffee as it is also traditional) all day long, as well as some simple traditional Spanish food and ice-cream cups in summer.  

This café is really old, with a clear Art Deco that is actually original, not an imitation. The founder was Antonio Suárez Martin, the current owner's grandfather (the owner, an old man, seats everyday in a corner at the entrance these days) and this was a originally a door-to-door fresh milk delivery business turned into the café we know today in 1922. It was originally called Café Football.  

This café is mostly known for his churros, but they are open from dawn to dusk and serve everything, Spanish breakfast, lunches, tapas and dinners, with a main focus on Spanish toasts, bocadillos (rolls), cold meat boards, traditional Spanish tapas and raciones (like tortilla de patatas, piquillo peppers filled with fresh cod, gazpacho, salmorejo, several types of paella, and many other local seasonal dishes that are little known outside Spain). You can also find cannelloni, pizza and crepes but I wouldn't go there for anything that is not traditional Spanish.

Their churros are among my favourites in the entire city, churros as churros should be, golden crispy outside, fluffy outside, crunchy but not too oily, which is what you find in other places. Their hot thick drinking chocolate is the traditional one, too sweet for my taste. 

Their coffee is OK. 

They have gorgeous ice-cream cups in summer, but I am very picky with my ice-cream and I find them good, but a bit too sweet and thick. 

The place can be extremely busy at rush coffee hours in Spain and on Sundays, and especially in winter, even the upper floor, where a large seating area is located and open for those times is packed to the rafters. Their outdoor terrace is lovely, and it is always a favourite in summer and on any sunny day if you don't mind the smoke, as this is the café's smoking area.

 

 

The service is fast but the old staff, some of whom I have seen behind the bar since I was a teen, are totally unfriendly, with a funeral attendee's face, no smile, no niceties, nothing that acknowledges the visitor as a human being unless you are a regular. I understand that sometimes they are so crowded that there is no time for anything that is not getting your order and delivering it to your table; however, the service varies little when the café is quiet and a few customers are in the café. If you are a foreigner, rest assured that is not you, or your Spanish accent or the fact that you speak no Spanish, they treat locals the same and are unwelcoming, something that greatly unnerves me. Yet, this is a classic café, and they do what they do well, how it should be, so you have to grant them that, something that explains that the business is never in decline or empty. 

They open long hours and till late, so you can go there to end you drinking night and finish by putting something solid in your belly, churros and chocolate being the traditional way of ending your outing if you have a certain age and your outing ends around midnight. Most youngsters would be drinking and partying until way later. 

 One of those places that I always visit when I'm in Granada.  

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Clarences (Highgate, Perth WA)

 566 Beaufort St
Mt Lawley Western Australia 6050
(08) 9228 9474
Website
Facebook
Hours:
    Mon-Thu 16:00 - 0:00
    Fri-Sat 12:00 - 0:00
    Sun 12:00 - 22:00



My first visit to Clarences was good enough to made me return because of the nice ambience, relaxed vibe and good modern pub food. I love their backyard, which is very laid back and cool. The inner space is quite dark, very different in vibe, but great for dates or  cozy chats. I have visited both during the day and at night, and the place truly changes.

The pumpkin ravioli were divine. They were cooked in a similar style to the Autumn gnocchi at Bivouac. Pan-fried with a colourful mix of flavour and textures that really turn this vegetarian dish into be wow. I would have eaten two of those easily!

The octopus with "ajo blanco was an octopus salad with nuts. The octopus was very tender, and the mix of textures very pleasant; however the "ajo blanco" was not really "ajo blanco" but a strong garlic mayonnaise, too garlicky, so it overwhelmed the rest of the flavours in the plate.  

The cookies with ice-cream and peanut syrup dessert was OK in flavour, big serving, but hard and sticky, and impossible to to handle with your bare hands -which was my first intention- or with the spoon and/or knife as the cookies were very-very hard. I thought that this would make a perfect children dessert, so your child -if you have any- gets all sticky and smiley eating syrupy things.

The Booze, coffee and cigarettes dessert was truly creative and a great alcoholic dessert. It was nicely plated and had great textures. Superwow feeling. I had all the people in the backyard looking at my table (with envy).

I have had other dishes there, but this was long ago and I did not take notes. Yet, I left happy and satisfied. 

The music is great, although a bit loud at times, unnecessarily so if the place is not full during the day It must be needed at night-time. 

There is a lot of hipsters and hype about Clarences.

Service is very friendly and fast enough.  

Pricey place. 

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Five Bar (Mount Lawley, Perth WA)

560 Beaufort Street
Mount Lawley, WA 6050
04 6753 4267

Website
Facebook
 Hours:
    Mon-Sat 12:00 - 0:00
    Sun 12:00 - 22:00

  
Five Bar is one of my fav spots in the whole city because of its great location, relaxed but trendy vibe, and, most importantly, because their offer of set and seasonal food, desserts, huge variety of draught and bottle beers and ciders, great selection of wines and other spirits.

THE PLACE

The place is a bit old-pub style, but has different areas with different ambiances and vibe, from the old grandpa's club (sorry, my opinion) to the funky mural at the bottom end corner, and the trendy high tables with stools and leather armchairs in the middle section. My favourite area is the bottom end corner, where the couches and the mural are, which is perfect for groups. Five is a a very chilled out, cool, spacious and comfortable pub and bar, perfect for lunch, mid afternoon, evening or late night. 

I love the fact that they have a bookshelf with books, several newspapers and table games for the use of the patrons. 

The toilets are very clean and well illuminated, which is a bonus these days in any bar or restaurant.

There were a mix group of patrons from all ages, genders, and dress-style, solo, coupled and groups, families with baby included. The place seems to be gay-friendly at least when I have visited.

FOOD AND DRINKS

Their food is very good regarding taste and presentation. Generally speaking, it is tapas-style. Some of the small plates are really filling, like the empanadas, but others are more like an entrée, like the goat meatballs, their vegetarian croquettes, the chicken rilette or the salad of the day. If you have an stomach or are a man you need at least two dishes, plus a drink. They have a selection of boards, cheese and cold meats, daily specials with different sorts of hot meals and desserts, and weekly and nightly specials. I love their specials, as they use seasonal produce, and they always have a man-sized meal, just in case you are man or super-hungry.

It might sound surprising to you, but Five Bar really succeeds at something unexpected - they have seasonal desserts that are delicious, creative, good-looking and well priced. They usually have two or tree fixed desserts, but they are really well prepared and plated, and not especially pricey. 

The Orange Pudding was wonderful. Not too sweet, very light and fluffy, with a great mix of textures and flavours, and it was so beautifully plated! 

Their pannacotta in strawberry sauce was a hit with me too and one of the best desserts of the year; yummy, light, and beautifully arranged on the plat - a gorgeous mix of red, white and green, a mix of liquid, semi-solid and solid textures, and feast for your five senses.  

The grilled fresh peaches in butter, rosemary and ice-cream were great. A simple dessert that is both healthy, light, tasty and filling. The peaches were a bit hard, and I would have them on the grill two more minutes. Still, I had another yum slap aha glorious moment.

 The chocolate brownie was very nice in flavour, with the mix of chocolate, berries and cream wowing me; however, the cream used is butter thick and not especially flavoursome, and I would rather have fresh cream or whipped cream, while the biscotto was stale and that is always a big no-no.

They have a great selection of cheeses, and specials for Monday night, weekends and so on with specific dishes and food on offer.  

Five Bar has a very good selection of Australian and international (Spain, France, Argentina) wines, ciders (France, UK) and beers. They have tap and bottled beers and ciders, too. Everything I have drank there has been great.

COFFEE 

Five Bar coffee is not bad in taste, but changes in creaminess and preparation depending on the barista at hand. I have had all the possible variations, from the hurriedly prepared to to the very well prepared and anything in between. 

PRICING

Five Bar is a bit pricey if you go for small plates and drinks, and you have a stomach. Do you? However, if you order one of their specials you will have a very good meal too appease your hunger and at very good prices. For example, on Mondays you pay 25 bucks for a super dish of Beef Wellington and a glass of wine house, and on Tuesday 22 bucks for a pork belly dish and a glass of cider. That is a bargain for Perth standards. I find their desserts very well priced due to their freshness and quality.

Recently, they did what all Perth coffeeholics were dreaming of in a city that has ridiculous prices for coffee - to decrease, yes decrease!, the price of their coffee to $2.50 for an espresso, $3 for a flat white/cappuccino and $3.50 for a latte, with no extra charge for soya milk. How good is that?

The pricing for alcoholic drinks is standard - meaning expensive.

THE SERVICE
The staff are very friendly, attentive, knowledgeable, and eager to help. Perfect to talk to if you want to drink something but you are not sure what brand or what sort of thing you want. For example you want a cider that is not sweet but not strong, or you want a silky wine, or whatever. They will advice properly and do so with a smile. 

The food takes a bit to come out. During my first visit, the place was extremely quiet, with not many customers to attend to when I ordered. On another occasion my dessert took about 20 minutes to come out because my order was misplaced; although I was given sincere apologies and a drink on the house, still, the place was not even full and it is a dessert that takes minutes to prepare.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

+ A few extra tables for couples or solo eaters would be a natural addition to the place. Eating on a trunk used as a table is charming if you are just having tapas or finger food, but not good if you need to use your cutlery, a low table is never ideal or comfy, and a killer for your lower back. There is plenty of room to accommodate a few more small tables, so do it! 

+ Why is their Facebook page not public or non-existent?

+  A few more recent magazines would not heart anybody. 

+  Lines of communication should be open between kitchen and waiters, so there is more coordination and customers get when they order, or get their order, or do not have to wait too long to get their order.  

TIP

Free Wi-Fi!

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Good Service - 2

"Was everything OK?" "How was everything?" 

Have you ever been asked this sort of question in a restaurant? 

I find them a bit intimidating, and it is never going to work with customers -or at least with me- unless they really-really loved what they had. If it is mediocre or bad, you, like me, won't probably say so.

For example, say that you had an omelette and you thought that you could have prepared it better at home despite you not being a good cook". Would you tell them just that? Of course not. You have manners, and, even if you are not that enthusiastic, you may say, "It was OK" in a languid tone. In these days, reviewing sites allow patrons to spill the beans on what you really-really think about a place without having to deal with a personal reaction that could not be pleasant. Most people asking for your opinion are really expecting you to replay what they want to hear.

I think that it would be great if some restaurants and cafés did what most hotels do - have feedback forms at hand (to be filled in and deposited in a feedback box or posted), asking about the patron's opinion on the ambience, service, food, pricing, serving portions, things that they did not enjoy, and so on. This would help businesses to improve and would prevent unhappy customers from venting their anger or disappointment online.

What about saying "I hope you enjoyed it"? I think I like this more than other open questions. Then, if the business has feedback forms, they could add "please feel free to leave any feedback in the forms provided". I like this the most. What about you?

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Good Service - 1

hos·pi·tal·i·ty
1. Cordial and generous reception of or disposition toward guests.
2. An instance of cordial and generous treatment of guests.

How many people, business owners and staff working in the Hospitality sector have forgotten which industry they are part of and what does hospitality mean? Many, unfortunately.

Everything is in the service - to me. You could be serving ambrosia on an Versace plate or a coffee so good that it would make me levitate; still, if the service is lacking or bad, I would not return. 

One of my brothers worked at a restaurant and a bar for many years. It is a very stressful job, not always well-paid, long hours, early mornings, late evenings, little time for eating and going to the toilet, and, sometimes, low salaries. People arrive all at the same time (my brother called it "the big sh*t"), while other hours are so empty that you feel like a day has 48 hours. I know there are many struggling students working in the hospitality industry because it is the only option they have, and you see them struggling at doing their job and keeping up with their assignments. Business owners have it tough in a very competitive industry, high taxes and rental leases (especially in Perth CBD), expensive produce suppliers, expensive transport, difficulty in finding nice staff, among many hurdles. 

Still, patrons pay for what they consume, and they have to earn the money for it. The least we can expect is being treated nicely and having a good experience in our time out. 

Good service makes a business prosper and attracts customers and keeps them. It sounds obvious, no? Unfortunately, many businesses do forget a basic rule - a happy customer is the best ad they will ever have. And they forget it for various reasons: they are just focused on making money or surviving, selling an image, starting before they are ready, attending to more customers than they can attend to, taking for granted that customers will put up with any crap if the setting has hype or it is trendy, among many other reasons. 

To me, there are a list of things that any business in the hospitality industry should be doing to guarantee that the service is decent, good or excellent:

1.  Choosing waiters/waitresses who are genuinely friendly and sociable, who are energetic and want to be there. They have to deal with all types of people and personalities, and usually work long hours, so they need to have those innate qualities to deliver.
2. Choosing cooks who can actually cook. I mean, cook something better than the mediocre food that any of us can or could prepare at home. 
3. Organising the staff effectively. A business can have the best staff around, and still offer a terrible service. If the restaurant, café or bar has good food/coffee/drinks and wants to get a reputation, it needs a plan: a set of rules and procedures to follow, a list of must and must-not, a "serving routine" in which details are given on how to take orders, cue people, serve, attend to, receive payments, and welcome and farewell patrons. Not only that, they need to invest some time in informing the staff about the food they are serving: produce origin, taste of the dishes, gluten free options, type of grapes of a foreign wine, and so on, so they can reply to any query. 
4. Organising the layout of the restaurant having into account the needs of the staff, especially in the kitchen and serving areas. In fact, many restaurants' layouts prevent the staff from doing their job properly or make difficult their movements. For example, having enough space between tables, not only benefits patrons, it also allows the staff to move easily and avoid hitting patrons with elbows, dishes they are carrying, etc.
5. A business should never host more patrons than those they can serve at ease and attend to properly with the staff they have. If they do, deficiencies in the service become obvious to visitors and the patron's experience is affected. If the business increases, you need more staff, at least at peak hours.
6. A business should have EFPTOS. The last two times my wallet was empty of cash and EFPTOS was not available, my transaction cost me two dollars, which had to be added as an extra to the price I was paying.

***

As a patron, these are the things I find indicators of a good service, and that make me return to a business and be merry:

1. The staff are friendly and respectful, and smile and greet customers.
2. The staff treat regular customers as individuals, and remember their order preferences and name. This is especially important in cafés and bars where you always order the same. By remembering "the usual" they show their care and appreciation towards you. After all, you could go elsewhere and stop expending your money here.   
   
3. The staff attend first to those people who arrive first.
4. The staff are knowledgeable about their trade. They know their beans, liquors, wines or food. Not only that, they can even advice you if you are not sure about what to order.
5. The staff leave their personal problems at home, so they attend to customers as fellow-humans not as money-making machines or an annoyance they have to put up with. If you cannot make it, fake it. I have plenty of crappy days, and I do not treat anybody badly when ordering my food or drinks. 
6. The staff do not have a pose. They are humble and hospitable, and they treat customers without looking down at them. After all, they do not know who they are. I could be Denmark's Prime Minister, a famous Hungarian painter, a renowned German astrophysicist, a popular online site reviewer, or just a human being who has ordered something with courtesy and expects the same in return.
7. The staff attend arriving customers fast, and serve food, coffee or drinks at a decent speed. Any on-going delays are mentioned upfront.
8. The staff inform of any amendments, changes or missing elements in the printed menu - upfront. 
9. The staff apologise for any mistake and mishap and offer a compensation to an unhappy customer who has a reason to be unhappy. 
10. The staff deal elegantly with customers with foreign accents. They elegantly make you repeat your order if they do not understand, or show you the menu so you point to the item you want, or vocalise what they are saying. This is especially relevant in Perth, where the number of foreign students learning English is considerable and, most importantly, the number of dwellers born overseas is very high. 

***

Good service is what separates a good business from a bad one, and what makes some businesses thrive and others fail. Any business owner and manager wants to have a successful business. However, expecting customers to put up with crap, despite the fact that they pay for what they are consuming, it is not only insulting, it is stupid - like digging up your own grave. 

I am your guest - be hospitable.

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