Meson del Asador

It’s a cold winter night, with a strong wind that’s unusual for Jerez, when we bundle into the Meson del Asador. At least, that’s what it says on the door. Everyone we’re with knows it as the Asador de Leon: the Lion’s BBQ.

The warmth from the coal BBQ – a coal grill I’d normally associate with Argentina – hits us as we enter. There are two areas: a seated restaurant and a tapas area stocked with wooden bar stools. We head for the latter, and start to explore the menu, which is in both Spanish and English.

After wine is served, food arrives along with bread. We’ve ordered potatoes in a garlic sauce, blood sausage, steak, and a stew – all in tapas forms. Along with the thinly sliced potato fries they come with, four tapas is enough for the three of us.

The food is rich, the service friendly but distant (in that special Andalusian way), and all-in-all, it seems one of the best places we’ve had tapas in Jerez.