[Silly Disciple]

Keeping up with the spirit of discovering interesting places in Barcelona which are not always "the usual suspects", I decided to start with an exploration my new neighbourhood, the Esquerra Eixample, which seems to have a lot to offer. I had started with groceries (you might have seen the thread here ), and now I'm slowly moving to restaurants and such. After our visit last night to Jordi's new restaurant, we decided to have a light fare and headed off to a restaurant recommended by a friend of ours, a tapas place called Paco Meralgo (a play with words, since Pa' Comer Algo means "something to eat" or "to eat something"). The place seems to be oriented to a "chic" clientele, with prices being moderate. They have a pretty decent selection of seafood, some traditional tapas and a few "innovative" choices.
We had tuna carpaccio which was pretty good, a cod fish eisqueixada (a salad with cod fish, tomato, red peppers, black olives and olive oil, fairly common in Barcelona and a great choice for the Summer), seared baby calamari with beans and paprika, a foie gras "montadito", pan seared steak cubes, a zuchini flower filled with mozarella cheese, a prawn tortilla and a glass of gazpacho. The quality was fairly good, but nothing to loose your sleep over. It's not a place I would plan to go to, but a good option if you're in the nighbourhood looking for an interesting option for a light fare.

We then crossed over the street to "Cremeria Toscana" , an italian ice cream shop which has amazing gelato. The owner is from Milano but grew up in the toscana, and he was nice enough to let me try most of their choices. The gelato is made on the premises, and it was great. This one I do recommend if you like italian ice cream.


Alta Taberna Paco Meralgo
Muntaner 171 c/Corsega
93 430 90 27
http://www.pacomeralgo.com

Cremeria Toscana
Muntaner 161
93 539 38 25

This post has been edited by Silly Disciple: 24 June 2004 - 04:01 PM

[The Viking]

Definetely agree with you; Paco Meralgo provides fairly well executed tapas at a reasonable price, but without the extra "twist".

I often come there for an early comida those days that I'm late out of bed in the morning (Barcelona nightlife will try to kill you)..
BTW: A good no frills hotel in the neighborhood is Guitart Hotel Gran Passage two blocks up on Muntaner, an all-suite 4*hotel with personalized service and reasonable prices!

[Bux]

We have eaten in L'Olivé which is owned by the same group that owns Paco Meralgo. While I don't think of it as a destination restaurant, I think it is recommendable. Our meal was excellent particularly in relation to the price. It's good Catalan food in a chic setting. It's on Balmes, and I believe not far from Arago also in the Eixample, but closer to the placa de Catalunya. I see Campsa gives it a recommended rating. We picked it because we were in the neighborhood and it was one of a few listed in the Michelin guide.

[asola]

The Esquerra de l'Eixample is the best neighbourhood for restaurants in Barcelona. Ciutat Vella caters too much to tourists and it is difficult to find reasonable price/quality ratios, though there are some destination restaurants and some classics which you will enjoy for their character plus the advantage of being close to sights. In Sarrià, Eixample Dret and Gracia you can find nice restaurants too but the sheer variety of the Eixample Esquerra is unparalleled. So if you haven't had time to plan or want to take a stroll and pick a restaurant on a whim, this is the place to go. Lots of ethnic quality restaurants too, so it's also great if you make an extended visit to Barcelona.

[Silly Disciple]

Today we found a hidden gem, a no-frills rice restaurant in the Eixample. We were looking for a Sunday afternoon restaurant, and stumbled upon it while strolling towards the Francesc Macià area. Actually just crossing over to the Les Corts neighbourhood, Arrosseria Xativa has an impressive menu of mostly Valencian rice dishes along with a few local ones.
The appetizers where ok, and the rices where excellent. After my previous dissapointment at Can Majó I am happy to find a rice heaven, particularly close to my place.
I can definitely recommend the Paella Parellada Amb Gambes i Rap and the Arros amb Bolets, while the Arros Caldos de Senyoret was just ok.
We paid just over 30 EUR for the meal, having ordered more than one appetizer per person, a rice main course, dessert and coffee, so not terribly expensive but not terribly cheap either.

L'Arrosseria Xàtiva
Carrer Bordeus, 35
Les Corts
93.322.65.31
http://www.arrosseriaxativa.com/

[asola]

Silly Disciple, on Sep 26 2004, 07:37 AM, said:

Today we found a hidden gem, a no-frills rice restaurant in the Eixample. We were looking for a Sunday afternoon restaurant, and stumbled upon it while strolling towards the Francesc Macià area. Actually just crossing over to the Les Corts neighbourhood, Arrosseria Xativa has an impressive menu of mostly Valencian rice dishes along with a few local ones.
The appetizers where ok, and the rices where excellent. After my previous dissapointment at Can Majó I am happy to find a rice heaven, particularly close to my place.
I can definitely recommend the Paella Parellada Amb Gambes i Rap and the Arros amb Bolets, while the Arros Caldos de Senyoret was just ok.
We paid just over 30 EUR for the meal, having ordered more than one appetizer per person, a rice main course, dessert and coffee, so not terribly expensive but not terribly cheap either.

L'Arrosseria Xàtiva
Carrer Bordeus, 35
Les Corts
93.322.65.31
http://www.arrosseriaxativa.com/

It's strange how these things work. I went to Can Majó and found it quite good, I went to Arrosseria Xativa and found it quite disappointing. Off-days, choice of dishes or different tastes, I don't know. I still like your posts, though.

[Silly Disciple]

asola, on Sep 28 2004, 11:52 AM, said:

It's strange how these things work. I went to Can Majó and found it quite good, I went to Arrosseria Xativa and found it quite disappointing. Off-days, choice of dishes or different tastes, I don't know. I still like your posts, though.

One way to solve it... let's try the same restaurant at the same time!!!

Silly.

[asola]

Silly Disciple, on Sep 28 2004, 05:49 AM, said:

One way to solve it... let's try the same restaurant at the same time!!! 

Silly.

Good, so you can acknowledge that I was right!