One of our favourite moments while travelling is trying the local cuisines, however being vegetarians it gets bit difficult for us nevertheless we always look forward to try something new.
During our food trail in Spain we got an opportunity to have a meal at World’s oldest restaurant “Sobrino de Botin” in Madrid, devoured authentic paella in Valencia and in Barcelona we decided to thoroughly indulge in the famous Spanish tapas.
As we spent majority of our time exploring the areas around the Barcelona City Centre, most of our food breaks were near Las Ramblas. The street is lined up with some great restaurants where we enjoyed delicious traditional tapas while watching the lively street outside.
One of the places in Las Ramblas that cannot be missed is visit to the La Boqueria Market. It is oldest market in the city and is the perfect place to start the Barcelona Food tour. We loved the fresh coconut juice and the caramelized nuts from the stalls at the entrance of the market. Couple of stalls also sell authentic Spanish saffron and confectionaries like turrons (Spanish Nougats) and Mazapan for reasonable price, which are perfect goodies to take back home.
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Some of the restaurants in Las Ramblas where we tried the traditional tapas are the Sukaldari Restaurant and the Bar Nuria. The Sukaldari has an open tapas counter where you will be served with tapas of your choice in mini tapas bowls. We loved the escalavida (Grilled Vegetables) with Romesco Sauce and the patatas bravas at Bar Nuria.
Buenas Migas-Focacceria was a place we frequented for breakfasts and we absolutely loved this place. They had variety of food for vegetarians and the focaccias are the best we have had so far. Located close to the Universitat, this place is a real gem serving reasonably priced yummy food.
We also tried some of authentic Catalan food like the pintxo, pa amb tomaquet(Bread tomato), escalivada con queso de cabra (Roasted vegetables with Goat Cheese) and Arroz con setas y crosta de parmesano (rice with mushrooms in parmesan crust) at Taverna El Glop, located close to Passeig de Gracia ( one of the major shopping areas in Barcelona).
Just like Madrid, Barcelona has amazing pastry shops where you can try the local delicacies. Ensiamadas and Coca (Spanish savoury Pizza) are some of our favourites from Barcelona.
Throughout the food journey in Spain there were some disappointments and some amazing food moments, however it was a wonderful experience to learn about the Spanish and Catalan cuisine. If you find yourselves in a situation where it gets difficult to understand the menu, just say “sóc vegetarià” (I am vegetarian) in Catalan to the waiters and we are sure they will help you out.
