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The gastronomic vocation of a family

Ama. What to say about Ama? A fighting woman, of great strenght, much enthusiasm and too many interests for her time. 

Our Ama was raised in Amezketa, a small Basque Country's village, where she started working at "Fabrensa", a local packaging factory; however that didn't make her happy.

While working at the factory, she would eagerly attend cooking lessons every afternoon with a friendly cooker who lived in Segura, a village near Amezketa, where she learned many of the recipes she would elaborate later on at her restaurant.

The following year, while she was still working at the factory, she became interested in hairdressing. That's why every afternoon, throughout that long year, he would ride her bike along the 12 km trail that took her from Amezketa to Tolosa to learn the trade in a small salon.

Since we were very young, Ama has always told us: "janari goxo bat begiekin dastatzen da: Jan nazazu!" ("A good meal comes through your eyes and says: eat me"). And it's likely that her innate taste for esthetic, along with her passion for cooking, was what made Lorea what is today.

Since 1982 in the Playa de San Juan

Ama and Aita opened Lorea in 1982. A coffee shop with tapas, combo-meals and sandwiches; our second home. Interestingly, back then there was nothing like it in Playa de San Juan. Gradually, Ama tarted to introduce typical dishes drom our homeland, a wide variety of Basque pintxos, which gradually increased. The famous croquettes, which do not need any presentation, already speak for themselves. Little by little, more and more traditional meals of the Basque cuisine, such as the tortilla de bacalao or the chipirones en su tinta, were added to the menu.

Ama would tour the market every day to select the best hake, the best cod or the best meat to serve, along with the lamb to be roasted every Sunday, so typical of our land!

She has always wanted Lorea to be different, to stand out from the rest of the food establishments, with a very privileged beachfront location in of Playa de San Juan in Alicante, and with an entire life dedicated to it.

A small family business that gradually grew and took shape, with very loyal customers, that would come very often, chatted with Aita and had a txakolí with him, walked into the small old kitchen and asked Ama what was there to eat or talked to one of us, their children. From then till now, all the customers and friends who have passed through Lorea have gradually made that small business that my parents opened in 1982 bigger and bigger.

We are proud to see that it still maintains the essence of the family business with wich it started, preserving close family relationships. We contin offering the same dishes that our mother decided ro include in the menue one day - and that she still comes to give the go-ahead every day-, although constantly innovating with new Basque cuisine dishes, such as the Txangurro or the Alubias served every winter Thursday and on our "Alubia Days", which our customers and friends like so much.