"If Xerta looks fancy, that’s because it is. Gentlemen in sharp suits and ladies with purses that look like they cost more than college tuition come to this restaurant surrounded by a terrarium-like garden for the over-the-top, seafood-forward tasting menus. The food, made with ingredients from the Delta del Ebro region south of Barcelona, is worthy of Willy Wonka’s factory: rice dishes emerge from a miniature thatched house with a smoking chimney and caviar-topped tuna sashimi is served on a bed of dry ice. You can try the highlights of the 8- and 11-course dinner (€105-€162) in a more down-to-earth format during weekday lunch, €45. It includes a selection of fresh-as-it-gets fishy snacks—like mussels, eel, or tuna, depending on what's available at Delta del Ebro market, followed by a rice option, a meat or fish dish, and dessert. It also includes bread, water, and two glasses of wine per person, because, Spain. " - isabelle kliger
