Hence, the air on the day of my visit was thick with the smell of black tobacco. Ducados I’d say if pressed, a smell I always used to associate with Spanish airports, but had forgotten about since the EU set about enforcing a mass give-up. The truth is, although the smell brings back fond memories, it is a bit off-putting, but persevere—an all-out ban of smoking in public in Spain is due in January—and La Perla genuinely is a bit of a jewel, run by several generations of a family who are obsessed with the food they put on the table.

At the long, Art Deco bar, six old men are lined up tucking into small mountains of toffee-coloured paella (the sign of a good sofregit—long-stewed onions and proper seafood stock) richly studded with monstrous langoustines and generously piled with socorrat (the crunchy bits). Elsewhere tables are laid with white paper tablecloths and by 2pm the joint is full. Wine and general joie du vivre is free flowing, apart from our waiter who takes exception to my naïve request for a smoke-free table. “Everyone smokes” he shrugs, though does concede to move us from a particularly smoky corner.

In the end it’s not so bad, and he brightens considerably as we pass back plates practically licked clean. “You like?” he smiles, thawing slightly. Oh yes, we like very much.

Take my advice and turn up with the appetite of a lion for everything is colossal, almost as if they are feeding Romans. We start with leeks gently stewed in aged Jerez vinegar. They are as soft as butter, velvety as cream, sweet as molasses, and I’m told, come in a can with the date of vintage stamped on it. As conservas go, there’s no doubt they are among the best I’ve ever had, and make a superb foil to the salty, pink anchovies cured and marinated in a secret in-house recipe.

Canelones, when they are eventually found beneath a lake of béchamel and cheese sauce, are tightly packed with lovingly seasoned stewed pork. Granted it is probably not the kind of food you should be eating too often, though there’s no doubt in my mind that half the customers in here come daily, but there’s something so honest and hearty about it all that it gladdens your very soul.