Samaray - Logroño

Starting at Calle Laurel, I arrived at Calle San Juan late in the evening. I'm surprised I made it at all... Many bars had already closed, but Samaray was open, so the most persistent part of the visitors concentrated here. The pinchos stayed, but the Rioja is always there. The imperturbable but friendly owner poured it from a huge Pierola bottle. What a divine drink! But this is not a reason to stop only on this brand!

This was my 3rd visit to Jose's bar on Calle San Juan. The pinchos are made by his wife and her signature is the quail egg atop each one. While they are all bread-based they are very filling and 3 or 4 are enough to fill one up for supper.

We visited this tapas bar on Calle San Juan in October 2012 and vowed to return which we did recently. Most of the tapas bars in Logrono have a theme and as the previous reviewer mentioned, bar Samaray's theme is Quail Eggs. These small delicious eggs are incorporated into each tapa, either hard-boiled, poach or fried. They add body and sustenance to the tapa which fill you up quickly. The amount of variety of the tapas depends on the number of customers. This is a husband and wife operation, she does all the cooking and as long as there are people coming into the bar she will arrive with new and different tapas. All tapas are served on baguette type bread but are generously topped with ham, mushrooms, chorizo or seafood. Each tapa costs 1.50 Euros and each glass of wine the same. The first night I was hungry but could only manage 4 tapas washed down with 4 generous glasses of red wine, a Paternina Banda Ora. So dinner came to 24 Euros for me and my husband. We sat at the long bar on high stools and talked with the owner and the people who came and went around us. The owner remembered us from 18 months ago. We ate here the two nights we were in Logrono and would highly recommend it. The prices had not changed in the time between our two visits.

Los pinchos como he dicho,son muy buenos, variados y apetitosos. Eso sí,el señor que está en la barra,no es precisamente la alegría de la huerta. Parece que cuando te sirve,te este haciendo un favor.

De los mejores de San Juan. Morcilla con huevo de codorniz muy rico el pincho y el de matrimonio también.