Thursday, March 09, 2017

Vegetarians might wish to look away...

I'm rather fond of meat, and not terribly fussy about how it's cooked. And like my caveman ancestors, roast lumps of meat are perfectly acceptable. If you're like me in that respect, Latin America is quite a good place to go, as the parrilla is a serious meat-eater paradise.

In Punta Arenas, the nearest hotel to our hotel was Parrilla Los Ganaderos, and a brief walk past was sufficient to persuade Ros that this might be a good place to eat, especially as there was Patagonian lamb on the menu.

There is none of this haute cuisine stuff here. A lamb is boned (mostly) and fixed to a frame, from which it is roasted by proximity to hot coals. The succulent lamb is thus cooked and ready to serve.

We'd ordered the trio of lamb, which opened with some lamb ribs, and most delicious they were too. There was quite a lot of food though, compounded by the second element, a large hunk off of the shoulder. And that was where the problems started...

You see, whilst the lamb was truly delicious, the effects of my year-long diet were beginning to come into play. I simply can't eat the large meals that I used to be able to. And the prospect of a third lamb course was more than my digestive system could countenance. So, rather than waste good lamb, I called our waiter over, and explained that, whilst I had really enjoyed my meal, there was no need to serve the third element. Our waiter seemed surprised, but took our rejection with equanimity.

Next time, I'm bringing reinforcements...

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