Last night four of us went to a Spanish restaurant called Avila, which is a very old, small place in the downtown core that’s famous for flamenco. It has been closed since before the pandemia and just reopened.

We were excited, because we knew this was authentic flamenco, performed by gypsies. In fact, the area around the restaurant is a barrio where a lot of gypsies live. And it didn’t disappoint!

There were two female dancers, we think mother and daughter, a female singer and a male singer who also played guitar. It was fiery and intense and totally engrossing.

It’s a narrow space, and we had the best seats in the house, jammed up against the floor level platform, so close to the performers we felt we were part of the show! Unfortunately, they have a rule against photographing or filming the performance, which was frustrating as we had such great seats. But we were able to enjoy it fully—I just wish I could share it with you.

I did take some photos of the place before the show started. We were the first to arrive, and the waiter offered to take our photo before we even asked, as he said he would be too busy later! It’s an expensive little place, but I think all of us would go back another time.