Pur: Albaida

At first I was expecting to find a restaurant full of contented cats, but it turns out that ‘pur’ is simply Valencian for ‘pure’.

Even though cat is not on the menu, there are plenty of other delights as you ascend the steps, or take the chair lift if you are a thrill seeker, to this quite new and very modern restaurant, bar the wicker lampshades, my favourite decor, although very complicated to clean.

The staff are young, all four waiters are men, although there is a lady in the kitchen, visible through a large show window, running things as ladies usually do.

Efficiency is clearly a hallmark, and four waiters were clearly more than enough for a restaurant with less than a dozen tables, although I’m not complaining.

The food was what thy like to call ‘food for the imagination’ or maybe it’s ‘from’ the imagination; either way it works.

On the Sunday we went there was no set menu, although I’m told that other days there is, so we had to leave the ordering in the capable hands of local expert Juan, (centre in the photo) who not only took away the care of choosing, but also the pain of paying with his meekly protested habitual generosity (although I’m not sure if that extends to total strangers).

Among the starters, most of which were incompreensible to me as the waiters spoke Valenciano, was a lovely, tangy salad consisting of anchovies, mojama (a salt cured tuna) and various steamed vegetables. Delicious.

Then there was a stuffed, grilled (poor thing!) aubergine, also an explosion of flavour.

It was Sunday so it had to be rice, although there were other options available. As artichokes are in season, we chose that, with various elements of seafood.