By the time we’d spent £60, we’d eaten little and were still waiting for something delicious
The balmy summer Saturday night in Cambridge had a slightly wild west ambience when we arrived in town for dinner at Mercado Central. E-scooters for hire have arrived in the city centre, which is terrific fun for everyone: riders, pedestrians and road-users alike. Who doesn’t love palpable chaos and an incessant moving backdrop of near-death collisions? I know I do. Or at least, I learned to live with them.
However, I genuinely do love authentic, modern-facing Spanish restaurants, showcasing simple, ancient Basque and Galician techniques and exemplary local produce, which is why I was away from my sofa and 50 miles down the M11 in search of one of those Nieves Barragán Mochacho-style gooey-centred heavenly tortillas that defy home replication, or even some simple but meaningful pan con tomate or a bowl of judiciously balanced fideua. Because my prior impressions of Mercado Central seemed to say it was this type of place: set within a beautiful old Cambridge townhouse, its outer brickwork painted navy blue, with an elegant upstairs dining room and, on the lower floor, an open kitchen.
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