Never Ending Story

Well, after what seemed to be an almost never-ending saga, the end did finally come. But it was an end of sadness as well as pleasure.

Back in February (23 February: If I Could Only Find Words), I spoke about the opening of Cafeteria Mediterraneo in Puerto Alcúdia - it had been a serendipitous meeting with Sam and Alison, as Alison, it turned out , was a blog reader of some vintage, and so gave rise to the notion of the "blogotee". But then it started to go rather pear-shaped. Actually, the transformation to a pear had begun even before the opening. I won't go into it all. Suffice it to say that things did not work out, which is a great shame as they are really nice people.

But as one bar-restaurant door closes, so another opens (or rather the same one opens), and - again perhaps because of serendipity - along comes Gavin. There are many people here who know Gavin. He was the local rep for Europ Foods. And that was how Sam and Alison came to know him. And it was from this that will come, on 1 May, the new opening of Mediterraneo, not as Mediterraneo but as Gavin's At The Port. The saga was of the sort of will it happen, won't it happen variety, but it has now happened, and one can sense Gavin's excitement.

There is another part to all this. Gavin is the son of Alwyn. And some will now Al from The Foxes. It was he who suggested the National Tipping League last year, the one that the Welsh would always win. Others may well know Al from his time down south at Sospan Fach in Palmanova and Magaluf. So, the emergence of Gavin's At The Port is a kind of Sospan Fach, the New Generation, albeit that Al, having retired from the kitchen and having hung up his sospan, is being pressed back into service. Just the Welsh lilt and the explanation of his signature dish - garlic chicken - were sufficient to create a certain longing in the general area of the stomach.

And so the Welsh advance on Puerto Alcúdia and one particular area of the port, with the South Walians at Gavin's and the North Walians around the corner at Sandra's. And not a sheep in sight.

Gavin's At The Port, from 1 May, at C. Coral 11, opposite Mestizo.


QUIZ: Yesterday - Oklahoma. Today's title - film and who did the song?

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