Barcelona is known for their delicious food and drinks (think tapas and cava), so we knew a food tour was an absolute must! After much online research, we decided on Barcelona Eat Local. The food all looked amazing and they only tour locally owned and operated establishments (if you read my blog ever, you know my love for small, local businesses).
We met our guide, Andrea, along with another guide from their beer tour (side note: we are totally doing that one the next time we go to Barcelona!), and four fellow travelers and headed out to our first of five stops.
We could not have asked for better tour mates! Everyone was so nice and equally interesting! The conversations were almost as good as the food!
Our first stop was Masclans, a family-owned and run cod stand, established in 1882 and currently housed in the temporary St Antoni Market. Their main product is salted cod, known as bacalla, , but they have a delicious hot-bar as well.
We tried fish croquettes and raw fish on bread. Sounds weird/gross but it was really good. The croquette was my favorite; it was full of flavor and cooked to perfection!
Luckily, they ask you if you eat raw fish when you book the tour, so the Husband’s bread had a fish spread on it instead!
After a short walk through the market (I could have stayed for hours!) we headed to our next stop, Jovani & Vins. They are a family owned and run winery, with a delicious cava! Cava is a Spanish sparkling wine similar to the French’s champagne, but cava has more citrus notes.
Looks and tastes similar to champagne, but since it’s made outside of the champagne region of France, it must be called something else. Alas, cava.
They sell many varieties, including those beautiful special edition bottles!
After our cava and cheese, we headed to our next stop, El Sortidor. This is an authentic Barcelona restaurant, opened in 1908 and very little has changed since.
The original ice chests!
We started with Barcelona’s local lager, Estrella.
It’s a very light, easy beer.
Then came the food. Oh, the food. THIS was what I was hoping for! We had patatas bravas, which are potatoes with aoili and spicy tomato sauce. Ah-maz-ing. I want some right now.
Hello gorgeous!
Then I learned something that was literally life-changing. Andrea took that seemingly boring bread, cut garlic in half, rubbed it on the bread, followed by a cut tomato and voila! I’ll never eat regular bread again.
If that bread isn’t good enough (yeah, right) you can add aoli or meat.
Fat and happy, we left with still two stops to go! Thankfully, our next stop was something that no one can resist, no matter how full! We walked into Ca L’isidre and headed straight back to a private room, where we were blessed with their Crema Catalana, which is similar to crème brûlée. It was thinner and sweeter and downright delicious.
Begrudgingly, we finished our dessert and headed to final stop, a tapas bar named Jonny Aldana. We ended our tour with a lovely vermouth and a little snack. Vermouth is a very popular drink in Barcelona.
Salud!
The Husband and I had a fabulous time on our Barcelona Eat Local tour. Our guide was so friendly and knowledgeable, and she knew the answers to many things Barcelona, not just food and drinks. You could tell they put a lot of effort into picking not only each stop, but what we sampled at each place. And they kept everything local, which I love. If you’re heading to Barcelona I highly recommend Barcelona Eat Local food tours.
Disclaimer: My tour ticket was provided to me but my opinions are all my own. And sometimes the Husband’s.