Catalonia Restaurants

[nathanm]

That Sánchez Romera, whom evidently has talent in large quantities, is still stuck with micri at this stage of the game is sad to me. Micri as a gelling agent was superseeded years ago, yet Sánchez Romera insists on featuring it in almost every single dish --in different degrees of gel--, from the amuses to the petit fours.

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His books and web site show very strong pride of ownership/discovery. Which is not a bad thing at all, but may have blinded him to other things. I will try to find out

[docsconz]

Interesting responses to Romera - and from people who generally have similar outlooks towards food.. I can see how the food at L'Esguard could get tiresome after repeated visits, but on my one visit, I found it stunning both visually and gustatorially. As I said, it is unique.

[pim]

El Poblet is less than 4 hours drive from Barcelona, and well-worth it. We loved it so much we went back the following night for another dinner. The first night's dinner was the gastronomic menu, focusing on the more avant garde side of his cuisine, and the second night we explored the more traditional side from the a la carte menu. They were both quite marvelous. Unlike at many avant garde restaurants I've been to, Quique's raw ingredients were of superb, superb quality - quite possibly the best I've tried at the so-called avant garde restaurants.

L'Esguard was the single worst meal I've ever had in my life.

[rmillman]

We are planning a foodie trip to Barcelona as well.

We have not been there before so our list is:

Our list is Hisop, Comerc24, Alkamai, Can Fabes, Can Roca (if we can get in but currently they do not have availability), el Bulli and Sauc.

Through in the markets for breakfasts and lunch, as much Iberico we can fit in between and maybe a dessert or two, like at Inopia, and we will be in food comas by the time we get home.

[Mr. Bottisn]

We are planning a foodie trip to Barcelona as well.

We have not been there before so our list is:

Our list is Hisop, Comerc24, Alkamai, Can Fabes, Can Roca (if we can get in but currently they do not have availability), el Bulli and Sauc.

Through in the markets for breakfasts and lunch, as much Iberico we can fit in between and maybe a dessert or two, like at Inopia, and we will be in food comas by the time we get home.

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if you like desserts espai sucre is a must.

try tapac24 instead of comerc i had a better cheaper meal there.

inopia is packed all the time, wall to wall people.

taverna del clinic (new small plates place from a guy that worked with santi santamaria.

a friend recommended quim de la boqueria to me and it was great for

breakfast, try the eggs with squid.

la mifanera is great for all kinds of rice dishes

hope this helps

[rmillman]

We will be in Barcelona on a Sunday night. Does anyone have a place for a Sunday dinner recommendation?

Thank you

[pedro]

One of the best seafood places in the city and probably in the country is open on Sunday night, Rías de Galicia. Keep in mind that the best seafood in the city and probably in the countray is expensive, though.

[nathanm]

El Poblet is less than 4 hours drive from Barcelona, and well-worth it.  We loved it so much we went back the following night for another dinner.  The first night's dinner was the gastronomic menu, focusing on the more avant garde side of his cuisine, and the second night we explored the more traditional side from the a la carte menu.  They were both quite marvelous.  Unlike at many avant garde restaurants I've been to, Quique's raw ingredients were of superb, superb quality - quite possibly the best I've tried at the so-called avant garde restaurants. 

L'Esguard was the single worst meal I've ever had in my life.

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OK, I will see if I can swing by El Poblet.... it might be possible.

L'Esquard surely seems to be controversal! I have peolpe saying it is fantastic, and now you say worst in your life. Wow....

I wonder whether this is an issue of taste, or an issue of consistency. In other words, if everybody was there the same night, would they come back with more consistent opinions, or the same ones?

There are other restaurants I can think of that have this property - one well known avant guarde place in the US gets these kinds of reviews. I have always had decent meals there, but some people I know hate it.

If I have extra time I may try it just to find out which it is.

[nathanm]

Well, I am in Spain. So far I have had lunch at L'Esguard and Alkimia and dinner at Sant Pau.

L'Esguard was interesting - I am glad that I went. A couple of the dishes were very good. A couple were unsuccessful. None were really terrible.

He sure does beautiful presentation - some of the dishes were stunning visually. The unsuccessful dishes were generally because of (in my view) poorly chosen combination of flavors - i.e. a strong taste that overpowered everything else. But that was only two.

There was Micri, but not as much as I thought there might be. Several dishes had none, or so little that it was not noticeable. I am not fond of the Micri sheets - they can be tough or rubbery. I think that everything he did with Micri could probably be better done with something else - gellan for some things, gelatin for others.

That said, as somebody who follows new developments in cuisine closely it was interesting to visit the place. As somebody noted it is the most expensive restaurant in the area - more than el Bulli or Sant Pau, for example (165 euros for the tasting menu, which is the only option). That is much less important to me than the quality.

So, net-net I would not rush back but I don't regret going.

Sant Pau was great. Excellent execution on everything, and there were several very cleverly conceived dishes. The pastry department is clearly on a roll - the desserts were excellent, and very creative. So far this is the best of the three.

Alkimia was reasonably good - it was far less adventuresome in terms of ingredients or technique than I had thought from reading about it. Indeed the dishes were more conventional and less daring in ingredients or technique than the other two. One dish on the tasting menu was called "chicken cannelloni". Which is what it looked like. I assumed that it must be some variation, or have some clever surprise or trick. Nope! It was indeed chicken cannelloni. It was delicious, so I have no complaint about it.

El Bulli is coming up soon, and I am trying to scheme a way to El Poblet.

Thanks for all of the help!

[chrisp]

Make sure if you're in L'Escala you go to El Roser 2 and not El Roser, which is a different thing entirely.

El Roser 2 is probably the best restaurant in L'Escala and remember to ask if they have Percebes if you're there at the right time of year!