a paella pan for when a few friends drop in!
can paxiano - cava bar
these guys do fantastic pulpo (octopus), but not much else!
jamon label and wrapping
iberico sobredsada - sensational!
tortita de barros - washed rind sheep milk cheese made with dandelion rennet
a selection of wild mushrooms we fried up for dinner!
foie gras montadito from bar mut - i could eat a dozen no sweat!
a ham tester made from horse bone (i've been eyeing one for a while now)
presa iberico ( cured neck)
iberico chorizo - easily the best we've tasted
jamon de andalucia - words escape me!
our passionate, friendly slicer at jamonisimo
jamon de salamanca - once again.........
Well we’ve been enjoying the Spanish lifestyle – sleeping in, eating, drinking and staying out late. Oh yeah, and having the afternoon siesta as well. We’ve found the food so far in Spain to be very enjoyable, but we’ll just recount a few of our favourite experiences.
Comerc 24
We walked in to Comerc 24 at about 1.25pm to see if they had any space for lunch. We were told “yes”, but they did not open until 1.30pm. (So we walked around the block until they were opened!). It pretty much sums up Comerc 24 – precision and professionalism. Everything is done by the rules. We had an enjoyable experience here – the staff were so professional, if not a little stiff (all spoke perfect English, mind you). We had a great wine suggestion from the sommelier. We had a local chenin blanc from a biodynamic wine producer, El Bassots. It was smokey and rubbery on the nose, with a beautiful tang of citrus on the palate.
When you sit down they give you some bread (delicious) with a box of four different olive oils, all local, to try with the bread. A nice touch, we thought. We had a tasting menu of about 7 courses, including “snacks” and dessert. The highlights from the menu were:
* Tuna tartar with egg yolk vinaigrette
* Squid ravioli with ceps, pinenuts and emulsion (the intensity and lingering flavour of the ceps was amazing)
* Black rice with squid (subtle “sea-salty’ flavour and beautiful, fine, tender squid)
* Oxtail with truffle and cauliflower puree (this was an intense flavoured dish, but perfectly balanced)
It was the height of professionalism in Comerc 24 (apart from the hissy fit Luke saw one of the waiters throwing because the food runner – who looked extremely stressed – kept stuffing up). Although the food was enjoyable, it was not particularly regional as we felt we could have been sitting anywhere in the world eating this food. However, it is good to see how the high end restaurants operate in different parts of the world. We've decided after this meal and looking online that we'll give the modern restaurants a miss on the trip, although mostly well regarded, you really could be anywhere when eating the food that's served. also quite a few places that are highly spoken of have changed (pricing and experience). a few locals who we've spoken to have said that because of the reputation of spanish chefs in the last 5 years the prices are now sky high in relation to what you get. we'll just try our luck i guess!
Jamonisimo
There are many shops in Barcelona selling jamon, however, this shop is the crème de la crème. The amount of jamon displayed is minimal, but the quality is exemplary. All the jamon must be Bellota (the pigs finish their feeding regime on acorns) and tiered by quality within the Dehesa (this is the area where the pigs finish their feeding regime). We decided to sample two different areas of production – Salamanca and Andalucia. It’s amazing the difference these hams displayed - this is a truly regional product. We also decided that we should try the other cured goods produced form Iberian pigs, and they were also fantastic. These products really are in a class of their own.
Inopia
This place was so fun! The Spanish really know how to do it. This tapas bar is owned by Ferran Adria’s (from El Bulli) brother. It has a really cool fit out, and is basically all seating around the counter surrounding the kitchen and bar, with a few other stools around the back and side walls. The walls are lined with white tiles that have been written all over with customer praise. The staff are cool. They are just there having fun, mucking around when there is not much to do, but when it kicks off, everyone assumes their position and it just works. We got there at 7pm, and really nothing happens in Barcelona until about 8.30pm. The food is traditional, and done well. We ate so much – croquetas, olives stuffed with anchovies, bombas, boquerones, eggplant with sugar cane honey, fried lemon anchovies, mojama with salted almonds, and for dessert flan and chocolate ice cream. And of course, what else to drink at a tapas bar, but sherry. We downed our fair share of manzanilla and amontillado, which made for a very enjoyable night. It would be so fun to have places like this in Australia. We need to have a more relaxed dining culture for places like this to take off.
Breakfast at Tapas 24
We only write of this place, which serves traditional tapas, because we had a great breakfast there. We had chopped fried egg, chips and chorizo, which was good, but the thing that really got us going was the rabo de toro (slow cooked ox tail). It was delicious – unctuous, sweet, spicy, and the meat so tender. Not what you would normally think about having for breakfast, but it was well worth it.
Cheap and cheerful
Can Paixano, which we call the cava bar is a tiny place serving cava (Spanish sparkling) and bocadillos (Spanish rolls). The place is packed – we went twice, at different times of the day and it was packed both times. There is standing area only surrounding the area where they cook (you couldn’t really call it a kitchen) and serve. You wait patiently to get served, and that doesn’t work, so you have to flap around and make a bit of noise to be noticed. Your order your bottle of (cheap) cava and a roll with pork and cheese and one with chorizo, or one with anchovies. You stand back from the crowds and wait for your food, and no matter where you stray to, the guy who served you, even if he served 10 people in between will find you to pass you your bocadillos! It is amazing. And then when you pay at the end they manage to know what you had, even if you pay with a different person to who you ordered with! I would love to know the system of identification that they use. So that place is a bit of fun – a bottle of cava and 2 bocadillos and it costs less than 8 euros.
Another funny little place we went to for a cheap quick meal is Bar Celta. It is famous for its octopus (which is very good), and other than that you get a variety of traditional tapas items. You sit at a bar and they guy behind there, who is working at a manic place, takes you order (and a few others along the way) a dish at a time. You’re amazed when you actually end up with the correct food and drinks. There were three staff working there, but really only this one guy doing anything, and surely he must have been on speed or something to keep the pace up.
Finally, the markets. You can get some amazingly fresh produce, and stuff that we cannot get in Australia. There are fruit and vegetable stalls, cheese shops, shops specialising in poultry or offal or cured goods, and seafood stalls. We bought a few simple ingredients to have for dinner – some cheese (Tortita de Barros – an amazing raw sheeps milk cheese that you scoop out of the rind), some beans and some wild mushrooms. We topped this off with some cured goods (we can’t get enough of them) from another nearby shop. And we found the most amazing wine shop, called Vila Vinoteca. There were some amazing wines here, stuff that we would never have the privilege of seeing in Australia from all over the world. There were also some amazing sherries from 1965 and some Armagnac from 1922. It was pretty incredible. So we bought a bottle of wine to have with our market dinner.
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