It’s all about the food!’
This was the observation I made to Jilly as we were eating outside ‘our’ bar/restaurant in Frigliana,
just the other week. We had arrived in the pretty, white-washed, Spanish hill town on a Saturday,
and initially we felt a little flustered and disoriented. It was crowded with people and we didn’t know
where anything was. We didn’t know the whereabouts of our ‘B & B’, and even when we did find
out, we then wondered how we could possibly get our luggage there. Clearly there was no parking
close to the hotel. Eventually we realised that we would have to park in the large central car park,
and just carry a few basic necessities for each day in one or two hand bags.
We finally managed to find a space in the underground car park (which seemed a mini-triumph in
itself). Stepping outside into the warm sunshine, Jilly spotted a very ordinary looking Spanish bar-restaurant over the road. Her well-trained nose told her this would be a good place to eat. She was right. We fell in love with it and
it’s charming owner and his delightful brother, returning on several occasions for meals. Although
we did try a couple of other much smarter restaurants which had great views, the food and service were not nearly so good. They were also more expensive.
‘It’s all about the food,’ I said to Jilly, as we sat outside, on the pavement, on our last evening there.
It made me think that there are many churches around that have too big an emphasis on presentation and style. There is, of course, a need to do everything as well as we can, whatever the
size of the church, but substance will trump style any day of the week. Hungry people will be drawn
to where they can get a good meal.
It’s all about the food (and the service!)