Last week, we went on a day trip to Murcia city. Although we only ate at one restaurant, I thought it would be fun to write a review. If you are travelling to Murcia, here’s my review of the city and the restaurant, ‘Él Secreto’.

We’re trying to make the most of our time in Spain, but it is difficult when you have no car. The only way we can get around is on the bus tours that a company on our complex offers. This means we have to go on a hot bus with many retired people every time we want to go somewhere, but its ended up being really fun.

Last week, the bus drove us to Murcia city, the capital of the Region of Murcia. It isn’t a massive city, and we really only needed a day there to get our bearings of the place. However, there are some lovely spots, including the cathedral, the rambla and many different gardens around the city.

As per usual, I was only thinking about food.

We wandered around the city until we both got super hungry. As we were making our way through the city, we came across a little plaza that was full of tiny tapas restaurants. We decided to sit down at ‘Él Secreto’, a cute tapas restaurant. For some reason, the reviews for this place are mixed on Tripadvisor, and to be honest I can’t work out why.

As soon as we sat down, a lovely waiter came and ordered us two beers. The menu was all in Spanish and the waiters didn’t speak a lot of English, but I managed to order everything even though my Spanish is mediocre.

We decided to order the patatas bravas, artichoke with Ibérico, the ham croquettes and the scallop toast, and then we just sat back, relaxed and watched the world go by.

We didn’t have to wait long for food to arrive. The first thing that came was a small bowl filled with an artichoke heart, Jamon Ibérico and a parmesan cream. I almost scoffed it before I took a picture because it looked so good. I never actually thought that I liked artichoke, but this dish was amazing, despite its simplicity. The sweet artichoke, paired with the Ibérico and the parmesan was delicious, although it definitely was a small portion.

As soon as we were about to tuck in to the artichoke, the ham croquettes arrived. We’ve had a few different varieties of these croquettes while we have been here. Some have been great and some have been really average. These were, by far, the best we’ve had. They were so crispy with such a silky soft centre. Better yet, it came with a red wine syrup which was so, so tasty. I really want to make these for myself, but it is a lot of work and you have to deep fry them, so I’ll just have to keep eating them at restaurants.

We were expecting this to be a light lunch (mainly because it was quite expensive) but we were surprised when the patatas bravas came out. They were MASSIVE. You might not be able to tell from the picture, but they were like gigantic chips, with a garlic aioli on top and a spicy-sweet bravas sauce underneath.

This was incredibly filling, and we didn’t actually manage to finish them all. But they were so tasty. The potatoes were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The aioli was smooth and the sauce tasted different to normal bravas sauce. It was better.

Just as we were finishing the massive potatoes, our final dish came. We weren’t sure what this was going to be, because the menu was written in Spanish and I translated it badly. Turns out, it was freshly cooked scallops with a toasted scallop mousse (I think) on toast.

I adore scallops, and this was a really tasty dish. I have to say though, out of everything, the artichoke was my favourite.

This whole meal was utterly, utterly delicious. I don’t know why this restaurant has such mixed reviews. Okay, it was more expensive than we were used to. For example, the beers were 3 euros each, which is expensive for this area. The prices of the dishes varied, but it totaled at about 40 euros, which is expensive for a lunch.

Despite this, the food was amazing and so was the service. I can’t recommend this restaurant highly enough. This restaurant takes traditional tapas and gives them a unique twist, making it a really original restaurant. If, by chance, you are ever in the lovely city of Murcia, I really recommend this restaurant.