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I hate being rushed or stuffed. I don't want people to clean the table the moment I put my fork down...however we all know that if you eat a little bit wait for a while eat another bite wait and so on, the hunger feeling will disappear (not that I need to be hungry to eat, you understand). There is a balance and they definitely didnt come close. If I recall well, we arrived slightly before 3:00 and left the restaurant at 6:40. Just to give you an idea. No long "sobremesa" afterwards with drinks and cards, just eating. At the end everything boils down to perception. It is a little bit of a trip from Madrid if you are just going for lunch...and I was expecting nothing but a top experience. Although some of the dishes where really good, If I have to celebrate myself I will stay closer to Madrid.

I eat there a couple of weeks ago and felt a little disappointed. We went for the "menu degustacion"and the timing between courses seemed an eternity to us and worked against the whole experience since we were no longer hungry half way through. I found service extremely clumsy. Nevertheless I would go back just to have a full portion of "Lechona confitada", a true delicacy

I'm going to Menorca for a week and was wondering if anyone have been there recently and knew of restaurants offering decent food? Thx

In Madrid Hotels have started to look seriously into having a good restaurant on its premises: Santceloni de Santi Santamaria in the new Hesperia Hotel, Europa in the Villa Real, or Goizeko Wellington in the Wellington Hotel, are examples of interesting restaurants in hotels. I'm always suspicious of herds (Never bought an internet stock), but having eaten at Comerc 24, I can say that I tried some very, I mean very, interesting food. Some people might not like it: As usual, it will depend on one's taste, mood, or if you've ever tried something similar before to compare it to. Next time I'm back in Barcelona I won't go there again because there are many other places I fancy trying out, but I do recommend it for fist time visitors.

I'm from Madrid but I'm currently working in London. I quite enjoy your Forums (I'm impressed with the knowledge you guys have of Spain), and will try to do my best to provide with some local insight. As you say, bikini is just a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. I'm not sure why we call them like that.

I would try to avoid the "El Museo del Jamon" chain. They are too touristy and they are nor well known for its quality. To taste good quality ham or pork products try "Meson 5 Jotas". There are quite a few around, both in Madrid and Barcelona, and the quality of the ham is assured. Try some humble "fried eggs with fries and ham", a clear example that some simple dishes can't be beaten by complex food. One of the best value for money restaurants in Madrid is Dantxari (915423524). For 30/40 Euros you will have some traditional dishes with great quality products. Booking advised. For some quality tapas, visit C/ Cava Baja. A street near Plaza Mayor in Madrid, with countless bars with fine tapas. The bar of Casa Lucio (accross the street from the well known traditional restaurant) or Casa Lucas, are a must.

Before spending a weekend in Barcelona I asked some amigos catalanes about good restaurants. I got the well known list, already posted in several threads in eGullet. However for most of the good restaurants I always found someone talking about a disappointing visit, and I wanted to make no mistake. (Although being Spanish, I can always take another weekend and go). Barcelona in August is like Madrid. Many good restaurants are closed and 90% of locals are gone. However there were still a good number of places to choose from. We ended up opting for Comerc 24, which my friends clearly recommended, and has received good reviews in eGullet. We went for the "Menu Festival" with which, according to the waiter, we would manage to taste 70% of their tapas. We chose a bottle of San Roman to go with it: a powerful wine from Mariano Garcia, a famous wine producer that worked many years for Vega Sicilia and has produced other wonders like Mauro, Terreus or Aalto. (My wife found the wine a little bit too powerful for the meal served, but it worked fantastically well with the meat dishes). The menu started with a mojito foam followed by a myriad of small dishes: mussels en escabeche, mackerel cebiche, mushrooms "al ajillo", tuna chunk marinated in soy sauce and ginger (simply amazing), tuna "ventresca" with schezchuan pepper, a cone of crisps crumbs with a big cockerel that we were told to drop in our mouths, wild rice with curry, bikini of jabugo ham and mozzarella with truffle oil..... It was followed by two drinks served in tequila glasses: ajo blanco with melon, and gazpacho with cherries, served at the same time as cucumber spaghettis with cream and coriander and a toast of anchovies with mozzarella and tomato. So far dinner was faultless. Light tapas with first class ingredients, clear and amazingly fresh flavours in smart combinations. The ajo blanco and the gazpacho were just top class. Later came a lamb kebab with yoghurt sauce, perfectly spiced and left slightly raw, which worked pretty well, even though I normally like my lamb well done. This one came together with Salmon sashimi with its roe with cream and vanilla sauce (Fish and Vanilla might be a really intelligent combination but it's not for me. I've tried Turbot in a vanilla sauce at Gordon Ramsay's in London, and didn’t like it either). Prawns covered in a light butter came with a mild red Turkish sauce (couldn’t figure out the name, anyone?). The prawns were fresh and were left slightly raw. To my taste there was too much batter for such a delicate ingredient. This set of tapas (except for the lamb) was not spectacular, as the previous ones. The last savoury bit were some thin slices of a rock fish with a dollop, of what it turned out to be mash potatoes and saffron, on top. The waiter then poured a deep fish broth/fumet over it. It was a stylish version of the fish stews one can have in Ibiza or Menorca. Again, deep clean flavours. Top. Desserts were good, but nothing worth describing. I finished with a glass of a cold Pedro Ximenez. All in all a really enjoyable experience with some top class dishes.