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| As you walk in Fresh Shelfish |
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| Familia Sagrada - Gaudi |
Barcelona is a fantastic city, it is sprawling with different ares for everyone. There is the
Las Ramblas for the party person, there is the beach for the sun seeker, there is the
Gaudi architecture and great examples of Palaces and Churches. Eating in Spain can rove exhausting because you have 2 routes to go one is to enjoy the
Tapas and the other is to enjoy a full dinner. Tonight we chose to go to
Botafumeiro which is a restaurant featuring
Galician cuisine which is everything from the sea.
Botafumeiro is a huge restaurant as you walk in there are cases of live shellfish on display. This is a very old school restaurant with white table cloths and wait and service staff in white coats. So at first I was worried the food might not stand up to the ambiance. But I was proven wrong. First of all the service was terrific our wait staff was not to chatty but very attentive and allowed us to be by ourselves to make for a romantic and private dinner setting.
We picked a Spanish wine and now that I look at the bill it was expensive by Spanish standards $39 and was extremely good. Yes that is right it is vacation so I am gong to enjoy the spirits of Spain. The wine chosen was a
Luis Canas Reserve Rioja, we discovered early in the trip that wine from
Rioja region was the way to go for us since it closely matched the flavor of a Cabernet wines.
The menu was very comprehensive but we were able to focus on some tastes that were different and very Galician.
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| Pulpa a La Gallega |
We started of sharing a stater of
Pulpa a la Gallega which is Octopus Galician style. The Octopus is boiled for several hours in various vegetables and spices and then roasted with Olive Oil, Chile flakes and Garlic. Although it might sound exotic it was delicious, the texture was tender, juicy and the taste was sweet. To be honest we could have made a meal of the Octopus by itself.
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| Lobster Paella |
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| Roasted Hake |
When in Spain you need to experience the Paella, Joann had the Lobster
Paella and I had the
Hake which is a thick white fish with the texture of Cod. As you will note in the pictures that both portions were substantial. The Paella was good but I think the grandness of it is the serving process. they put it on a white table next to you and carefully serve it and separate the lobster for easy eating. I do not really have a gauge to tell if it was excellent but it was very tasty it came with half a lobster and had wonderful Mediterranean spices. The roasted Hake was perfectly cooked and moist and was served with
Aubergine, Broiled Potato, Peppers and herbs and was an excellent choice for me.
I would recommend to come to Botafumeiro when in Barcelona it was a high quality meal experience.