Food Safari Spain

I visited Spain this year from June 2nd - June 9th and had a great time eating my way through Madrid and Barcelona. We didn't research any places to eat during our trip, so everything we ate in this country was something we 'stumbled' into, or only looked into it upon arrival. I have to say Spain is a great country for stumbling into food joints!

I had high expectations for Tapas in Madrid, given it is supposed to be THE CAPITAL for Tapas. I would say we hit some great food joints on some nights with the most mouthwatering offerings, and other nights it was more random, in other words, not the most amazing food. Unfortunately I only took tapas photos of places where there was decent light - most tapas joints we walked into were high on atmosphere and low on light!

Pictorials of the Food tastings in Madrid:

Chocolatería San Ginés - Churros & Chocolate!

Stumbling into food joints in Madrid

The meats were a definite highlight of this meal!

We were told on our walking tour of Madrid that Restaurant Botin holds the Guinness Books of
Records for being the oldest restaurant in the world - established in 1725. As tourists, we decided that we had to check it out on Night 3. It was certainly fun to experience dining at this classy old joint, but I'd have to say Madrid has plenty of other great food offerings for a better price. Impressed? Not entirely, but go for the brag factor.

Restaurant Botin - The oldest restaurant in the world! Hemmingway also wrote about it

The Sangria at Botin was rather tasty! The pork crackle tasted better in Segovia.

Whilst the food was great in Madrid and we all had such a great time eating around the nooks and corners, I'd have to say in my opinion, Barcelona really trumped Madrid. Check out the pictorials below!

Snacking at Txapela Resaurante - our first meal in Barcelona. 

Dining at Restaurantes Cinco Jotas - I guess we would class this as our express 'fine dining' experience. Express because we had to rush to a night tour after the meal.

3 course lunch at a local food joint near Park Guell - no tourists in sight besides us. Win! Excuse the Coca-Cola - it was a really hot day. I devoured the dessert so quickly, that I have no photographic evidence of it!

Stuffing ourselves with food at Cerveceria Catalana for a late lunch, and a very long waiting time. The wait was so long we window shopped for around 50 mins before getting a seat. It was worth the wait though, food was divine!

 

A definite highlight of our 'Taste of Spain' trip was eating Jamon. After an overload of jamon for 8 days and seeing jamon displayed everywhere we went in Spain, it was a bit of an overkill, but I have to say I miss it very much now in Sydney. I just cannot eat an ordinary piece of ham anymore. Sadness.

We visited many food markets whilst touring Barcelona & Madrid. I love visiting food markets, as there's always energy at the food markets and you will always see locals going about with their daily lives. The Madrid San Miguel food hall was a really fun way to get excited about Madrid to kick start the travels, and I think I went there 3 times in my four day trip to Madrid! Only because it has such a fabulous location in central Madrid.

The markets we visited in Barcelona Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria was so full of energy and people - both tourists and locals. We ended up going to these markets 3 times as well.

Delightful market offerings

Brunch at the markets 'Pinotxo Bar' - one of the best!

To spice up our travels (gotta love puns!), my friends and I attended a cooking class in Barcelona @ Cook & Taste. Yes, I actually cooked something, or at least assisted. I've often heard of friends taking cooking classes on their travels, but this was the first time I've ever attempted a cooking class - anywhere, and have to say it is definitely a worthwhile and highly recommended activity to experience a foreign culture, learn something new, and importantly enjoy a great meal! It's a good break from all the 'sight-seeing' and hectic dashes to visit important sights. Now that doesn't mean I will start cooking Spanish meals for friends any time soon! But I've definitely appreciated the spices, prep work and cooking skills required to cook an excellent Spanish meal. Cooking classes must be the rage for newlyweds, as we were the only group of 'friends' at this cooking class. Now there's an idea for those with a wedding coming up :P

Instructor and students all hard at work!

Clockwise from top left: Catalonian Bread, Seafood Paella, Fish Entree,  Shot of red bell pepper soup flavoured with toasted saffron and cod, Asparagus with Romesco sauce Asparagus and Romequo Sauce, Crema Catalana

I hope you have all enjoyed this post as much as I've enjoyed compiling it. I'm hoping this will inspire more people to visit Spain if you haven't already been. Question for readers - for those that have been to Spain, what were your food highlights?