Jack N.
Yelp
My favorite dinner in Barcelona. Fun, tasty and not very expensive. Highlights: the pine-nut omelet, the black onion, and the quail. It is probably easy to be pescatarian here, but hard to be vegetarian.
Full detail: We had an early reservation, 7:30ish, because it was the night of Correfoc. Had a big lunch, so only ordered five dishes and desserts. Stayed about two hours, with dishes coming out every 15 min or so. Servers spoke good English and translated menus were clear. Wine was not pricey and there was a good by-the-glass selection. I had a medium-bodied red and she had a gran reserva cava.
First was the camaron "dentelle," or tortilla de camarones, which was thinner and more crisp than I thought it would be. Next came the "a feira" tuna, which we ordered with bread, which was different from what I expected -- the description suggested it would be dried and rehydrated with oil, but I'm pretty sure it was just fresh tuna, seared -- which was tasty.
Then things got really good. The black onion, its insides coated in an ancient Roman fish sauce called "garum," was a treat. There was an entire toolbox of utensils you could choose from to eat it with. Garum tastes almost like caesar dressing, but simpler. Wish we'd tried dishes with oxigarum and aenogarum, the vinegar and wine-mixed versions!
Then came the pine-nut omelet, prepared tableside with narration. I don't want to ruin the surprise, but I'll just say it was a really tasty medley of ingredients. Fine for pescatarians. (I'm vegetarian, but relax my rules when I travel overseas.)
Last came the "faraon's (pharaoh's) quails," a well-seasoned bird. It was almost like a tiny, all-dark-meat chicken. Use your hands; they provide wet-naps to clean up.
For desert, we had the "mato" and "tocinillo de cielo" (beacon from heaven). The mato was a bit drier than we expected, but not bad, and the tocinillo really hit the spot. Its flavor was uncomplicated, more or less straight sweetness, but it was not quite a custard or anything you've had before; it was unique.
The bill was around 60 euros.