Barcelona Food, Take One
Barcelona Food
There are two things that I will always remember about Barcelona. The food, and walking for miles and miles looking at amazing and interesting architecture.
Let’s start with the food.
I mentioned in my last posting about eating Basque food, and food at a little café down the street from our apartment. In both cases, these were places that the locals eat. Not the “microwaved paella” that you read about being laid down on The Ramblas. The food was solid, tasty, and enjoyable. If you can point, you can order food in these places. My Spanish is fine, but please don’t ask me to describe a “Lubina” or how to translate “pig trotter” from a menu description. But I can walk to a counter and see the food sitting there and say “Quiro Este” and get what I want. These places offered that sort of food.
The first fancy place we ate we came across after visiting Gaudi’s Church of the Sagrada Familia. (See pictures below). The place was called Castell de Xàtiva and was on a side street not too close to the church, so we figured that there would not be too many tourists there. We were right. Not only were there not too many tourists there, there was NOBODY there. It was about 1:15, and the sign said that they opened at 1:00. We walked in, asked if they were open for lunch, and they said Sure – just wait five minutes.
They set us up a table, and then asked if we wanted menus in English. Because of the “lubina” problem mentioned above, I said one of each. This is a good way to learn your foods (lubina, by the way, is sea bass.) The staff seemed a bit put out that we showed up so early for lunch (this was a Sunday) but was friendly enough (and got much friendlier as the meal went on). We looked at the menu, and opted for the “Daily Special” (which is something that every Spanish restaurant is required to offer by law) which included an appetizer, a main course, and a desert. Both of us selected the Fried Sardines as the appetizer. We split our main courses – a Black Rice (think of it as paella with squid ink) Seafood dish and a Fideo (fried vermicelli) seafood plate. I can’t recall what we had for desert – I think I had ice cream and Doreen had a spiced orange. The wine we had was a good Catalonian white called Canal y Nubliado.
The sardines were great – and quite large. They were gently fried, fresh fish about six inches long. They were WHOLE fish – head and all. You had to cut the meat off the bones, but it was quite tasty. The best part of the meal in my opinion. Both the main courses seemed a bit dry, and the vermicelli was crunchy (I assume it was supposed to be crunchy, as it was described as “fried” vermicelli). The black rice was good, but also dry. Both main courses were served with mayonnaise. You saw a lot of mayonnaise in Barcelona. The wine was dry and fruity. Great with the seafood.
While we were eating, Doreen mentioned that she wanted to see the Magic Fountains of Montjuic. I did not know what, or where they are. They only turn them on from Thursday through Sundays in the summer, starting at dusk. We asked the hostess about them, and she tried to show us on our map. She asked us to wait a moment and she disappeared. We ate, enjoyed the meal, and she showed up about 20 minutes later with a printout from the Barcelona Tourist Bureau. It was great! We had a map, a description of the fountains, and a schedule of when they occur. We were quiet impressed that she went to this trouble for us.
We went to the dancing fountains that night, and had a great time. (They are quite complicated fountains, installed for the 1929 Barcelona Exposition. Yes, the same one that introduced the Van Der Rohe Barcelona Chairs. You would be amazed at the complicated color, music, and water patterns that can be created with old analog systems!)
There are two things that I will always remember about Barcelona. The food, and walking for miles and miles looking at amazing and interesting architecture.
Let’s start with the food.
I mentioned in my last posting about eating Basque food, and food at a little café down the street from our apartment. In both cases, these were places that the locals eat. Not the “microwaved paella” that you read about being laid down on The Ramblas. The food was solid, tasty, and enjoyable. If you can point, you can order food in these places. My Spanish is fine, but please don’t ask me to describe a “Lubina” or how to translate “pig trotter” from a menu description. But I can walk to a counter and see the food sitting there and say “Quiro Este” and get what I want. These places offered that sort of food.
The first fancy place we ate we came across after visiting Gaudi’s Church of the Sagrada Familia. (See pictures below). The place was called Castell de Xàtiva and was on a side street not too close to the church, so we figured that there would not be too many tourists there. We were right. Not only were there not too many tourists there, there was NOBODY there. It was about 1:15, and the sign said that they opened at 1:00. We walked in, asked if they were open for lunch, and they said Sure – just wait five minutes.
They set us up a table, and then asked if we wanted menus in English. Because of the “lubina” problem mentioned above, I said one of each. This is a good way to learn your foods (lubina, by the way, is sea bass.) The staff seemed a bit put out that we showed up so early for lunch (this was a Sunday) but was friendly enough (and got much friendlier as the meal went on). We looked at the menu, and opted for the “Daily Special” (which is something that every Spanish restaurant is required to offer by law) which included an appetizer, a main course, and a desert. Both of us selected the Fried Sardines as the appetizer. We split our main courses – a Black Rice (think of it as paella with squid ink) Seafood dish and a Fideo (fried vermicelli) seafood plate. I can’t recall what we had for desert – I think I had ice cream and Doreen had a spiced orange. The wine we had was a good Catalonian white called Canal y Nubliado.
The sardines were great – and quite large. They were gently fried, fresh fish about six inches long. They were WHOLE fish – head and all. You had to cut the meat off the bones, but it was quite tasty. The best part of the meal in my opinion. Both the main courses seemed a bit dry, and the vermicelli was crunchy (I assume it was supposed to be crunchy, as it was described as “fried” vermicelli). The black rice was good, but also dry. Both main courses were served with mayonnaise. You saw a lot of mayonnaise in Barcelona. The wine was dry and fruity. Great with the seafood.
While we were eating, Doreen mentioned that she wanted to see the Magic Fountains of Montjuic. I did not know what, or where they are. They only turn them on from Thursday through Sundays in the summer, starting at dusk. We asked the hostess about them, and she tried to show us on our map. She asked us to wait a moment and she disappeared. We ate, enjoyed the meal, and she showed up about 20 minutes later with a printout from the Barcelona Tourist Bureau. It was great! We had a map, a description of the fountains, and a schedule of when they occur. We were quiet impressed that she went to this trouble for us.
We went to the dancing fountains that night, and had a great time. (They are quite complicated fountains, installed for the 1929 Barcelona Exposition. Yes, the same one that introduced the Van Der Rohe Barcelona Chairs. You would be amazed at the complicated color, music, and water patterns that can be created with old analog systems!)
posted by Dan Piette at 5:57 PM
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