La Piconera is a small restaurant just outside the center of Ronda, and it was the first place we went out for dinner after arriving in town. The restaurant is known for its paella, and there were plenty to choose from on the menu, which was handwritten on a piece of paper.
You need to be at least two people to order a paella, as each one is made fresh and served in a large pan. Steve and I ordered the black paella with squid. The color comes from squid ink, which also gives the rice a lot of flavor. It was really good, with plenty of pieces of squid mixed into the rice and little dollops of aioli on top.
While we were waiting, we were served a small bowl of olives, which disappeared quickly. Even my dad, who isn’t usually much of an olive fan, had a couple. When we reached the bottom of the bowl, there was an olive pit. I’m almost certain one of us had accidentally tossed it back into the bowl, but that tiny bit of doubt about whether it might have been there all along became a running joke for the rest of the trip.
At one of the other tables, a local couple seemed to have decided to eat their way through most of the menu, because new dishes just kept arriving at their table. It was quite entertaining to watch.
My parents had ordered the chicken paella and went for the wetter version, which has more liquid than a classic paella. It was really good too, though they had been a little stingy with the chicken, so if you ask me, our squid paella was definitely the better of the two.
We were all very full by the time we left, and if you’re in the mood for paella in Ronda, La Piconera is a really good place to go.
La Piconera, C. Comandante Salvador Carrasco, 1, 29400 Ronda, Málaga, Spain
