From Cooking Spain's Best Croquette to Serving Churros and Breakfasts: Santa Faz Transforms Hospitality

It is just before noon on one of the days leading up to the Santa Faz. Tables stretch across the terrace, with a view of the farmhouse. Inside, waiters prepare services while the kitchen team handles the stoves.

At the bar separating the two rooms, the iconic tiles gifted by Gibeller year after year during the Santa Faz pilgrimage are displayed. This gastropub, Santa Bar by Dani Frías, has found a way to make use of them: serving freshly baked bread with oil on them.

"They are the soul of Luis Torregrosa," explains Patricia, the heart of Santa Bar. A lifelong resident of Santa Faz, she knows the history of the Relic and the monastery inside out, sharing it with a smile and great pride.

This Alicante native speaks of when the Relic fell into the hands of Father Pedro Mena. It was a gift from a cardinal in Rome, upon being appointed Priest of San Juan. "It is supposedly one of the four pieces of the cloth," she notes, before emphasizing how the city venerates it following the miracle of the tear in 1489.

A year later, the farmhouse was erected next to Santa Bar, from where Patricia recounts this story today and explains how Santa Faz is experienced from within. She proudly highlights that "it is the second largest gathering in Spain."

From inside Santa Bar, they watch as the street, which was once the national road from Murcia to Alicante and Valencia, transforms from Thursday to Sunday into "a river" of people participating in the pilgrimage.

There are all kinds, Patricia explains, those who, after the journey, enter the monastery to pray, and those who pass by and enjoy a day of leisure. Some, upon making one decision or another, enter Santa Bar to recharge with one of its breakfasts.

Indeed, Santa Faz compels this gastropub to modify its menu during the day of the pilgrimage. "We adapt it to the needs" of the day, she notes. The establishment has been a finalist in the Madrid Fusión contest for the best croquette in Spain, a dish it cooks daily and will combine this Thursday with others quite different from its usual offerings.

Santa Bar will open its doors at 8 a.m. with the traditional churros by Manolo Tejero, the churro maker from Sant Joan, also known for his fries. Additionally, they offer breakfasts with toast and lunches with sandwiches. From Friday to Sunday, they will repeat, but starting at 10 a.m.

During the day of Santa Faz, this establishment employs a doorman to regulate the flow inside. They do not want constant overcrowding, nor chaos. They aim to maintain their essence and provide the best service to pilgrims, also through their products like freshly baked bread on Gibeller's tile.

Ceramics are appreciated in numerous corners of Santa Bar, alongside other creations gifted by locals and visitors. Many of them are drawings on napkins, freshly created in this place facing the temple; while others have been conceived and donated with forethought. Such is the case of one of the drawings, a finalist in the tile contest that does not go unnoticed among the stories Patricia narrates.