Celler de Can Roca, 2nd top restaurant in the world!

We all were sad to learn that the top-most restaurant in the world for so many years, the superfamous El Bulli by Ferran Adrià is closing next summer.
But this is not at all the end of the top-notch cuisine in the Catalan Land. Adrià leaves many followers here ready to take over... earlier than you might think!

The Roca brothers waited for many years to be granted their 3rd Michelin Star (see my older post), but now they are sky-rocketing! The Restaurant Magazine has designed their their venue El Celler de Can Roca as the 2nd best restaurant in the world!

Would you like to eat there? I can organize you a memorable daytrip to Girona, starting with a stroll around its charming Old Town (not to miss its Cathedral and the Jewish section), followed by a degustation menu lunch.

By the way, the woman-chef Carme Ruscalleda and her gorgeous Sant Pau is now ranked 93 in the same list!

The Ellis daytrip to the Wine Country.

The Ellis family booked me for a few tours in Barcelona. In our last day we had planned to go to the Penedès Wine country and Montserrat. At first I had suggested we visited the Codorniu cellar, the largest in the world, because of its spectacularity. But after spending a few days with them I got to know them better and when I saw they were so much into food and wine and they had been to some emblematic French cellars already, I decided they'd appreciate something else.

So I changed bookings and got a private tour of the Gramona cellars, a local family-owned winery that has won many international prizes.
We were received there by their Communications person, who showed us personally their old cellar. That day there were people working in the old building (most of the day, the staff is working in their modern venue at the vinyards), so we were lucky to see a lady glueing labels by hand, another lady checking the machine that wraps the cork, and we even had a demostration of how they degorge the botels by hand. That was so unique! In most cellars degorging is done by machines who freeze the neck of the bottle to remove the sediments. Only very skilled workers are able to do it manually!
See my video! (oh, I'm so glad to have this video well recorded... the other time I saw it done, I didn't realize my camera was lopsided!)



After the tour of the cellar, we were taken to the vinyards to see the baby grapes: they won't be ready to be harvested until August. But the views where great! Lori said it was the first time she was taken to the vinyards when visiting a cellar!

And back to the cellar, we had a wonderful wine tasting. The Ellis had asked for a real tasting, not the average tourist one, so we got to try 3 different cavas, plus the bottle that had been degorged in front of us (it's amazing how agressive the bubbles are at that moment: it's truelly dramatic for the wine! it seems it needs a few days to reach its perfect point), and 3 wines (2 that were included in the tasting, plus a special Ice Wine for dessert that was the cellar's gift.

I'm not used to drinking much, so I was starting to (as the Ellis said) "riding the snake". But we headed soon for lunch at a great local restaurant where we were the only foreigners and had a beautiful meal before going to Montserrat.

After such an intense morning, there wasn't much time left to wander in the Monastery, but we still made it to ride the cablecar up, visit the Virgin shrine, lit up a candle for her and enjoy the place with almost no tourists around (most tour groups leave the mountain after the Choir sings, and at that time we were enjoying our wine so we missed both Choir and crowds, which was fine for the Ellis).

We decided next time they come (to see the progress of the Sagrada Familia church), we'll visit some other cellar, then drop them in Montserrat for the night (as they enjoy places when they get empty) and the next they I'll pick them up for some other tour out-of-the-beaten-track. Maybe the Cardona salt mines, who knows?

Spanish restaurants in the international elite!

Every year the Restaurant Magazine (UK) publishes S. Pellegrino list of the 50 best restaurants in the world.

For the 4th time in a row, the Catalan restaurant El Bulli and its chef Ferran Adrià come first in the list! And this year, El Celler de Can Roca by the Roca brothers moves from 26th to the 5th place after they just moved to their new and larger venue.

The Basq Country chefs are also present in the list with Andoni Luis Aduriz and his restaurant Mugaritz in the 4th position, and Juan Mari Arzak and his Arzak restaurant in the 8th place.

If you are one of the lucky ones that got a table this year in El Bulli (or one of those patient ones who waited 2 years in their waiting list...), since the trip to the restaurant is 3h drive, you should also take the opportunity to visit the area. My reccomendations are the Dalí Museum or the fishermen village of Cadaqués.




Booking a table in El Celler de Can Roca is easier (at least, it was so far!), and it's a great idea to explore the medieval town of Girona before visiting the restaurant.
Let me organize this special day for you!

It's calçot's season!

 

Delicious grilled sweet green onions dipped in romesco sauce. Yummy!
This kind of delicacy is only found in the market from January to end of March, and they constitute a good excuse for Catalan to socialize. To us, "calçotades" (gatherings to eat calçots) are to Catalan what barbeques are to American.

But if you don't have the chance to be invited by a local to one of these events, where can you at least try them?
In Barcelona many tapas bars like Cerveseria Catalana include them in their menu during this season. Traditional restaurants also serve them. An affordable option is the Mussol restaurant chain.

But if you prefer something more authentic, I can take you on a Day Trip where we'll stop for lunch at some traditional restaurant. Our options are:

- Montserrat
- Penedès Wine Country
- Sitges
- Tarragona

By the way, find my mom's romesco sauce recipe in my blog, and also discover the secrets of how to eat calçots "the authentic way".

Catalan restaurants in the 2009 Michelin Guidebook

The prestigious Michelin Guidebook has issued its new listings of best restaurants of Spain for their 2009 edition.

Check out my googlemap with their locations.
If you are interested in a day trip to any restaurant with Michelin stars in Catalonia, let me know and I'll organize a trip to discover some local monument or site of interest during the morning, followed by a nice lunch at your chosen restaurant!


Ver mapa más grande

Special Harvest tour in the Penedès!

Great news!

One of my favorite wineries in the Penedès area offers a special Harvest tour ONLY IN SEPTEMBER!

Hire it with Foreverbarcelona.com in a Half Day tour or as a Full Day trip combining it with a visit to the Montserrat Mountain and Monastery!

WEEK DAYS
Half day tour / 5h: 425€ (guide + private minivan with driver) + 8€/person for the Harvest activity including wine tasting.
Full day tour / 8h: 650€ (guide + private minivan with driver) + 8€/person for the Harvest activity including wine tasting. Lunch not included.

WEEKENDS AND BANK HOLIDAYS
Half day tour / 5h: 480€(guide + private minivan with driver) + 8€/person for the Harvest activity including wine tasting.
Full day tour / 8h: 765€(guide + private minivan with driver) + 8€/person for the Harvest activity including wine tasting. Lunch not included.

Foody tours with http://wishyouwereheretours.com !

Wine tasting at Gramona Cellar / At Cal Pep, Jose and Jordan offered us their best Tapas

Lori, one of the owners of http://wishyouwereheretours.com/ was in Barcelona this week with Ed and Linda, her clients. They spent a whole week enjoying the tastes and flavours of Barcelona, and of course I was there to show them the best foody spots!

Amongst other activities, we had a yummy tapas tour, we visited 2 cellars in the Penedès county, and strolled around the Old Town discovering great Gourmet stores (the savory products tour included a cheese tasting, and the sweet products tour started with super-rich thick hot chocolate with churros!).



In the Gramona cellar, we were lucky to visit the Gramona cava cellar on the week when skilled workers degorge more than 200.000 bottles manually.

A great day at the wine country!

The staff from Complete Campbell Catering (www.tripleccatering.com) was in Spain to get in touch with the local cooking and asked me to take them to the Penedès Wine Country to discover our wineries.
It was a great day: we visited Albet i Noya, an organic winery, and Gramona, known for their elegant hand-made cavas (sparkling wine). The tours at each cellar included a visit of their venue, a walk in the vineyards and tasting some wonderful wines.
See my photo album about the wineries here:

Penedès Wine Country