Although admittedly more West than East, the city manages to retain a subdued oriental-ish feel; or let’s say it has something that completely differentiates it from the manicured cities of the North.
In fact it is somehow reminiscent of Paris, but different. Perhaps because Barcelona is in the Mediterranean, while the Mediterranean is somewhat present in Paris. Whatever… who knows… Aglaia was invited to participate in a conference, and I gladly followed along.
From Aglaia:I took part in Tomorrow Tastes Mediterranean, the annual conference organized by the Torribara Mediterranean Center (TMC), a collaboration of the University of Barcelona and the Culinary Institute of America. I was asked to take along a Greek chef, and of course I asked the brilliant Manolis Papoutsakis and he accepted, although he is extremely busy with Faraoh, his Michelin Bib Gourmand Athens restaurant, as well as Haroupiand Deka Trapezia in Thessaloniki.
This Mediterranean-wide academic center addresses vital public health and sustainability issues through expanded academic, professional, and business collaborations connecting cutting-edge food and nutrition research with culinary, agricultural, and business innovation, so that the scientific evidence can be translated into action. Konstantakopoulos Foundation is among the European and international partners of TMC. From next year on the conference will alternate locations: one year in Barcelona, the next in Kalamata, Peloponnese.
It was my second time in Barcelona —Aglaia’s third— and having seen most of the principal sights the first time, we had the chance to enjoy just being there. Our hotel was in the Eixample district, close to the University, away, yet still within walking distance from the crowded Placa de Catalunya. This gave us the chance to get a more intimate feel of locality, and get to do some very enjoyable people watching. The more touristic places were still a bit crowded in October, but it was manageable.
We enjoyed a visit at the Miro Museum, located in a green hill not far from the sea, but they would not let us in the Guell Park, as we had not reserved in advance, and it was still very crowded. But we did enjoy the public bus drive there and back, meeting local residents and passing through various neighborhoods.
I was eavesdropping trying to figure out if they spoke Spanish or Catalan. With Latin as a base, French, and (when I am somewhat drunk) a little Italian, I do understand some of the two local languages especially when they are written, but I had difficulty distinguishing between the dialects, though everyone says they are very different: different from what if you don’t know either…
Before leaving Kea, Aglaia asked me if I would like to attend an Ennio Morricone concert at the Palau de Musica Catalana. My usual question in such cases is “how long is it?” I can barely spend more than one hour seated and have not honored movie theaters in many many years.
So we did go. It was packed and our chairs (chairs, not seats) on the mezzanine were uncomfortably narrow. The venue was… well, difficult to describe… let’s say spectacular in a very heavy Art Nouveaux way, there was not one tiny spot for the eye to rest a bit: peacock tails, flowers, and stained glasses, and flying horses, everything you can imagine. Plus we were flabbergasted when the ‘Ennio Morricone’ concert stated with Vangelis’ Chariots of Fire —whaaaat?— right out of the blue.
So, yes, it was fun, great fun! And the rain had stopped on the way back so we had a night walk through the Gothic quarter, the lovely historic area, where we returned the next day as we adore walking.
Needless to say, Aglaia wanted restaurants, lots of restaurants. One of them Bar Cañete, was on a Rambla side street, and we had to line up outside and wait with a lot of others, as we had no reservations.
Locals, in a nicely irritated way would ask us “Please, let me enter, this is the door to my house,” which rang a bell, in fact many bells, as both our sidewalk in Athens and the dirt road to our house on Kea often get similarly blocked by tourists and visitors’ cars. But anyway, the wait was kind of fun, starting conversations with the other non-reservation guests.
The best part was when an elderly (kind of like us) NYC couple although they had reservations, the gentleman started a typical NY anxiety rant: “Is this all, this is so small, do they have space for us, where are they going to put us?” Of course we all got in, and had a wonderful lunch!
Fried artichokes and calamari sandwich at Bar Cañete.
Food & restaurants (from Aglaia)
La Boqueria, the iconic Barcelona food market has enormously changed since we were here in 2019, and even more since the late ‘90ies, when I first visited it. It was a tourist attraction but still remained a place where locals were buying their fish, meat, and vegetables.
Now most stands sell prepared, plated food for the foreign visitors: all kinds of fried seafood, empanadas, bowls of fruit and nuts from all over the world, and of course sliced jamon Iberico and chicharron –the crispy-fried pork skin.
The Boqueria stand selling bacala (salted cod) is one of the few that have remained almost as I remembered it, though the prices seem to have gone sky-high…
Of the restaurants we went to,Haddock, the small, not touristictavern was the one we all loved the most. Real Catalan food with a slight twist, not just tapas, cooked with care by chef Franc Monraba.
The local raw mushroom salad was incredible at Haddock, and we very much enjoyed the classic bacala in rich tomato sauce!
Both Costas and I, as well as chef Manolis kept ordering, eating and drinking wonderful wines until late afternoon, when we realized that we were the very last customers and had to leave, as the restaurant needed to prepare for dinner…
Two chefs: Franc Monraba of Haddock, with Manolis Papoutsakis of Faraoh.
Paco Meralgo is a restaurant we love to go to. We went twice last time we were in Barcelona, before COVID, and we were eager to go again with Manolis.
At Paco Meralgo: Escalivada with smoked herring, simple yet delicious salted sardines, hamon, and my favorite pa amb tomàquet (bread with olive-oil + tomato)
It seemed somewhat ‘upgraded’ with more Japanese-inspired tapas, but the classic dishes were still delicious, and the wines superb and not expensive, something Costas and Manolis much appreciated!
Last, but not least, I have to mention these incredible Gambas Rosas Mediterranean, the local red prawns that happened to be in season, and chef Gonzalo Hernándezgave us to taste during the conference workshops.
At the workshops Manolis Papoutsakis rolled three different kinds of phyllo and prepared the incredible fried pitakia —traditional turnovers from Crete— which he serves in Haroupi.
Manolis stayed on and went to Disfrutar, the world’s best restaurant. Neither I nor Costas have the patience (or the money) for this kind of feast, but Manolis had to taste the famous dishes…
