I didn’t really decide on my destinations based on the cuisine they offer (that’ll happen at some other point in time, hopefully). Nonetheless the cities I visited all had some of the most delicious food I’ve ever had.
First stop was Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, one of the foremost cities in Spain and the land of awesome seafood as well as traditional Spanish cuisine.
I think I had paella and sangria everyday while here. The eating traditions of Europe, as far as I could make out, is not necessarily restricted to the three main meals a day, which leads to a lot of snacking throughout the day.
There was a lot of tapas as well. Hands down the best tapas I’ve had, which shouldn’t be very surprising really. Delicious smoked salmon, Serrano ham, razor clams, cured tuna and the list goes on. After a few futile attempts of ordering from the menu, I figured the best way to try new, tasty fare was to grab a seat at the bar and let the bartender know that you’re new to the city. This worked perfectly as they suggested some of the best stuff. Sometimes a local sitting next to me would also pitch in with spot-on suggestions.
I would’ve never thought salmon could taste so creamy and full of flavor, which goes perfectly with the tartness of the cured tuna.
One particular place had an excellent fisherman’s stew – a veritable aquarium containing all that’s tasty from the oceans, shrimps, mussels, snails – something I had been meaning to try for a while but never got a chance. For lovers of seafood, it really is the cornucopia of the best offerings from the ocean.
Also, being summer, it’s the perfect time to enjoy a chilled bowl of gazpacho – a tomato based soup cooked with garlic, cucumbers, onions, that’s just about the perfect summer dish..
For desserts, there’re the quintessential bunyols – roughly analogous to doughnuts – along with a lot of other delicious pastries.
And there’re ice-cream carts/stores at every street corner.
Next stop was the City of Light. As charmed as I was by Paris, and it was my favorite city on this trip, gastronomically I think the variety of Barcelona (and later Madrid) edges Paris down the chart of favorite food haunts.
Nonetheless, there were the many delicious crêpes. I took a liking to the ham & cheese ones.
There was the very French cassoulet – a traditional stew with sausages, bacon, duck confit, from the Basque/Languedoc regions – probably the single best meal of my trip,
some excellent pork rillettes,
traditional duck confit
and delicious, delicious ice cream at the Häagen-Dazs store on the Champs-Élysées. It wasn’t just the ice-cream, but the whole experience of sitting at a roadside café on the most famous of Paris’ streets that made me go back here again & again.
thegourmetlens 