One of the most popular free Spanish restaurant software applications is Punto Restaurante, a powerful tool for learning and tasting Spanish. It was developed by a group of five young men who left their native Spain to study in France. Although they speak English perfectly, their main aim was to create an application which would be able to provide the same level of interactivity as a good Spanish blog, whilst also allowing the user to speak freely, just like a real Spanish restaurant would.
In their quest to learn Spanish, the young men came across several blogs and decided that they needed an application that could do two things at once: it should be able to translate the words of the blog and also provide some interactive features such as being able to browse through pictures and add friends to conversations. They hoped that this would create a "virtual Spanish kitchen" where the bloggers could socialize and communicate freely with their peers - and thus, create a buzz and get free publicity. The result of their efforts was a unique and very useful Spanish programme called Punto Restaurante Tapas. This is now available for free download on CNET (click on the link below).
The website is divided into different pages, each focusing on a particular region such as: South Spain, the Basque area, Cartagena, Murcia, Andalucia and Granada. There are detailed information on the tapas bars and restaurants, the tapas culture in these regions, and a review of the area by readers as well as a "taste of Spain" section. A great feature of the site is a "guestbook", where visitors can post their thoughts, reviews and experiences about Spain. As the blog writer writes, he/she writes up the guestbook, which can then be viewed online by readers. Punto Restaurante has been downloaded by hundreds of users, many of whom are French and German!