Good Eats In Barcelona

[akated]

not sure if this belongs to the food or travel category; mods pls help move it if it's not in the correct place. thanks!

just came back from spain (madrid, barcelona) for a work trip; barcelona's not to be missed if you enjoy good food! warning: food there is not cheap though

here are some places i ate at in barcelona:

1. cerveceria catalana (c/mallorca, 236)

lunch on the first day. this was a rather traditional tapas bar, right down to the uniform of the waitstaff. overall good cooking; noteworthy dishes included grilled green peppers (pimientos) lightly salted and sauteed prawns (very sweet and tender, not like our tiger prawns, where the meat tends towards the rough side). selection of canapes (foods on small pieces of bread, normally slices of baguette) was decent; the marinated red pepper with anchovy was good. noticed a propendency of filipino waitstaff, but they know their stuff, so it's all good.

2. tapaC24 (c/diputacio, 269)

dinner on the first day. this was billed as a more "progressive" tapas bar, and the decor certainly showed: it resembled a canteen setting, albeit a kinda designer one. the fried artichokes was good, and so was the "bikini C24" - a very good spanish omelette (tortilla), with the inside all moist and slightly runny, and served with a generous dollop of creamed mayo. dessert was superb; scoops of chocolate mousse with salt, olive oil and crispy bread.

3. gaig (c/arago, 214)

dinner on the second night. this was the only "restaurant" restaurant i went to. cost was about three times more expensive than eating at a tapas bar (about 80 euros). but what excellent, inventive food! the amuse-gueule was a martini glass of creamed pea layered on creamed foie, with parmesan crisp and a sprig of spring onion. such interesting paring of tastes was also evident in the house special beef steak tartar, where the traditional dish was livened with calvados and apple sorbet. excellent pairing, as the slightly tart apple nicely contrasted the raw beef, and gave the dish sparkle.

dessert was a deconstructed light "creme brulee" (or creme catalan), with a hidden scoop of caramel ice-cream and tangy lemon sauce. yummy! also, there were two cute cute japanese bears sitting two tables away from me too bad i was with my colleague... grrrr...

4. cal pep (placa de les olles, 8)

lunch on the third day. this place comes highly recommeneded in many guide books; as such, there were many tourists eating there; consequently, the staff had a "set list" of recommended tapas, which provided kinda an easy way out for all parties, i guess. everything was good though, so i'm not complaining. the best dish was a hake cooked in oil (most possibly melted butter) with fried shallots. excellent taste and texture, with the fish all moist, and fragrant of oil. other standouts included the clams in herbed white wine sauce, the tortilla, topped with an excellent garlic mayo, and the pork and foie sausage (by which time i was stuffed and couldn't take more than a few bites).

5. cata 1.81 (c/valencia 181)

dinner on the third day. went to this place as a "last resort", it being a block away from my hotel, and after missing our reservations at another restaurant; later found out that this was one of the four tapas places in barcelona recommended by ferran adria. the most inventive tapas i've had on the trip. had a total of seven tapas, and the "least good" was better than many of the other dishes i've tried during the trip. the very best dish of the trip was clams with orange jelly and herbs. fantastic pairing of the brine-y shellfish with the sweet, yet slightly sour orange jelly! other notables included the spaghettini with creamed morel sauce and foie, as well as the fried rabbit ribs with soybean foam and cauliflower cream. an excellent ending to my eating in spain

[Asura]

wow, yum yum, looks like I should start saving up and go to enjoy

[tic-toc]

for those who hasn't been to Barcelona, try to avoid the Rambla' area if you wish to taste good (better) Spanish food. Rambla area is mainly for tourist. (It is difficult to get real good food in Orchard area)

What I usually do is to take the metro. (they have one day ticket for unlimited trips) I like to venture out of the tourist area. Those small restaurants (trattoria-like) caters to the locals. Usually they have set lunch that comprises of main dish, wine, dessert for less than SGD 14

FYI : Spainishs dinner starts ard 10 pm