Same Difference...

Ciutat Comtal

Rambla Catalunya, 18

&
Cervercería Catalana

C/ Mallorca, 236

During my time in Barcelona, both of these tapas restaurants came highly recommended to me. I finally got around to trying them, and it was only a few moments after I sat down at Cervecería Catalana to realize that the two restaurants are exactly the same. The cuisine is completely identical! I was highly intrigued. In the US, we're crazy about branding. So, it's such an interesting choice, to do the exact reverse: to create a masked chain, multiple restaurants which are the same caliber of service, same menu, but disguise each individual property as an independent. Really, in a place like Europe, it's totally brilliant, isn't it? Anyway, enough dorky talk about branding...let's talk food.

An avocado salad (ensalada de aguacates) and also patatas bravas.

This mini hamburger sliders are AMAZING. They sort of melt in your mouth a little. Cheese & onions inside.

Salmon w/ onions & peppers. Also a pineapple-pine nut cream cheese tapa.

Hugs and pan,

Angela

Haaaaaaaam!

La Reserva Ibérica

Placement on map is approximate

Aragó, 242

Barcelona, España

Get Directions

* approximate times

www.reservaiberica.com

WOW. I am the biggest loser for not bringing my camera today. Oh well, guess I'll just HAVE to go back again, darn! This is just one of those restaurants that really makes me feel good, like Sunburst Cafe, Gramercy, New York-good. It's quiet and small, (sadly almost no one was in the shop today), but even if the restaurant were full it was be a quiet little place.

I ordered provolone with ham and oregano with a glass of red wine. I didn't know what to expect, but as it turns out the dish is just baked cheese. Luckily I had the sense to order bread, but it makes me laugh to think what I would've looked like if I hadn't! I got bread with tomato and olive oil on them, and it was definitely a win. My whole meal came out to be 12EUR, which is more expensive than most of the meals I've eaten here, but I felt so good afterward that I didn't regret it one bit! Besides, $15 could just get me a couple glasses of good wine in the states, right?

The older gentleman and younger girl that work there are really sweet, and very generous with samples, during my meal today he served me a few small cuts of their most expensive ham (Lomo, or Llon in Catalán) and it was truly delicious. In the middle of my meal I expressed to him that it was my first time eating this type of food and I wasn't sure if I was eating it correctly. But he reassured me and told me to ask if I had any questions. As a foreigner, I felt very welcome here.

>>UPDATE. I went back for round two. Photos for your appetite:

L'eixample

Omeia
C/ Aragó, 211
Barcelona, Spain
www.omeia.es/

I met my bosses, Lee & Lauren, co-worker, Paulina, and two ex-employees, Alfonso & Ariel, for dinner at Omeia. (side note- there is an absurd amount of Lebanese/Greek/Syrian food here. I think I've eaten more falafels here in Barcelona than in my whole life combined...not even exaggerating).

The food was really great. I especially enjoyed the babbaganoosh (which I derived to be roughly a mint-peppers-cous cous salsa) and my Kebbeh was also quite good (chick pea & hummus croquettes), although I must admit that they didn't taste different from falafels to me, as far as I was concerned they were football-shaped falafels. My promiscuous palate doesn't know the difference :/

The people who own/run the place are really sweet. Also they have a 2 year-old son who is positively adorable. We watched the game on their plasma-screen TV, but the restaurant was empty so it was really quiet, which is nice I suppose.

Cielito Lindo

Mexico lost one of their World Cup games tonight, so of course we had to sing and drink away our sorrows...ay ay ay ay, canta y no llores!

icebarcelona
C/ Ramon Trias Fargas, 2
Barcelona, Spain
www.icebcn.com

There's a real ice bar in barcelona (very clearly and unoriginally named icebarcelona)! And it's on the beach! We watched the game in the outside bar/terrace.
The amaretto sour was delicious and depressingly overpriced at 9 euros :/




La Coronela
C/ Consolat De Mar, 23
Barcelona, Spain
www.lacoronela.es

As far as I can tell this is an EXCELLENT Mexican restaurant. Delicious nachos (frijolessss!). Delicious guacamole. Delicious mangos & cucumbers covered in shredded carrots and chili powder (forgot what it's called, but you can see it below). Also, 1 EUR tacos on Sundays!

TAPASSSSS

Bilbao Berria
C/ Sagristans, 5
08002 Barcelona, España
defunct website

A couple days ago we went to the best tapas restaurant that I've eaten at so far--. It was delish! It was basically a la carte/buffet style. They had platters of all different sorts of tapas so you just took which ever ones you wanted. There's a skewer in each one and you keep your skewers and then they count the number of skewers you had and then charge you 1.5 euros for each one. There were 5 of us and our total bill came out to be 51 euros, including the pitcher of sangria that we ordered, aka. 10 euros each, not bad at all!

Starting on the left going counter clockwise: shrimp on mashed potatoes, tuna salad with a few strips of raw tuna, salmon topped with some sort of delicious cream sauce and cheese


In the back is a slice of some sort of sausage topped with cheese, asparagus, and a runny quail egg. In the front is an oyster shell filled with a cheesy/oystery blend and possibly baked with bread crumbs on top.



A couple days later we hit up another tapas restaurant of the same concept...

Sagardi
C/ Argenteria, 8
www.sagardi.com

Starting left and moving clockwise: Cheese topped with a sweet sauce and pine nuts, crab salad in a croissant with carmelized orange peels on top, a sort of consolidated sweet and savory rice/meat casserole topped with a peach slice and ham. I think I actually enjoyed these more, but the place was so crowded it was hard to have a really nice time...


Yummmmm.