Lisbon and Valencia Half-Marathons: Loading Carbs

Having finished the last post with us arriving back at the hotel at 3.15pm we spent the afternoon relaxing, wriring blog posts and loading photos to Flickr, before leaving again at 6.40pm for dinner.

Dinner

As I explained in the blog post when we were in Copenhagen for Drew's first Super Half race, the night before the race Drew makes sure I plan a relativity local restaurant and one that will fill him up with carbohydrates (carbs) which in practice means an Italian.

I had spotted a restaurant about half a mile away from the hotel called La Tagliatella, so I had booked a table for 7pm. So, at 6.40pm we left the hotel.

We arrived at 6.57pm, but the restaurant didn't actually open until 7pm, so we walked around the block - while Drew mocked me for being perennially early - before going in at 7.01pm.

We were sat and given a menu while we were offered some green olives as an aperitif, they were sharp with a garlic flavour. A lovely start.

The breads, called here Pane De La Tagliatella, were focaccia with sea salt, rosemary and olives.

Alongside the breads was a lovely Olive Oil with garlic, rosemary and oregano - excellent flavour.

Drew ordered Carpaccio Di Vitellone and this was a very generous plate of carpaccio with lots of parmesan on top. The carpaccio was served with a crisp bread.

I opted for the Carpaccio Di Baccalá, smoked cod carpaccio in a delicious, light tomato sauce, this was also served with the crisp bread that Drew had had. A simple, but delicious starter.

Drew opted for a Pappardelle Arrabbiata, a pappardelle rich with tomato with ‘nduja and spicy salami from Calabria, onion, garlic and basil.

I went with a lovely bell-shaped pasta in a traditional meat sauce, called Campanelle Ragù antico. The sauce had Pork sausage, burrata cheese, mushrooms, tomato and pesto with parmesan over the top.