El Pederniz

Where? El Pederniz (Valencia, Spain) Map Menu

When? Sunday May 21, 2017

Who? Me

Food Style? Tapas

It's my first night in Valencia and according to Google this restaurant is open. It is not, when I arrive at 7.45pm. The waitress tells me they open at 8.30pm, which isn't too far away, so I go for a walk and return.

The owner is happy to make recommendations and will even do half portions for me so I can try more things. I'm also sitting happily with a large glass of sangria, filled with those famous Valencian oranges. Life is so good right now.

Tapas #1

Croquettes
The croquettes are the first to arrive. There are four different types, each battered perfectly with soft, creamy fillings. The large one on the left surprises me; it's very smokey, but they're all delicious in their own way. These croquettes are highly rated on Trip Advisor and I can see why!

Tapas #2

Fresh King prawns in boiling oil with garlic and spicy peppers
They weren't kidding when they said boiling olive oil. It smells amazing though. I'm instructed to take a bit of the oil, half a pepper, some garlic and half a prawn and eat it with the bread for a fantastic flavour combination. I hope the pepper has kick - they're from the owner's garden! I assemble a bite and give it a go. Wow, it's good, the prawns are soft and tender, they've absorbed all the garlic, and he's right, the flavour combination is great. The pepper gives that much needed spice, which makes the garlic more prominent. I ignore the recommendation for half a pepper and go for a full one - I haven't had spicy food in a while. The owner notices and remarks I must love spicy food. If only he knew exactly how much.

Tapas #3

Morteruelo - partridge, quail, wild rabbit, chicken, acorn ham, foie breadcrumbs
The last one is the dish that I can't pronounce. It tastes like stewed meat, very gamey but flavoured beautifully. It's quite rich but perfect with the bread. The pine nuts give it a bit of crunchy texture. There's some leftover garlic oil on my plate, and I happily wipe the plate clean of the morteruelo and the oil. Yum!

Dessert

Manchego cheese flan
I can't pass up the house speciality dessert, Manchego cheese flan. It's much like the filling of a cheesecake, not smooth like a custard flan. The toffee sauce is really good though, and the dessert is quite filling. The only unfortunate thing is now my sangria tastes quite sterile. I know, what a disaster. I'll live.

Dessert Wine

Moscatel
To leave a sweet taste in my mouth, the owner gives me a shot of Valencian dessert wine. It tastes like lychees. A+ would eat here again. I am well and truly sloshed.

Posted by Jeremy at 10:13am on Saturday June 10, 2017 :: 0 comments ::

Arume

Where? Arume (Ciutat Vella, Barcelona, Spain) Map

When? Saturday May 20, 2017

Who? Me

Food Style? Spanish

After a long day walking all around Montjuic, I've taken the funicular down and a few minutes walk away is Arume. The only place available is at the bar, which I'm sharing with three Singaporean girls who are also keen on trying the duck paella. "I wonder if it'll be like Peking duck" one says. I chuckle as one of her friends scolds her. I've ordered some baby scallops too, because seafood here is great.

As our starters arrive, my Singaporean friends apologise for taking pictures of their food.

I laugh.

Entree

Baby scallops with sweet corn sauce, kimchi and paprika bread
My plate of scallops looks amazing, and we happily exchange our starters. They have beef tartare and iberico ham carpaccio, and both are excellent, but I didn't feel like taking pictures of their food. Full of flavour, salty, savoury, beautiful smooth textures. My scallops are rich and creamy with a delicious sauce, perfectly cooked - a slight crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.

How did I not fix that one scallop on this photograph? It's really annoying me now.

Mains

Duck paella with Padron peppers
A massive hot plate of duck paella arrives. The smell is intoxicatingly delicious and I taste a bit. It tastes like duck and a hint of mushrooms, which is okay given how delicious the rest of it is. It's like a richer, meatier risotto. The smoked peppers are a great addition.

Britney's Hit Me Baby One More Time comes up on shuffle and the whole bar erupts into song. I love it.

The girls got seafood paella and fortunately for me, they can't finish it so they offer the rest to me. It's very good as well, but not as rich as the duck one. It's got all that natural saltiness from the mussels, squid and prawns in the stock, and the freshness shows.

Dessert

Afternoons with Marta - cocoa black beer sponge cake with chai tea, pineapple and ginger
I can't refuse the offer of dessert. The cake is gorgeously rich and moist, the beer and ginger evident. The rum pineapple is also really good, and coupled with the ginger ice cream, this is a well-balanced, well-made dessert to finish my time in Barcelona.

Posted by Jeremy at 9:44am on Saturday June 10, 2017 :: 0 comments ::

Tosca

Where? Tosca (Ciutat Vella, Barcelona, Spain) Map

When? Friday May 19, 2017

Who? Me

Food Style? Tapas

After a tour of Montserrat, I'm back in Barcelona quite late and I'm looking for food. I was intending to go to this place called Casa Lorea but as I walked by their menu, it didn't look very appealing. The only thing that stood out was their sangria selection, which I would have happily had if I wasn't so hungry. I continued walking down the road and found Tosca, so here I am at the bar by myself, with a white wine sangria in hand as I wait for my food to arrive.

Tapas #1

Chorizo with chimmichurri sauce
I try the chorizo first. Wow! There's a bit of spice and the sausage is delightfully meaty, but that sauce is the winner. It's so delicious.

Tapas #2

Fried baby squid
The squid is next. It's crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, but it's nothing I haven't had before. Don't get me wrong, it's still very tasty, just not any thing special.

Tapas #3

Tuna tataki
The tuna is the last to arrive and I can see immediately it is beautifully pink and encrusted with sesame seeds. It's excellent. Fantastic flavour, great texture. It's the best of the three and I'd happily order another one of these right now.

Dessert

Home made banana caked
I know it's not very authentic but I decided to have banana cake for dessert. I was suckered in by the "house made" adjective. I also needed some more food to help digest the sangria. It's soft and warm, but perhaps a bit dry. It's good though, and I really like the walnuts.

Posted by Jeremy at 9:39am on Saturday June 10, 2017 :: 0 comments ::

Rio DOC

Where? Rio DOC (Sant Marti, Barcelona, Spain) Map

When? Friday May 19, 2017

Who? Me

Food Style? Brazilian Casual

I usually go for a quick sandwich or something I can eat on the go for lunch, just so I can maximise my time exploring. However, this tapas thing is too good to pass up, so I'm going to try and tapas as often as I can. Near the zoo is this little cafe, and I'm stopping by here on my way to the beach.

Tapas #1

Hummus - classic, beet, and piquillo pepper, with tapiocas and vegetables
I dig into the hummus first. Each pot is tasty in its own way. The classic one has that nice chickpea flavour with lots of olive oil and herbs, the pepper one has a good spice to it, and the beet one has that slight sweet but earthy flavour. The tapiocas look like plain white bread, but they're actually slightly crispy and more like wafers. They're perfect for eating with the hummus.

Tapas #2

Meat rissoles
The rissoles are really good. Nice and crispy batter with delicious meat on the inside. This is the half portion, because variety trumps quantity for me!

I'm having fun trying all sorts of different combinations but I think the pepper hummus by itself is my favourite. There's a lot of hummus to get through and the meal is surprisingly filling from the dense tapiocas. For €11.80 including a drink, that was excellent value.

Posted by Jeremy at 9:28am on Saturday June 10, 2017 :: 0 comments ::

Irati Taverna Basca

Where? Irati Taverna Basca (Ciutat Vella, Barcelona, Spain) Map Menu

When? Thursday May 18, 2017

Who? Me

Food Style? Pintxos

It's time for tapas round two. I purposely had an early and smaller meal at Ramblero so I could eat again. This time I've ordered my sangria. Teehee.

Pintxos

It's hard to talk about everything individually. What I will talk about is the experience and the ambience. Tapas begs company. It's like yum cha. At Irati, it's more catered to the solo traveller; instead of ordering plates of food, you ask for a plate and then you pick what you want from the bar. At the end, the number of toothpicks is tallied and you're charged €2.10 for each. In fact, this type of tapas is called pintxo, which means skewer. Stand at the bar and eat, and watch others enjoy themselves while you type up a food blog on your iPhone.

The food here is excellent. Lots of flavour and variety, and interesting combinations. Most of them are bread based, with various meats and garnish piled on top. There's tuna, sardines, smoked salmon, cured meats, cheeses, crumbed prawns wrapped in bacon - try everything once, and try them again. The staff are extremely friendly and helpful and I felt much more at ease than last night. I had eight items in total and my drink, and that came to about €20.

Posted by Jeremy at 9:22am on Saturday June 10, 2017 :: 0 comments ::