Michael C.
Yelp
When asking around for the best places to dine in Barcelona, barring the normal Tapas restaurants, a friend of mine highly recommended Asador de Aranda with a footnote: If you love Lamb , this is the BEST place in this part of Spain to go and have the best prepared local Lamb dishes.
This Michelin Award winning restaurant not only served the most flavorful ROASTED Lamb, it has an awesome presentation as it is served up table side. Portions are Full ,Half or Quarter portions depending on how many are sharing.
Aside from the fabulous Lamb dishes, Asador has a quality choices ad Spain's finest meat selections prepared from home grown stock.
The restaurant was designed in a beautiful old Spanish style mansion from the 1930's and as we walked up the stairs, one room and dining area was more breathtaking than the next. Spanish style moldings, from floor to ceiling, we were entering a place that really never changed motif, but just was remodeled into a beautiful dining area with large rooms separated by Spanish style arches. The walls, ceilings and windows were like out of a movie made in a Spanish Castle.
As we were seated we were served 2 wonderful glasses of Cava and given the menus. No rush for us tonight, we ordered a fabulous bottle of Red from the Priorat region and the server opened to let it breath.
The menu consisted of some very different meat, vegetable and salad dishes along with some very interesting starter dishes which are called "Our Musts", which we took recommendations from our server on what to start with.
We wanted local meats and greens prepared the only way they knew how. We started out with a half plate of Iberian Ham which went perfect with our wine. Local cured ham sliced thin and plenty of it. We also ordered the 80's Mixed Green Salad with grain mustard vinaigrette topped with fresh chunks of Tuna. The kicker for starters was the Rice Black Pudding recommended to us. Rice and Pork molded together, deep fried and served with roasted peppers on top. Three thick pieces were plenty to try; never had anything like it. This IS a must. Of course like any Spanish style places here, we got warm tomato topped bread.
I definitely came for the Lamb and had a half portion, roasted and prepared table side. After eating this, I don't know if lamb dishes could ever live up to this. My wife is not a lamb eater, so she ordered a beautiful roasted Poussin Chicken, roasted in their oven. Was delicious and juicy, much like my Lamb. Half the meat menu consisted of all sorts of cuts of meat, pig, and beef, several Lamb cuts including Lamb Chops all prepared roasted. They even had Lamb sweetbreads on the menu.
Asador de Aranda is not in any of the main busy sections of Barcelona, but outside in a beautiful residential area and is approximately a 30 minute Cab ride from Las Ramblas and the Old City area. It is more upscale, not the typical tapas places we are more frequently going to. It is well known in Catalonia and very beautiful. If there is one real nice dining experience to try it would be here. Was very surprised at the prices, including the wines. Extremely reasonable for such an experience like this.
This "castle", this "mansion" is a must try, especially if you are a Lamb lover and want the best representation of local meat cuisine in Spain.
The servers and staff were so accommodating and made sure we had cab service back to our hotel and really went out of their way.
This is a treat, not to be missed in Barcellona.