Dinner at Antonio's

Being away from Spain for extended periods of times makes me nostalgic for all things Spanish.

Especially when you FaceTime your parents sitting in 40ºC whilst you are wrapped up from head to toe in warm clothes, it's raining outside and it's August in England.

After a little research and endless days yearning for some fried calamares and gambas pil pil, I found Antonio's on TripAdvisor.

A kind Spanish expat named Antonio had opened up his own restaurant in Fareham serving the delights of Spanish cuisine right on the High Street's door.

It had some pretty good reviews and some authentic-looking-Spanish-food photos so my chap and I decided to go there for some early dinner on Saturday evening.

After about twenty minutes in the car, a few wrong turns and a few crossed words, we arrived.

We got a nice warm welcome from a nice man whom I assume was Antonio, who showed us to our table. 

*we later found out this was Carlos, but we met the actual Antonio too!

Our little tummies were rumbling and we couldn't decide what to have for starters.

So we ordered three.

Gambas al alajillo (garlic prawns), fried calamares and fried whitebait with alioli (garlic mayonnaise)

This is my 'hurry up and take the blinking photo, I want to dive in to this bowl of prawns' face.

For mains I had the solomillo de cerdo (pork) with melted cheese and tomato sauce and a biiiig helping of vegetables of course.

Oh it was heaven and the sauce reminded me of home!

He ordered the seafood spaghetti.

Not exactly Spanish but... it was filled with calamares and seafood and prawns so I will let him off (this time).

We waited an eternity for our dessert order to be taken during which time conversation got a bit silly...

Or maybe that was just me!

Eventually we skipped our usual Amaretto and Baileys fling and opted for a Ben and Jerry's ice cream affair at home instead.

I skipped, hopped (and tripped) my way back to the car, positively stuffed to the brim. 

The food and atmosphere is fantastic at Antonio's but I do think the food lacked a little bit of seasoning. We didn't even get salt and pepper on the table and the place got quite busy even to ask for some! 

I definitely want to go back though and savour their delicious tapas lunch menu. 

See you there?