Spanish Vacation: Barcelona Gourmet Tour

Day Eleven begins....

We finally got to sleep in late this morning as we had no plans until noon. We then met Guillem who was going to take us on a gourmet tour of Barcelona, to explore some of the culinary wonders that can be found in the city.
Our first stop was the Mercat de la Boqueria, maybe the most famous food market in the city. Located just off Las Ramblas, it is a huge covered market, selling all sorts of fresh meat, seafood, poultry, produce and much more. There are literally hundreds of stalls. This is where many local Chefs come to buy for their restaurants. There is certainly nothing in New England to compare with this market.

The Market was very clean and the stalls were very aesthetically pleasing. They made sure that the food looked appealing. It was simple amazing to see so much variety available. We could only spend a short time in the Market today but we would return and I will talk about that in a future post.


We did stop at one of the stalls to try the Iberico Jamon, the special Spanish ham.


You can see the prices of these hams, and they can be quite expensive. The famous Bellota ham is probably the most expensive, over $100 a pound. Below, you can see the Pata Negra hog, the black footed hog, which generally runs free and eats acorns. It is the source of these Spanish hams.


We got some of the Bellota and it was heavenly. Silky smooth with a nutty flavor. Just an incredible piece of ham. Have a glass of Sherry, some Bellota and bread, and you have a wonderful meal.


The fruits and vegetables certainly were enticing. But do note that the highest prices in the market at near the entrances to the Market, where the vendors figure the tourists are most likely to buy anything. So, if you want to buy anything, go deeper into the market toward the inner stalls.


As you can see in the pictures above and below, the Market also sells all parts of the animals, snout to tail.

Just around the corner from the Market is Pastas Alimenticias, a famous bakery.

Their pastries and other desserts certainly looked delicious.After the Market, we entered the Barri Gotic, the Gothic Quarter, to continue our gourmet tour. Guillem also pointed our certain historical spots as well. One of our stops was Oroliquido, an olive oil shop. I never knew that Spain made so much olive oil. It also appears that Italy buys a lot of Spanish olive oil, in bulk, and then bottles it themselves. The bottles only stated "Bottled in Italy" so they do not directly lie. They just don't tell you where the oil was produced.

Another one of our stops was Formatgeria La Seu, a cheese shop.

The shop is owned and operated by Katherine McLaughlin, a Scotswoman, who you can see below. She became an expert on Spanish cheeses. She was very personable. We had a tasting of a few cheeses with a glass of wine.

The store does not keep a huge stock of different cheeses, maybe around 25 at any one time. Many of the cheeses are unpasteurized, which is generally illegal in the U.S. All I know is that the three cheeses we tasted were amazing, full of flavor. I would highly recommend that you stop here while in Barcelona.

While wandering, we came across a set of Roman ruins, walls from that around 2000 years old. It brought to mind the ancient Roman walls I once saw in London. And also made me think of how much I wanted to visit Italy as well.

Our next stop was a chocolate and pastry store, Bubo. There was some construction going on the outside of the shop. It was a small but modern looking shop with very intriguing desserts.

There were petit fours, macaroon cookies, mousse desserts and so much more. I tried some of the cookies and they were light, tasty and just the right amount of sweetness. A mousse cake was also quite decadently delicious.
You would think we had enough food already but that was but a tease prior to lunch. And we were not prepared for what was coming now, at Taller de Tapas. This is a relatively new Tapas eatery but which has gained much fame in a short time. It presents fresh ingredients in traditional Tapas with some innovations.

We sat at a table at the large front window, looking out into the street. A nice view to people watch. Once they started to bring us Tapas, the lunch never seemed to end. After tasting a half dozen dishes, they would bring another half-dozen. More and more plates were delivered to our table. We seemed to have a taste of everything, from croquettas to mushrooms, from ham to asparagus. I could not keep track of everything but I am absolutely sure that the food was superb. This is certainly the place for incredible tapas.

After waddling out of the restaurant, we caught a cab back to our hotel. A Siesta sounded like an excellent idea.