Can Majo , Barcelona

Tomato bread - we ate many at different restaurants, but this was quite exceptional

Steam, succulent mussels with lemon



Fideua, the Catalan version of paella.



a seafood casserole of prawns, mussels and fish

Grilled razor clams

Cream Catalan with a wafer biscuit that looked and tasted alot like our love letters

Orange custard with chocolate sauce

There are many restaurants specialising in seafood near the beach in Barcelona but thanks to my gourmet friend who insisted only on recommended places, we made our way to Can Majo. It was our second choice as our original first choice was closed ( two days in a row ) which made us a little upset initially. How Singaporean is that when it comes to food ! Maybe it was the cold we had to endure walking from one end of the beach to the another. We were fortunate to have a very warm and personable waitress who made us feel a lot better after the cold blistery wind outside.

Decided on the fideua, a noodle version of paella which turned out to be an excellent choice. It had a nice savoury taste with a fragrant crust just like that of a paella but with a different texture. The seafood casserole had a nice rich broth but what I loved were the grilled razor clams and sweet steam mussels which tasted wonderful just with a drizzle of lemon. I will definitely try this back in Singapore though I'm not sure if I could find good quality mussels like these.

The desserts were OK but the seafood was definitely good.

Barcelona food - Can Ramonet

Had a bad dinner at Tapas Tapas the night before with the most salty Paella ever and that made us even more determined to find a good one to make up for the night before. Headed down to the seaport beachfront and with my friend holding his trusted Time-Out recommendation and GPS, we trudged down the road on a cold, blistery evening. It would have been a lovely if not for the sea breeze blowing, making it 2 to 3 notches colder and the sight of our destination Can Ramonet made us heave with relief.

The restaurant had a tampas serving area upfront but we headed to the restaurant behind as we wanted our food portions to be big and hearty for we were really hungry and cold.As the paella took over 20 minutes to prepare, we ordered some entres - snails in a special hot sauce (popularly known as caracoles in Spain ) , tripe and chick peas, Iberico ham croquettes and fisherman's soup. But I must say I was a little disappointed with the choices. The taste was bland and most disappointing for me was the soup. Thank goodness for the seafood paella which at least lived up to my expectations and was worth the wait. The rice and seafood were fragrant with a nice crust below and with just a squeeze of lemon all over, there wasn't much I could complain about.

A display of fresh seafood at the entrance of Can Ramonet

Snails in special "Can Ramonet" sauce

Tripe and chick peas

Iberican ham croquettes

Fisherman's soup

Seafood paella

Barcentral at La Boqueria

The chefs at Barcentral at La Bouqeria

Fresh seafood platter consisting of grilled cod, mussels, clams and prawns

Grilled squid with olive oil, lemon and praprika

Padron peppers

First lunch in Barcelona at Barcentral La Boquerie, a little stall teeming with customers around its bar stand. The smell of grilled seafood was too inviting for us to miss out on the opportunity to grab a bite. It didn't matter that we had to wait for seats patiently. Good food deserves the effort. My friends and I ordered by pointing to pictures as well as what others around us were having. Strangely, a group of young Japanese men were doing the same to us by pointing to what we had ordered.  It didn't matter that the people in Barcelona spoke very little English as both Japanese and Singaporeans had good gut feel and we could definitely find our way with food. With Mediterrean seafood this fresh, very little cooking was involved. A nice grill, seasoning with fresh herbs, olive oil, lemon and a dash of spice was all that was needed. Yummy !