If you look past the fact that this place is located across a brothel, this is the best food-experience I’ve had in Barcelona, by far. Don’t worry, the employees on the other side of the street are harmless and mucho discreto and won’t bother you. Just don’t stare them down like a deer in headlights. Like I did.
Over to the actual point with this post (I did not mean to advertise for this special place of labor).
The best food-experience in Barcelona. Yes. This place. Located in Raval, still a little underestimated area of Barcelona. We ate so much when we visited this summer. That’s the challenge with tapas. Meaning when you’re about to faint of hunger and you end up ordering too much food.
We didn’t know what to expect other than that it was quite good. Like when you’re stumbling over a place which looks legit, you try it and you’re happy that you did, kind of good.
Our reservation was at 7:30 pm which is when the restaurant opens. A bit embarrassed by dining so early in the land of late dinners, we walked in to the place and got our table. It was zero other guests there and some of the dishes wasn’t even prepped yet. This is going to take a while we said, with awe in our voices. Only because we were starving and our stay was coming to an end and we wanted to make the most of our night.
Back to the main challenge with tapas – hunger vs. … well, hunger. After examining the menu, we understood we had ordered too many dishes, but hey, this is probably going to take a while anyway we thought. Let’s just look at it as a 12 course dinner.
Let me introduce the shrimp tortillas from San Fernando’s shore:
These babies are perfect to kick off the ball. Just enough to get you ready for what’s to come. With a surprising crunch at the first bite, suddenly you could feel the warm sand between your toes and the crisp breeze in San Fernando. You know, like when you can hear the ocean through the salt shaker.
Next up was the croquettes. Just like I love to unwrap presents, I love to find out what’s inside of baked foods. Croquettes, spring rolls, dumplings .. You get the drill. And this was no disappointment. Filled with a shiitake mushroom blend, two pieces wasn’t enough.
Some heavenly tomato bread also hit the table, which I always have to get when I’m in Spain. The refreshing tomatoes grated on a toasted piece of bread, topped of with sea salt, is extremely quenching in the heat. And if you get some aioli (actual name is alioli – did you know?) to dip the tomato bread, and everything else in, I guarantee a smile on your face.
After an outstanding start of the meal, we were ready for some proteins. We were craving something sour to balance the fat, and went with the ceviche. Perfect choice! I always get hang ups on different foods, and I can eat the same thing for days – hence ceviche. It was delicious and gone within seconds.
Like lightning from blue skies, the satiety hit us. We hadn’t even had a sip of the chill rosé we first got served, which is very unlike us. But before you knew it, we were half way down the bottle – emergency averted. We thought we had lost it there, for a moment.
Happy, tipsy and very full we leaned back in our chairs and thanked higher powers for this party of a meal. Now – as one of three guests in the restaurant, we spotted the waiter heading our way. Did we order more? Both in a food coma, our brains had enough with understanding the explosion of tastefulness we just had ingested.
Remember I told you we we’re there so early that all of the dishes hadn’t even been prepped yet? Hello ribs on a bed of truffle fries.
To ease the fullness we had some more rosé and we prepared our selves to finish this fabolous night with style. And we were so glad we did. Please order this dish if you decide to visit. It was the crowning glory.
The aftermath. Done. Finish.
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