Talk about a late blog post – my visit at Bar Brutal dates from February this year and this draft has been waiting ever since. Not too much details in my head about it now. But I definetely know that a visit is worth it. In particular wine lovers who enjoy the raw side, the natural side of wines shouldn’t miss this place out. “Natural wine” is the main topic here and the list features specimens from all over Europe, with the bulk coming from Spain and France. And don’t be scared either if you’re not used to natural wines, they actually have a few that do contain sulfites :P Read the rest of this entry »

Cal Pep is undeniably a legend among Barcelona tapas bars. Over the last decades it gained a reputation for high-quality bar food, serving market fresh produce directly at the counter. Nowadays Cal Pep is a well-oiled machine,  attracting many foodie-tourists and one can read in specialist forums that it has lost some of its glow. So I might have been a little late to experience the greatness of Cal Pep, but I guess I at least wanted to add the place to my list and maybe check what the hype is about. Read the rest of this entry »

Although the famous Mercat de la Boqueria is flooded with tourists all day long, it is a must go destination for anyone visiting the city and enjoying food. Just a stone’s throw away from the Ramblas, which might also explain the never ending tourist stream, one enters a world made for gourmets and gourmands, consisting of countless stalls but also a handful of bars where you can have the freshest meals. After my recent post about the market of Valencia, here are some impressions of the Boqueria market. Read the rest of this entry »

So I previously wrote about Carles Abellan’s fine dining restaurant Comerc 24 – now it is the turn of his tapas bar project named Tapas 24. It is located close to Barcelona’s shopping boulevard Passeig de Gracia and offers modern or just high-quality interpretations of tapas classics. For coming straight to the point: I loved it! Not only are these tapas made of top notch ingredients, but the added tweaks and twists elevate many of the dishes. If you’re in Barcelona, just go there! You won’t regret it! Read the rest of this entry »

Carles Abellan, one of the former disciples of Ferran Adria, has built up a small empire of restaurants in Barcelona. His flagship restaurant is Comerç 24, where he serves a cuisine which makes use of molecular techniques he learned at El Bulli, but cares to accentuate the subtle flavor of the produce rather than emphasizing the gimmick. While his cuisine is based on many Catalan ingredients from the mountain and the sea, there is also a clear inclination towards Asia, so I decided to call it “Catalasian” (Catalan and Asian) cuisine.

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Vacation breakfast at noon next to the Boqueria market in Barcelona: Olives between a Caña and a shot of Gazpacho.
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