Bar La Lonja

On my second day in Valencia I summoned the courage to have breakfast in the café that seemed to be most popular with the market traders. There didn’t seem to be a menu, so I pointed at what looked good on the counter and sat down to await what they did with it. Bar La Lonja feels like entering someone’s front room and being cooked for by their mum! The café con leche and chipirones bocadillo I ate that morning, as I watched the interrelationships unfold around me, felt and tasted like the best breakfast ever. It certainly tasted better than a authentically British gastro pub meal, served up as part of a carefully worked out brand experience in London. I ate at La Lonja every day of that trip and even achieved a nodded acknowledgement from the owner on the last day. I was also introduced to the heady pleasures of a carajillo first thing in the morning. Carajillo comes from the Spanish word for courage (coraje) and drawing and photographing strangers certainly feels a bit easier after a double expresso topped up with brandy!