The Barrier of 'Dining Alone' in Spain and 2,700 Yen Ramen [Solo Female, Around the World]
Spanish 'dining' is not designed for solo diners
When you hear 'traveling in Spain,' what comes to mind? The Sagrada Familia, fashion, the land of passion, gourmet food, siesta...
Certainly, dining was one of the things I was looking forward to as well. However, while traveling alone in Spain, I found 'dining alone' to be unexpectedly difficult.
First of all, both lunch and dinner are later than in Japan. Lunch starts from 13:00, and dinner generally starts after 20:00.
People gather for lunch during the long siesta break, and in the evening, they snack on tapas with family and friends. Perhaps because it is a culture where dining is enjoyed with others, there are surprisingly few places where you can comfortably dine alone.
In both Toledo and Madrid, there were plenty of places serving lunch. But often, the dishes I wanted to eat were 'for two or more people.' Especially paella. When I looked at the menu, it would say 'mínimo 2 personas (2 people or more),' so it's hard to eat it when traveling alone. If you search on Google Maps, you can find places with reviews saying 'if you tell them it's for one person, they will make it,' but that's quite rare.
It's not that solo customers are turned away, but the portions are based on the premise of 'eating with someone.' Since I don't drink alcohol, the style of spending time at a bar snacking on tapas didn't feel natural to me, and dining in Spain was a bit stressful.
To a ramen shop for 'resupply' on my trip around the world
However, for me, Spain was also a resupply base before entering Africa. It had been one month since I started my trip around the world. From here, I would enter Africa, and the next place where I could easily access supplies and Japanese food would likely be Thailand. Thinking about that, if I couldn't have a set meal alone, I decided I might as well eat Japanese food, so I went to eat ramen.
On my way back from the Prado Museum, I wandered around and visited 'Ramen KOTUKOTSU'.
I was surprised when I entered. Even at a Japanese-style ramen shop, there were no solo diners!
They were families or friends, mostly in groups of four. It seemed to be very popular with the locals, and the Google Maps reviews were also highly rated. The restaurant was full, and I was told, 'You'll have to wait a while,' but since I had nowhere else to go, I decided to wait. Then, I was seated after about 10 minutes, which was faster than I expected.
I looked at the menu and was shocked again. The cheapest ramen was 14 euros. At the time, 1 euro was around 164 yen, so that's about 2,300 yen. I knew the yen was weak, but it still made me wince. However, since I had come all this way, I ordered the seasoned egg ramen (16 euros, about 2,700 yen).
The taste was exactly like Japanese ramen. I wonder if it was run by a Japanese person. I really think the standard of Japanese food overseas has improved.
Iberico ham breakfast
On the way back, I discovered an Iberico pork shop. It was already closed, but it looked like they served breakfast, so I went the next morning.
It's a shop called BEHER.
The staff at the shop were very friendly, which was heartwarming. I had Iberico ham toast and a cafe au lait. It wasn't much different from what I ate in Toledo... It was 6.5 euros. A little over 1,000 yen.
The Wi-Fi was fast, and since there were people working while eating breakfast, I also opened my PC and typed away. It was a lovely moment, working while traveling (usually I'm living hand-to-mouth, so I rarely have such Instagrammable remote work).
There are many Japanese restaurants around the hostel, which is a great environment for those traveling for a long time.
On the other hand, I felt the low cost of living in Japan once again, and wanted to shout, damn the weak yen!.