There is nothing like inside knowledge when it comes to finding the best food in town. Those little hole-in-the-wall places, the secret spots, where there are no tourists and the food is cooked with love and packed with flavour. This is exactly what you can expect when you go on a food tour in Barcelona with the Food Lovers Company.

When I met Nuria, one of the founders of the company, it didn’t take me long to realize just how appropriate the name of the company is. It’s a small business that is run with a great deal of passion. There are never large numbers on the tour and Nuria’s enthusiasm for Catalan food is infectious. I soon felt like I was walking around the city with an old friend who was keen to show me the best spots to eat in town.

The places we stopped at on the tour have been around for years. There were no pretenders to the throne and nothing new or trendy. I loved the fact that not only was the food amazing there was also a sense of history and a taste of the past. As we walked through the old part of the city Nuria pointed out some Roman architecture, little details that you would otherwise have missed and told us wonderful stories about a city that she clearly loves.

What is Catalan cuisine?

Catalonia has a reputation for producing some of the finest food in Spain and chefs from the region have become international stars. The food is influenced by France and Italy, but it has its own unique personality. Catalan cuisine showcases the freshest produce from the Mediterranean and the fertile lands

Typical dishes are often a mix of seafood and products that come from the mountains, like pork sausages. You may see “mar i muntanya” on menus which are a way of expressing these types of dishes and we had some wonderful dishes on our tour that represented this.

What did we eat on the food tour in Barcelona?

I could use one word to describe the food, YUM, but that seems quite insignificant when I consider how much we had to eat and just how outstanding it all was. I am notoriously difficult to please when it comes to food. I often am unimpressed, I find there is too much that is average at best but not on this occasion.

Artichokes & Aioli

The first stop was tiny and very busy. I had to smile when Nuria told us that when the restaurant runs out of food it closes for the day. That could be at any time. They don’t keep regular hours.

We started with some heavenly bread, hot off the griddle, served with an aioli that was to die for.  When I asked Nuria what made it so special and light Nuria said that how it was made was a trade secret. She did, however, know that is was whisked by hand for about 20 minutes. She had tried many times to replicate the recipe without success. It is a recipe that I would love to have, so I hope that if she manages to get it right one day she will share her version with me.

The chefs knew everyone and chatted to them like old family friends. You could see into the small kitchen from our table and it was hectic. The food arrived at the table and just kept on coming.

We indulged in octopus stew, fresh grilled calamari, chickpeas (garbanzos) with local black pudding and a delicious white bean dish a local sausage (chistorra) from the Basque country. We naturally had to have bacalao (cod) a la llauna, which is unique to the region and was some of the best cod that I have eaten on my recent travels through Spain and Portugal.

I love artichokes and lucky for me they were in season. They are not always available but they were prepared simply with delicious charred bits that intensified the flavour.

Vermouth anyone?

I can’t say that I have ever tried vermouth. You may not have heard of it before, so you are probably asking what is vermouth? It’s a wine, made from green grapes, flavoured with a variety of spice and strengthened with additional alcohol. I wasn’t crazy about it, but it went well with the deep fried anchovies we had at our next stop.

We also tried Botifarra (Catalan pronunciation: butiˈfara or Spanish: butifarra) which is used as a cornerstone of many Catalan dishes and once again is a regional speciality.

Blue cheese ice cream

This is not the first time I have eaten blue cheese ice cream, in fact, it’s one of my favourites. We stopped at a cheese shop, where the owner, a delightful Scottish lady, had banned all photographs so no photos to drool over of the 3 different kinds of cheese, but it was a delicious stop nonetheless.

Truffles and beef cheeks

I am a sucker when it comes to truffles so imagine my surprise and delight when cannelloni with truffle and mushrooms arrived. There was also a delicious fragrant stew of really tender, melt in the mouth beef cheek perfectly matched with some hearty local wine. This was soul food at its best.

Four hours later, totally replete and very happy the tour came to an end. Once again I haven’t told you about all the dishes we tried. You need to discover and enjoy them for yourself.

↓BOOKS TO INSPIRE YOU↓

With this tour not only will you get to try some of the best Catalan cuisine around, but you will also be guided through some of Barcelona’s prettiest backstreets in the old town. It’s a cultural experience as well and Nuria is the perfect person to help t you discover the gastronomic delights of the city. If you are looking for a food tour in Barcelona then you need to look no further.

You can book your tour directly with Food Lovers Company on their website.

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Disclosure: I was hosted by Food Lovers Company. My thanks to them for an awesome evening. As usual, these are my own views.

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