Posts Tagged ‘paella’
When you visit a new country you usually have some preconceptions about it. It could be that in Sweden you expect to see polarbears in the streets or that all french people wear berets.
We are going to kill some of the most common myths about Spain.
1. La Sagrada Familia is the cathedral of Barcelona. If you ask anyone for the direction to the Cathedral you will get confused when you arrive. The Catherdal of Barcelona is called Cathedral of Santa Eulalia and has nothing to do with La Sagrada Familia which is the famous building designed by Antoni Gaudi.
2. Paella is a seafood dish. It most certainly can contain seafood ,but it’s mainly a rice dish.
3. Bullfighting is the national sport. First of all, it’s not a sport and second of all it’s not national.n The real national sport in Spain is soccer.
4. You drink Sangria in the bars. Sangria is a party drink and exists only to get everyone drunk as fast as possible.
In the bars there are mainly tourists ordering sangria.
5.Flamenco is a very popular dance. It contains dancing, but it has four main elements: music, handclapping, dancing and singing.
6. Spain is a tropical paradise. If you visit during the winter you might have to buy a portable heater to survive the night.
7. Spanish food is hot and spicy. The Spaniards will sprinkle paprika over the food and call it spicy. But it’s nothing compared to a mexican chili con carne.
8. Tapas is a special kind of food. In fact, tapas can be anything. It’s a small dish served with a drink.
9. You have to leave tip. No, it’s not common in Spain and is perpetuated by a lot of guidebooks.
With this in mind for your visit, you will be a bit more prepared!
Yesterday was a very good day to go to the beach. The weather was perfect, I did not have to work so I called some friends to go to the beach. We headed there around noon so we decided to go and eat something first.
It is easy to find a good restaurant along side of the beach, but you have to whatch out where you go because some restaurants are quite expensive. A good tip is to be aware that when restaurants don’t mention their prices on the menu, it will probably not be a cheap restaurant! There are many different restaurants near the beaches of Barceloneta and Port Olympic, you can choose between anything from meat or fish to pizza and paella.
After a while we found a restaurant in Port Olympic, next to Pizza Hut, we could sit outside where we had a ‘menu del día’ for € 12,70 per person. The menu had three courses, the first one was a salad with ‘pan con tomate’ (bread with olive oil and tomato), the main course was a really big ‘paella de mariscos‘. We ended with a crema catalana, the catalan version of Crême Brulée.
We had a great time!
If you are the type of person that is constantly in the hunt for a typical local dish, that will satisfy both the hunger with it’s amount and hopefully delicious flavor, then when in Spain, you should be seeking paella. It is well-known that Valencia may be the place of all places to try the incredible dish; yet, Barcelona can offer a great share of the less-original, but outstanding taste as well.
For those who don’t know. Paella will mostly consist of rice with other ingridients such as seafood (shrimp, clams, squid, etc), meat (chicken, sausage, etc), and/or vegetables. There are three types of paella that are more common: Paella Valenciana, Paella de Mariscos (seafood paella), and Paella Mixta (mixed paella). Although it did originate in Valencia, I believe paella has made it a long way, and can be found in many different parts of the world. I was in Paris a couple of months ago, and I had a delicious paella meal at a Spanish restaurant near the plaza St. Michel. So although it is not really a national dish, it speaks of the way in which the Spaniards have a lot to offer in the culinary world.
Now down to business. The five most popular local paella places in Barcelona are: Lombardo in the Rambla Catalunya, Pitarra in the barrio gotic, Can Majo, and Can Ros in the barceloneta, and Sete Portes in Passeig Isabel. I don’t know about you, but with this kind of information, my excitement just goes nuts. Luckily these places are near some of the nicest sight-seeing places in the city of Barcelona. So, the chance to complete a fun day there, with paella included in the plan just sounds truly perfect to me. I am determined to not only find all five of these places, but also to determine which one is the best. So happy hunting, and I might see you there.
