There is a new food tour in town: Devour Barcelona. It comes from the folks who started the terrifically successful Madrid Food Tour.  It offers a 4 hour tour of Gracia, one of my favourite neighborhoods.  There is no paella and obviously no visit to the Boqueria market, instead we visit 1o addresses, the majority of which do not have a website and have never heard of social media.  Of course, since we are in Barcelona, where shopping for food is an art and an integral part of socializing that takes the better part of the morning, 6 days a week – there is a market visit. The Mercat de L’Abaceria Central is made up of a few earnest shoppers. We are the exception, crowding around to try a salt cod skewer from Gloria.  Then picking at a tray of cheeses and cured meats from La Trobada del Gourmet – including a Manchego that won the World Cheese Award.  A few shoppers stop and stare at us like we are some rare animal, clearly, they are not accustomed to hordes of tourists taking pictures of cheese and snails with their smartphones.  Or olive oil, like we do at Oli Sal where we get to try the olive oil that Albert Adria is currently serving in his restaurants.  Even though we started the day at 10 am with a large butifarra sandwich and a coupe of champagne (the wide necked kind that invites you to spill champagne liberally when you’ve had too much) we are already feeling like we could have something else.  That something else turns out to be the bomb in the form of a “Bomba” at L’Anxoveta, a local tapas joint.There is a Syrian pastry shop where I happily gobble up a sweet pastry stuffed with mild cheese after announcing to the group that I don’t like Arabic pastries. (What do I know?) Then it’s Vermut o’clock.  We visit a place called C’al Pep (not the Cal Pep of international fame on which Barrafina is based) but another local that belonged to a guy named Pep.  There, a few bags of chips are torn open and doused with Espinaler sauce to accompany squat glasses of vermouth.  We find room for a couple of meatballs from a local deli and finish off the tour with a bite sized crema catalana tartlet.

There is nothing wrong with the Boqueria – except that you have to dodge the buskers trying to sell you bird whistles (why?) and that every second stall now seems to be selling pressed juices and fruit salads. But it’s a little bit like buying an Eiffel tower miniature to remind you of Paris when Paris is so much more. Similarly, Barcelona is not just the Ramblas, paella and the Boqueria. It is so much more and this tour lifts the curtain on a tiny corner of it. Enough to whet your appetite for more I’d say.

Devour Barcelona
www.devourbarcelonafoodtours.com/gracia-neighborhood-food-tour/
www.facebook.com/devourbarcelonafoodtours
Twitter – DevourBarcelona
€65 pp inclusive of 21% tax

* I was invited on this tour by Devour Barcelona.

This is the 4th or 5th Eat Street in Barcelona. Unlike the previous incarnations, this one was in a public space. The public space part is important because Food Trucks are not permitted in Barcelona. (Whoever attended the inaugular BCN Start Up Kitchen event at betahaus will have had the pleasure of listening to Joe Littenberg turn the harrows of getting the Ajuntament de Barcelona to issue permission for their event into a stand up comedy routine.)It’s almost inconceivable that the first Eat Street took place a mere 6 months ago because this event looks, smells and even sounds (thanks to DJ’s Jo Cultrera and Matuke) like a food truck veteran. Trucks and stands manage to serve the huge crowds of people all day and into the night.  Quite a lot of trucks  actually (many of them with lovely quirky branding – like Reina Croqueta) considering they are not permitted.  Talk about optimists and who out there won’t agree with me that what the world needs now more than anything is optimists?  I finally got to try a superlative sandwich from Caravan Made – pork and ginger and it was dreamy. The twins had strawberry and lemon ice cream from Gela’t with a scoop of sweet cheese, figs and walnuts for me.  Sweet cheese, figs and walnuts (oh it was good, it was very very good).  And there was coffee.  (Thank you, thank you, thank you – “kneels down and kisses the coffee makers feet”.) From Coffee Craft.A fantastic day out. And I am optimistically going to say, it was so good that Barcelona will have to say “Yes, we want this here to stay.”

Eat Street by BCNMES

I had a birthday to celebrate a few Friday’s ago (mine) and while I dithered about whether I should take a short trip somewhere, book a night in a hotel with a massage thrown in or… Well I couldn’t make up my mind (libra). That Friday was also the Mercat de Mercats which was a pleasure to poke around in while I hemmed and hawed about which foot I should start my “older but not wiser” journey on.  Then we turned the corner and saw the slate coloured noren of Shunka gently rippling in the breeze and I thought: sushi, what an age appropriate dinner to have.  Compared to its elegant sibling, Koy Shunka, Shunka is bare bones. The food is similarly not as breathtaking in presentation nor conception. They serve a simple traditional menu here. However the quality and execution is outstanding. In everything. The Unagi Nigiri (€5.15) are tender and generous.  The rice that accompanies the sushi and food is firm, glistening and although there is some rice vinegar in there – it doesn’t overpower it.  And. They have Agedashi Dofu (€7.85). I have quite a thing for Agedashi Dofu, as in I love it, want to marry it and eat it everyday.  Up until now, the only place that made it the way I liked it is Dinings in London.  The Iwashi Tataki – seared sardines (€7.95) are lovely.  It is all extremely good.  I mean London, New York, Miami good.  It’s obvious from the minute you step in the door and they tell you that they are fully booked.  I am not waiting for my birthday next year to go again. I am already hankering after a steaming portion of Agedashi Dofu.

Shunka
Sagristans, 5 bajos
08002 El Barri Gòtic

Ask me if I want a macaroon?
“Do you want a macaroon?”
“No.”
“Cupcake?”
“Nope.”
“Donut?”
“Donut? Yes!”Yes, I do. I love donuts. La Donuteria makes superlative donuts. Light and chewy brioche with unusual toppings. I tried the cherry and yuzu with a crown of mini meringues (€3.50). I ate the whole thing and contemplated trying another before coming to my senses. Instead I bought a chocolate glazed, chocolate cream filled donut with a fingernail of gold leaf at its apex and a chocolate dough one and had them packed in a box to take home to my kids.  As a family, we pronounced them the best donuts we’ve tasted. When I start chatting with Richard Bies, it becomes obvious why they are this good.  Because he has taken more than a decade of working at places like Eleven Madison Park, Mandarin Oriental Barcelona and Escriba and started making donuts the only way he knows how.  Perfectly.Meanwhile I am beginning to suffer from neighborhood envy. The residents of Sant Antoni now have their pick of Cafe Cometa (right next door), Bar Calders, Tarrana, Federal and the ultimate will be when the Sant Antoni market reopens next year.

La Donuteria
C Parlament, 20.
Sant Antoni
www.ladonuteria.com
www.facebook.com/LaDonuteria