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Hi, catbrigab! I was waiting to read your report. I'm glad you enjoyed most of the places -though you didn't try my secret place :-). I must say I agree with your take on Goliard, the last time we went there, about three months ago, we bowed never to return. And I was also somewhat disappointed my last time at Can Majó, about a year ago. Let me tell you, I WAS impressed with your kids, have never seen anyone like them! Oh, and it wasn't such a weird coincidence, I eat at Can Bertram soooo often this is bound to happen more than once.

My recommendations: White: Anything from Rueda D.O. Martivilli and Basa come to mind, but most of them are around 5€. Blanc Tranquille, D.O. Penedes. 4€ To drink quite cold, very refreshing. If you have a longing for Chardonnay or Gewurztraminer, try a Somontano D.O.: Enate or Viñas del Vero. Around 7€. Red: Young reds from not very well known DOs all over Spain: Almuvedre, Les Sorts jove, Borsao. 3-4€. Rioja crianzas (wines from Rioja DO aged in barrels for 12 months) are a great value, though not especially suited for summer. Anyway, they'll be great if you're having a hearty dinner. Some names: Martinez Lacuesta, Lan, Sierra Cantabria, Conde de Valdemar. Some you can find in a supermarket when you don't have time to look for a wine-shop: Marques de Caceres, Marques de Riscal, Cune. All of these are between 5 and 10€. You should also try something from Ribera del Duero DO. The ones labelled "Roble" (aged for about 4-6 months) are not expensive and they're very fruity. Viña Mayor and Vizcarra are two good ones. If you can spend a little bit more on one occasion try some Ribera crianza: Matarromera, Legaris, Valduero, Emilio Moro. These should cost between 12 and 20€.

I'm glad you liked Les Nenes, Brett. Yet, re-reading my post and yours, I think there is a slightly false impression left. While extolling the ambience was my original point, and your visit confirmed what I wanted to convey, there is also a quality to the food which should not be understated. While all the simple dishes, like the ones you had, are good, they do cook more complicated dishes extremely well, paella being their top star. While I enjoy once in a while the paellas in the best known Barceloneta places, and even though they are somewhat tastier, with stronger flavors, in the end I prefer theirs, and I recommend to try it there to get to know what Spaniards' home paellas are. Just go there on a Thursday and say "Vengo de San Francisco para probar su paella" [i come from XX to try your paella] and they'll be as happy as can be.

A very typical alternative to chocolate and churros is a "suís", which is coffee and whipped cream. There's a little narrow street in Ciutat Vella, c. Petritxol, where several places compete in serving the best suís in Barcelona -real good whipped cream is no joke-. They have been there forever, and I guess the chocolate must be good as well, but whenever I've gone there it's been because of a craving for their suís. As for being near, it's a short ride in bus 59 from your hotel to Las Ramblas, then a 2 minute walk.

A very typical Catalan product that has not been mentioned is llardons, pork scratchings (they're called chicharrones in Spain but I'm not sure they're done the same way). They're used in the more widely known 'coca (cake) de llardons' but they can be outstanding on their own. Unfortunately most butcher shops and supermarkets have an industrial version that is not quite the thing. Be advised that the name llardons comes from llard, pig lard, so it's a very heavy snack. I've never bought them in Barcelona, since my mother brings me some every now and then, but I'd try La Botifarreria de Santa Maria (Carrer Santa Maria 4, in El Born neighbourhood) where you could probably find them and also stock up on excellent botifarres and embotits (Catalan sausages).

A couple of places in that area are: - Can Kiku in Lladó (Plaça Major, 1; half way between Figueres and Besalú, near Mas Pau in Avinyonet; phone # 972565104). Simple, traditional, cheap fare that is good enough, plus it's a nice small village and the restaurant is also a F.C. Barcelona shrine, with lots of signed pictures from players. - Ca La Manyana in Sant Julià de Vilatorta near Vic (Avda. Verge de Montserrat, 11, phone # 938122494). Very good traditional food and not quite "discovered". It's amazing that you can eat there on a Saturday without a reservation. Daily menu a tremendous bargain at 12 euros.

With so many tourists in Barcelona's centre nowadays, boring might be a good idea Now, I agree that for some one visiting Barcelona as a newbie, being near Pça de Catalunya is the best idea. As Bux said, while the Rambla/Gothic Quarter may be more picturesque, the Eixample area is more convenient. However, if you're an experienced visitor, I'd vouch for some sightseeing out of the mainstream, and Sants might be included there as much as any other place. For instance, you might wake up in the morning and go to La Illa Diagonal, an upper-middle class shopping center in Avda Diagonal, to see fur-clad bored women shop. Walk down uninteresting Les Corts neighbourhood and see where people live, to get to Ca L'Isidre to eat. Hop to nearby Plaça d'Osca for a tiny Gipsy neighbourhood, which is not at all dangerous if uninviting. In the early evening walk down the Carretera de Sants (from Metro station Plaça de Sants to Plaça d'Espanya) for a lower-middle class shopping experience. Later in the evening, take the Line 3 Metro to the Gracia neighbourhood for an inkling on Bcn's youth culture. You'll spend a whole day in Barcelona without seeing a tourist, foreign student notwithstanding.

You must have good sources of information, tdj.! I agree on your take on El Tomas and Bella Napoli, which has great pasta as well. Now I'll have to try this Can Lluis. By the way, my latest finding is a great place to eat fish at a very good price, La Paradeta, c.Comercial, 7 (behind El Born).

I'm not sure what you mean by "turbio wine", but if it's so-called 'traditional' Ribeiro wine, made murky by its lack of stability due to poor 'traditional' winemaking in one of the big co-ops, IMHO this dreadful swill does not go well with any food... There's much better stuff for much the same price available in Spain today! Good food does not deserve to be accompanied by bad wine on account of defending 'local color'! ← I'm not sure I agree with you, Victor. I don't like vino turbio now but I remember I used to like it ten years ago. Would you recommend Coca Cola to a person who had never tried it? Probably not, but still, if such a person existed, maybe it would be an interesting experience for him to try it. So, if you're a dedicated wine drinker, yes, you'll probably find it awful. But if you're just a visitor to Spain who is interested in 'local color', vino turbio in a Galician humble restaurant is not the worst thing you could have.

Ah, Meson David, it's been 10 years at least since I last went there, good memories! But I have a competitor to offer, a similar restaurant that, for me, is a little better: Rincón de Galicia, c. Portal Nou, 61 (just behind c. Comerç). Tortilla de patatas, pulpo a la gallega, chocos, empanadas and bombas are recommended. The house salad is huge, and an incredible value. Turbio wine is fine with this food. Still, these kind of places are not much to my liking now, they're a bit too greasy. I have another recommendation to make, in the spirit of finding truly local, working-class, places. I don't even know its name, for we call it "Les nenes", "The Girls", on account of it being run by three women the younger of which is 50 years old. The address is c. Rogent, 6 (or 8 or 10). I can't be more precise since they don't have cards. In fact they don't even have menus. There's a menu pinned on the outside window but it's never changed and has nothing to do with the current food offered. This is authentic grandmother cooking and the most familiar service I've ever seen. The youngest lady serves the tables with an inefficiency difficult to match, while the middle-aged one cooks, and very well, and the old lady, who is 85, does little things all around the place, and orders the others around. For instance, she'll grab an assortment of different types of nuts and break them on the spot to make you a "musico". Or she'll cut an orange into pieces, sprinkle it with sugar and serve it to you. All this is done right in front of you, not in the kitchen, and not in a modern, showy, way, it's just the way it is. Patrons get up from their seats and grab things they need when service is slow -if you can call your mother bringing dinner "service"-, or they hop into the kitchen to explain that they don't want sardines today in their fritada and could they just give him something else instead. A group of patrons play "domino" and discuss the world after lunch, without leaving their seats. These patrons even have their own bottle of "orujo", which one of them brings from his old village, stored here. The food offered is real market cuisine. I don't know any restaurant where the food resembles more my parents'. A fish soup, a fideuà, macarrones, simple salads, an assortment of fried small fish, a roasted chicken, a butifarra with beans. The best damn chips in any cheap restaurant in Barcelona. A house staple is the paella, on Thursdays, but it's very crowded and strangers will be frowned upon. When it's crowded, the non-existent service can really get to your nerves. I'd say try it any other day first. Language WILL be a problem unless you're ready to say "Traiga cualquier cosa" (bring anything) or point to other dinners' plates. But if you go there with an open mind, patience and a big smile, it can be a great experience. Make it clear you're enjoying it all and don't try to ask for prices or demand better service. Just go there with your eyes and ears open and have fun! It's so absurdly cheap that you can try as many things as you want. The menu, for instance a paella, the fish fritada and the "musico", plus drinkable house wine, costs 7.5€. You can add a salad to share and a coffee for an euro each. If you liked Foxos I'm sure you'll like it, tjdnewyork, I hope you'll be able to go. As to your other recommendations, my only objection would be that La Vinya del Senyor is too expensive. Also, a good restaurant more in line with the ones you mention would be La Clara, Gran Via, 442. And I still heartily recommend Goliard in Gracia (c. Progrés, 6).

Miguel, if you use the FAO weighting to transform 8.28 kilos to 30.10 for a new total of 44.51, doesn't it make sense then to use the 30.10 figure to calculate the new percentage? That's all this rather weird disagreement bogs down to, feelings apart.

I think it is an anomaly, Silly. People may not know Ferran Adria is a world-wide celebrity or the interest Spanish -and Catalan and Basque- cuisine has received recently, but it is indeed strange for someone living here not to know who he is. I'd say either people were being shy or you must be careful you haven't run into a sect!

I can't help but point out that vserna's positions are not apolitical either. Not all Spaniards fully share his view that "this is a country where free speech is very real, to the point of excess" or that "any political ideal or ambition can be fully pursued and defended through the ballot box", and a sizable portion of Basques completely disagree with it. But I don't want to debate it, because I agree this is not the place. Please note that I'm not putting forth any counter-argument but merely pointing out that his views would not be fully shared even by moderate nationalists in the Basque country.

Good, so you can acknowledge that I was right!

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.

To vserna's erudition I will only add a little personal experience. I'm an urban type of guy but my father, now 75, is still a huge mushroom lover. He was to begin his yearly quest this week. He gets tired walking two blocks in the city but he can search and pick mushrooms for three hours! Rovellons are his most usual fare but he also picks llanegues, trompetes de la mort, rossinyols and pebrassos. Trompetes de la mort and rossinyols are quite well known and appreciated, and I'm sure vserna can describe them but pebrassos are much less known -I've never seen them sold-. It's a whitey mushroom with a much stronger taste than rovelló, my mother is the only one who loves them. Llanegues, trompetes and rossinyols are used by my mother in the kitchen -stews, roasts- but rovellons and pebrassos are cooked by themselves at home -ah, maybe I'll have rovellons next week!. Finally, my family is from the Maresme, just north from Barcelona on the coast, where there's a smallish range of mountains and it's more crowded and therefore difficult to find mushrooms than anywhere else, but my parents have always upheld that the pinatells and rovellons from el Maresme are the best in the world. Local pride or true terroir? I can't say but I've never eaten mushrooms in a restaurant as good as at home.

Bear in mind lunch menus are great values and you can try some usually more expensive places that way. The only problem is it's difficult to find in the net whether a restaurant has a menu lunch or not, but, for instance, Saüc, a restaurant recommended by vserna, has a 12.5€ lunch menu according to Gourmetour. In my limited experience, places for good traditional fare are Bilbao and Set Portes, plus a host of seafood restaurants in the Barceloneta neighbourhood: Can Majó, Cal Pinxo, Cal Ramonet I have tried and are similar in price and quality -good-. They don't have a lunch menu but they won't go much higher than 30€. Also, I was disappointed last year at Senyor Parellada, the quality of the product was not very good. BYOB is not common in traditional restaurants. Also, take into account that wine is quite cheap in Spanish restaurants. My advice would be to try BYOB if you must, only in the better, more expensive restaurants, and asking beforehand. If you want classic Spanish older wines, look for Rioja reservas, if you want to try the more modern ones try Ribera del Duero or Priorat, and if you're eating seafood ask for Albariños. In Catalonia mushroom season is in the fall. The region where most wild mushrooms grow is around the village of Berga -just below the Pyrenees- and there's a festival there in Oct-Nov. where the better restaurants in the zone have special menus centered in mushrooms, though you'll still be able to eat them outside the festival's dates. There's info -restaurants and menus- on this page: http://www.gremihostaleriabergueda.com/cui...lbolet/menu.htm but it's only in Catalan -so local they don't even put it in Spanish- and it's not clear whether it's 2004 info or not. If you have further questions, don't hesitate to ask!

The traditional Elx was in c.Vila Vilà, in the Parallel neighbourhood. I had a great paella there like ten years ago. They later moved to the Moll de la Barceloneta (L'Elx al Moll) and, I think, the older one changed hands. I've tried both in the past year and the Moll one is waaaay better, in fact the Elx at Vila Vilà was a disaster. The Elx al Moll paella was as good as the one I've had at Can Costa and I liked both better than the one at Can Majó -where, I must confess, I didn't have arroz caldoso either, but then it's because I'm not a fan of arroz caldoso.

We understood that it was 7 courses for two -that is, 7 courses plus two desserts for 46€-. Our fault, maybe, but then when I asked if that wouldn't be too little, they didn't explain, just shrugged, and then we ordered just 4 courses each, so they could have noticed our misunderstanding.

I haven't tried Comerç 24 so I can't compare, but the 7-course menu for 23€ was hardly a bargain: it's not 7 courses each but 7 courses to split, and they are very small to begin with.

Went to Cata 1.81 last Saturday. I knew what to expect from reading here but still there was some disappointment. First of all, it's uncomfortable. A stool is allright in a tapas place where you'll be moving in a half hour, not for a two-hour dinner. Service was below par as well, explanations weren't clear, they were slow and you had to fight to get their attention, which wasn't nice since it was half empty. Wine, that can be had by the glass, which is not that common in Barcelona, was perfectly served and priced, plus the wine list is very good. My first tapa was an omelet with truffle, edible but nothing great. Then a chunk of smoked salmon with mango, nice if unoriginal. Next came a so called fajita that was in fact a Peking duck (do you call it like this?) roll, tasty and surprisingly smooth, the best tapa all night. Finally a play on American burger with mini burgers, mini buns and mini potato crisps. Nice idea, average food. Finally the dessert, a nut-shaped chocolate mousse, was very average. I drank a glass of Rueda white, nice, and another of Sierra Cantabria crianza from Rioja, excellent. It cost 30 €. I'd say it's neither here nor there. If you want Catalan tapas go to a more typical place, if you want modern, I'd try Comerç 24 (where I haven't been yet).

I don't understand why is it that people think that if you are in Spain every restaurant, in any region, makes a good paella. If I am correct, Can Majo's specialty is "arroz caldoso" and if you looked around at the locals having lunch I bet not one was having paella. I wouldn't say that, many locals order paellas and many locals order other rices, in Can Majó and in other nice restaurants in La Barceloneta like Can Costa or Cal Ramonet. I find it's more a matter of taste, some prefer dry, some prefer caldoso. In a sense many dishes that were once regional can now be considered national. That is, a typical neighbourhood restaurant in Catalonia will have paella, while risotto would be out of the question. It is not something that has been "learnt" as an effort to be original, but rather a not surprising effect of widespread inmigration inside Spain. A restaurant chef in Girona with a Valencian grandmother and an Andalusian grandmother will naturally produce gazpacho and paella. I guess tandoori food can now be considered English food as well.

I went to L'Iberic last week. I thought the caldereta was good but not great, though the gambes de Palamós were outstanding. I also found the owner a little grating. He tries so much to impersonate a Catalan pagès that I thought he was a joke. OK, maybe he's for real but I don't like the way he "sells" being authentic. In my view a place that might have been great 10 years ago but has had too much success for its own good.

I've been to Bar Celta for tapas twice this year and I wasn't quite happy. Maybe quality has dropped since bcnchef used to go, but besides being horribly hot, everything was quite sub-par, including octopus which they did so well years ago. I tend to think it is nearly impossible to find good, authentic, cheap tapas bars any more in the centre of Barcelona. You have to go to the outskirts to find outstanding places. My favorite spot right now is a small street in Hospitalet, c. Aigues del Llobregat, near Plaça Eivissa (underground stop Pubilla Cases), where several tapas bars compete with each other for incredibly good tapas at incredibly good prices. Of course it's out of your way and there are no sights -understatement-, but as a tourist I'm sure I'd find it great. That is, if you don't mind no English spoken and very little in way of menus. Just ask for media ración (half-ration) of jamón, calamares, chipirones, pulpo, patatas bravas, pimientos del padrón, cazón and cochinillo, or put yourself in the waiter's hands or point to other tables, which won't seem rude here. My friend says rations are the same size as half-rations so that only tourists pay the full price -here people from Barcelona, that is, not from Hospitalet, are considered tourists!. You could go with a local and impress him with your e-gullet-enhanced knowledge. A better known great tapas bar is La Esquinica in Horta (Passeig Fabra i Puig, 296). Always packed, some guide-led tourists, a little more expensive and you also have to go outside the center, but a greater variety and very good quality. No half-rations gimmicks here. I don't agree that tapas must be had hopping from bar to bar, especially in summer. At least in Catalunya I'd say it's just as likely to stay in one place all night. Our usual tapas night might include getting to the bar at about 9 and drink some beer. At about 10 we might order a first round of tapas, then a second one, without any rush, then maybe a third one. We could drink beer, sangria or vino turbio -drink beer if you're a wine enthusiast- . You must understand tapas is a social kind of eating different than your usual restaurant in that the food is less thought upon than having a good time telling jokes, etc. This doesn't mean it's not good, in fact this Hospitalet spot is way better than Bar Celta at half the price, it's just that you don't talk about it. I guess having the same tapas repeatedly at the same place has that effect. After that we would sometimes order dessert, but the times I've been there nobody was up to the task, since portions are huge. So we'd order orujo de hierbas or Pacharan. And then it's one o'clock and time to decide what to do.

I'm not absolutely sure but I think it's Petras' son who is pushing insects and other exotic things. I don't think it's a great idea. Anyway, I wanted to recall a shop I mentioned briefly before but couldn't remember well. It's called Gispert, c.Sombrerers,23, just behind Santa Maria del Mar. Great offering of Catalan specialties and raw products at a 19th century setting. No embotits, very little in pastries or chocolates, just a few dessert wines, but a great number of honeys, malmelades, dried fruits, olive oils, teas, coffees, spices, herbs. I also visited Casa de la Ribera, mentioned earlier, and found it exceedingly good value. Not so good for gifts to take back home as Gispert though.