Although I liked the look of Cervecería 100 Montaditos, with its rich red interior, ebony tables and gold lettering, ever since I first spotted a branch in Los Cristianos, I hadn’t gotten around to actually trying it out.
There were a couple of reasons for this; the first being that it was a franchise. I tend to be a bit sniffy about franchises and don’t view them as ‘real’ places to eat. The second is that the menu does actually consist of 100 montaditos (small tapas sandwiches that are often open-topped) as well as a few other things – it’s simply quite overwhelming to choose from 100 different toppings.
The menu, as suspected, was overwhelming, but there was an offer that made life a bit easier; a choice of five montaditos with two jarras (pints of beer). There were three combinations of montaditos to choose from. We opted for the first which included tortilla (Spanish omelette), mini dog al infierno (spicy hot dog), mousse de pato (duck pate), brie and, finally, morcilla con pimiento verde (black pudding with roasted green peppers).
They might not have been our first choices from the extensive list (the higher the number, the more ingredients you get – number 98 involves a get together of pork, smoked bacon, cheese, tomato and mayonnaise). But opting for a combo was an easy option.
A group of young Spanish at the next table were a fine example of what was likely to happen if you tried to choose individually. Three of them went to the counter where they held an intense debate with the waiter. Then they returned to the table where they held another debate with the rest of the group before, after about 20 mins, seeming to come to a decision. Then more friends arrived out of the blue and the whole process began again.
Ordering your food at 100 Montaditos is a bit different from the norm. You give your order at the counter, hand over your money, tell them your name and return to your table to await being called over the tannoy. When summoned you go to a service hatch at the kitchen and are handed your tray of montaditos.
Tip: If you sit at an outside table, it’s more difficult to hear your name being called.
The montaditos aren’t going to win any best of Tenerife tapas prizes but they were bigger than we expected, more like mini baguettes, and the fillings ranged from being okay to pretty decent. Overall it did exactly the job that we wanted it to and we certainly felt it was good value.
I didn’t mention the cost did I? For five mini baguettes and two pints of lager, it came to the grand total of €5. This was the ‘Lunes de Combomanía’ offer. We could have had twelve montaditos and six pints for €12 but that would have been ridiculous.
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