With our cruise ship pulling into Barcelona at 06:00 on Saturday, we planned to stay one night so that our kids could get a taste of one more country in Europe, before flying back to Toronto on Sunday.
We started our day in Gràcia, because the streets were fancifully decorated for the annual Festa Major de Gràcia. After walking around for a while, the heat was really getting to all of us, so we tried to find a place open for lunch with good air conditioning. This was easier said than done: some places weren’t open yet, some were too warm inside.
In the end, we decided to go to La Nonna Delia, I think, based on a New York Times recommendation.
In retrospect, ordering the cava sangria probably wasn’t the best choice, but I enjoyed it, and I only started to feel the alcohol’s effects halfway through the meal.
We had the fried calamari and fried sardines, both lightly battered. Next was the croquette sampler (ham, salt cod, mushroom, and one other), and an appetizer plate with olives, artichokes, hot peppers, cheese, crackers, and other bites.
For more substantial fare, we had tuna tataki, and the eggplant parmigiana. Everything was fine, and it seemed like a nice neighbourhood kind of place. And, it was conveniently a five minute walk to the Sagrada Familia.
But, as was becoming the norm on our extended trip, a stop for gelato was in order. My son found a highly reviewed place called Gelato Fest BCN. They claim to use all natural ingredients (no food colouring, etc.) and indeed, all the flavours looked to be unadulterated and tasted pure. In particular, the person scooping warned us about the intensity of the chocolate one. I didn’t taste it myself, but maybe it’s actually more of a chocolate sorbet?
After walking around the gorgeous church, my kids and I cooled off at the nearby Starbucks, but bought pastries at the nearby Buenas Migas (a chain of bakeries). Later that night, we took a taxi from Park Güell all the way to La Barceloneta, to have dinner at Con Majó. It was still hot and humid outside, so we opted to eat indoors, which was much cooler, but no less humid.
My wife started with the cherry gazpacho which turned out to be supremely disappointing. It was a plain tomato gazpacho, with a plate of diced cucumber and cherries to be added to taste. The seafood croquettes were better, made with some undetermined finely minced fish or shellfish.
The real star was the Paella Marinera with Small Beach Prawn, Shrimp and Crayfish. We ordered 3 portions for the 4 of us (my daughter doesn’t really like seafood, but she likes rice!):
I loved the crayfish and the whole shrimp, and no one else laid claim to sucking the heads. The seafood is the focus here, but I wish there was a bit more of a contrast to the dish, some vegetables, some other protein. Oh, I was also disappointed there wasn’t any soccarat, the crunchy bottom. Maybe that’s a different paella on the menu, or a regional difference, or I needed to ask specifically for these things.
We spent the night at the Novotel near the airport, since we had an early flight in the morning. For convenience, we paid for the buffet breakfast at Binomio, attached to the hotel. I was delighted to find they had tortilla (the potato and egg one), garlicky mushrooms, membrillo, meats, cheese, fruit, and juices. Great variety and good quality.
Another little taster of Europe for our kids (see my previous post about Messina in Italy). A long twenty four hours but filled with good meals.
