1st November 2012
What we ate: Patatas Bravas, Gambas al Ajillo, Pimiento al Poquillo and Champiñones con Panceta.
We drank: Two small glasses of house red.
We chatted with: Our waitress, who is in her early twenties and from Valencia. She has been living in Norwich for the past two years.
After chomping through our amazing tapas – noting with a smile that the patatas bravas were made with giant, fluffy Norfolk potatoes – we got chatting with our waitress about her perceptions of English culture and how different life is from Spain.
She seemed taken back at first when we produced our questionnaire but then she relaxed and talked to us very animatedly.
1. What is your most popular dish? Why do you think it’s the most popular?
Paella [laughs] – People always want to eat paella! I suppose it’s very famous, they think we eat in Spain all the time. There are also some popular tapas dishes: patatas bravas and tortilla española
2. Do you have more Spanish customers or English customers? Do you notice differences between them?
There are a lot more English people. There are some Spanish people, but I am used to serving English people! The English are quiet and easy – they eat then generally leave – The Spanish are worse! They’re so chaotic! When I am Spain I don’t notice how loud Spanish people are. Indeed, I’m probably loud myself! But here it’s very noticeable, the differences between the two nationalities.
[It was interesting to note that in a certain culture, people are expected to behave in a certain way; if they don’t, like the Spanish in England, then it is obvious]
3. What made you start working at a Hispanic restaurant?
A lot of people think we are a big family working here! I didn’t start working here in order to speak Spanish all the time – in truth I’d rather speak English! But I needed a job and I like working here.
4. What is it like having a Hispanic restaurant in England/a culture that is not Hispanic?
The restaurant is definitely aimed at English people…. Look at the opening times! In Spain nobody would eat so early! You wouldn’t go out until eleven or midnight – here people eat at six, seven in the evening and then go to the bar to get drunk. Spanish people would be happy to spend an evening in the same place, chatting, eating and drinking, but here we have to close early as the customers just don’t want to eat late. They’d rather go to a bar and get drunk.
5. What do you think of the English attitudes towards food and drink?
The English have a terrible attitude toward drink! I’ve had customers who have been so drunk I can’t understand them. They just slur, it’s embarrassing! In Spain this would not happen, the English don’t know when to stop!
As regards to food, the English eat a lot of famous dishes [as mentioned before] – they are quite interested in trying new things. I am not impressed with fish and chips and all that rubbish! It’s such a strange food – and yet I suppose that it’s a culture thing. It has to do with the weather. [laughs]
The interview was really fun. It stopped being an interview somewhere around the second question and we all learned something new about each other and about what the other thought of cultural differences between Spain and England. It helped a lot that both Eliza and I had lived in Spain and had experienced Spanish attitudes. The restaurant was simple – brown stone walls and pillars with decorative plates and paintings. It was a nice setting to enjoy tapas and to reminisce about Spain.
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