Plastic Lawn Chairs, Unforgettable Food: Celebrating the Hidden Gem

San-Francisco’s Chinatown

Be it the cobbled streets of a small provincial European town or the back alleys of Marrakech’s souks, it is many a hungry traveller’s dream to happen upon one of those “hole-in-the-wall” places. If you have been in this situation, then you have felt the thrill of “discovering” a hidden gem - although, let’s not kid ourselves, the locals haven’t known about and eaten here for aeons. 

Chez Tetel at La Grande Motte

Most holes-in-the-wall or hidden gems have one thing in common - a decided lack of façade. Part of what makes these places so special to eat at is their lack of any real ‘brand’ or advertisement; their focus is the food and free flow of good conversation. Here, there are no hushed tones used in fear of disturbing a tranquil atmosphere - we are granted the freedom to exclaim over each other at the wonderful food that is chock full on the table in front of us. Most of the eateries I have fortuitously stumbled upon have been from turning that corner off the beaten track or sidling down an alleyway away from the crowds of the main strip. When next choosing between the pristinely white manicured restaurant, or its shabbier neighbour with plastic white garden chairs and tables spilling onto the sand, I urge you give the latter a try. 

Some of the best meals I have had the privilege of eating have been served to me while sat on white plastic lawn chairs. At Chez Tetel in La Grande-Motte, a seaside resort in France’s La Petite Camargue, I sampled some of the best mussels I’ve ever tried, and it was many mussels for a measly €10. These mussels, arguably the best seafood I have ever tasted, were served to me sitting at a school-like table on a garden chair, in a tin saucepan with a huge plate of fries, alongside a purple plastic salad bowl reminiscent of early 2000s camping crockery for the empty shells. The plump mussels had been cooked in a creamy white wine sauce with hints of star anise, bay leaf, onion and garlic in a 5-foot-wide paella-style pan atop an outdoor cooker slap bang at the centre of the entrance to the restaurant. No façade, literally or figuratively, this was just unabashedly good quality seafood served on the beach. 

In San Francisco’s Chinatown, at the age of 14, in a little hole-in-the-wall establishment decked out like your grandmother’s 1970’s kitchen with orange and lime green walls and pink plastic plates, I was served the best egg fried rice that one could ever hope to grace their plate or palette. Perfectly fluffy but still slightly oil slick with diced carrot, peas and golden browned egg soft like a pillow. The restaurant is one you can only dream of happening upon when wandering the streets as an inquisitive, hungry tourist. 

Nerja, on Spain’s Andalusian Coast

As far as examples of great tasting food served in unassuming backdrops go, Ayo is possibly my favourite. Crammed with white plastic garden furniture sets wobbling on uneven sand, Ayo is an al fresco restaurant spilling out onto the beach of the gorgeous seaside town of Nerja, on Spain’s Andalusian coast. With its mass of rickety tables and huge paella pans piled high with the bright saffron orange rice, there was barely the space or the time to race for a table, each descended upon by a mob of eager diners whenever they became available. Thrown on the table were plates full of paella mixta, the fresh pink shell-on prawns protruding from the mass of perfectly cooked rice teasing of the delights that await, and fresh simple salads of tomato, avocado and lettuce in big clear plastic bowls. It was a perfect example of the true taste of paella with the slightly dried grains of rice brought together by a heavily earthy saffron tomato sauce and perfectly soft protein.

There is something almost romantic about these memories I have of eating at these restaurants, existing under the radar, waiting innocently to be found by the next hungry traveller who will wonder over the culinary treasures they found at that out-of-the-way restaurant in that small seaside town in France. These restaurants and their food should be celebrated, not just from the personal standpoint that you have managed to find a hidden treasure in such an unexpected setting, but more generally, that great eateries can exist under many guises. 

In 2016, this point could not have been argued more successfully than with the awarding of the world’s first Michelin star to a street food stall in Singapore. As well as awarding a great chef merit for his unbelievably delicious cuisine, this milestone award showed that great food is not only found amongst white tablecloths and upholstered seating, but is present in informal street food stalls served on outdoors, like at chef Hawker Chan’s Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice & Noodle. 

These examples go to show that sometimes the seemingly shabbiest spots give us the best food experiences. So, the next time you find yourself hungrily searching the streets of a new city, turn away from that branded banner glowing atop a restaurant’s entry way and take a peek around the corner. Could that spot with the faded sign and group of smiling local faces be the place to take a chance on? It could just be the gem you have been looking for; that place with the lobster roll that you dream of returning to once a global pandemic is over; that place you constantly rave about to your friends; or that place you write about in an article years later, because the food was just that good. After all, without grit there can be no pearl.

Erin Lawler

Erin is a Finance Administrator, aspiring food writer and proud Welshwoman. You can see how she’s salty, but not about food at Erin's Eats (https://erinsseats.food.blog)