Granja Dulcinea
Where? Granja Dulcinea (Gothic Quarter, Barcelona, Spain) Map
When? Thursday January 18, 2024
Who With? Me
Food Style? Chocolates and Pastries
No big meal, no fancy feast this time. Just a quick breakfast in a small cafe by Plaça del Pi in the Gothic Quarter. This place has been in operation since 1941 and is hugely popular with locals and tourists alike, and at 10.30am, it’s bustling with patrons, just under 25 of us seated in the premises. They serve a range of pastries, desserts and hot drinks, and today I want the best chocolate drink I’ve ever had in my life - a suizo, or “Swiss”. I happen to spot a Catalan favourite - a xuxo - so I get that as well.
Breakfast
Suizo and xuxo
A suizo is vastly different to an American hot chocolate. It’s made by melting actual dark chocolate in hot milk, then adding a bit of corn starch to thicken it, and topping it with whipped cream. This gives it an incredible, rich taste that must be enjoyed slowly, instead of the useless powdered drink stuff they make outside of Europe. Once you go suizo, you don’t go back. A xuxo (pronounced chucho) is a pastry that looks like a cylindrical croissant but is denser and is filled with crema catalana. The sugar on the outside gives it a little crunch as you bite into it, and the cream is thick and delicious.
Arohanui to the folks back in Toronto where it’s currently -8C. It was such a good decision to come here.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:38am on Thursday March 7, 2024 :: 0 comments :: 