Barcelona | Quimet y Quimet

Quimet y Quimet is not a restaurant. With bottles of wines and canned food lining from floor to ceiling on the walls in the tiny shop, it could pass off as a provision shop from the outside. That is if not for diners standing at the bar counter having seafood tapas.

I quickly learnt that the cuisine style is conservas. Which is preserved seafood using natural ingredients such as olive oil. Not the supermarket type of processed canned seafood that I was expecting.

We started off by sharing some mondaditos which are basically small open sandwiches with canned seafood on top. Each mondadito is like an art masterpiece of its own. It was a mess to eat because it toppled when cut. But wow, the flavours popped. Our senses were treated to an oceanic journey. Each mondadito was a favourite but if I really had to choose, I would not mind treating myself to an endless supply of the caviar and mussels. One thing led to another and we also got the shellfish platter.

Charming and unconventional, Quimet y Quimet was well exercising its birthright in quirky Barcelona.

Smoked sardines and red pepper (€2.5) 

Mussels and caviar (€3.5)

Sea urchin & tuna belly (€2.5)

Assorted shellfish platter (€11)

Address: Carrer del Poeta Cabanyes 25, Poble Sec, Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona | Arume

Just one week in Spain brought its cuisine to the top of my most favourites of all time. That's understandable, given that it is the country that invented culinary foams and spheres, and home to some of the top restaurants in the world e.g. El Cellar de Can Roca. But to score an entry meant I had to go back one year in time to reserve it. I also really wanted to get tickets for Albert Adria's Tickets. Both were impossible to get in.

Thank goodness there were some really good restaurants that just required me to book a few days in advance. When I reached Arume restaurant and saw the long waiting line, I was delighted with my own foresight.

Spanish cuisine is regional in nature and Wikipedia does a decent job summarizing it. Arume is based on Galician cuisine and it brought the coastal Galicia to Barcelona with its rich flavours and seafood. We inhaled the crispy octopus that's cooked to perfection, with the paprika mayo and lime adding zest to the sweetness of the octopus. We did not regret ordering the duck paella over the seafood paella. Best paella ever. The duck was moist, tender, and the rice was soaked with so much flavors and cooked to the right texture - neither too mushy nor dry. We were told the blackberry mojito is a must and indeed it was - icy, fruity with a fiery kick.

We really love Arume's cosy atmosphere which had an element of quirkiness. The praise was certainly not because of what we saw in a man-made well near the restroom. Thank you Arume for making this one of the memorable highlights of our trip.

Crispy octopus, potato foam, paprika mayo and lime (€ 13.5)

Duck paella rice with Padrón peppers (€ 16.5)

Blackberry mojito (€ 8)

They'll throw you in a well if you don't like their food. 

Address: Carrer d'En Botella, 11-13, 08001 Barcelona, Spain

Colony

Once in a while, I deserve a decadent feast. And I have discovered that a Saturday afternoon buffet of quality food and great service at Ritz Carlton's Colony is certainly befitting. No more anguish over buffets that promise only quantity but not quality. I deserve better.

We were blessed with booth seats which were strategically located near the seven kitchen stations that covered western and eastern favourites. I did my own mini cheese tasting from their cheese station which was filled with seven different cheeses and cold cuts. Their ice bar was stocked with a variety of fresh and succulent crustaceans and sashimi. Don't even get me started on their awesome desserts. The only thing I wished for was a bottomless stomach so that I can repeat the laksa, salted egg yolk chicken wings, butter curry chicken, Chinese roasts, Iberico ham, chocolate "bomb", mirabelle and pandan mango ice-cream.

This is The Buffet. The One Buffet to rule all other buffets.

Address:
7 Raffles Ave, The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore, Singapore 039799

Char

If blogs were geographic locations, you are in the Sahara now. Nowadays I seldom write here and I have sold my soul to Instagram (go: instagram.com/weekendeatwhat). But I can't stop thinking about a particular Char Siew for weeks since the fateful encounter. So I need to write about it. Hopefully the Char Siew ghost can stop harassing my hippocamus.

This is the Char Siew I was referring to. It caught me unexpected like a MRT fault (for a lack of better analogy that's trending). There's so much going on in each slice. They used the best part to make the Char Siew and the ratio of lean meat to fats was perfect. My heart melted as the Char Siew melted in my mouth. Not to mention that the caramelized sauce was sweet yet smoky. Best eaten with a bowl of warm white rice.

I can finally die without regrets.

Because we got a mixed platter ($24 for 2 roasts), the Char Siew was accompanied by the Sio Bak. The Sio Bak was also good and it crackles like a wafer. Each piece is a tetris layer of fats and lean meat. Goes best with the accompanying mustard sauce.

We got ourselves some vegetables as a courtesy to our carnivorous diet. Though it looks ugly, the Charcoal To Fu with Spinach and Wild Fungi ($14.80) was actually appetite-whetting and the sauce was addictive.

Oh Char, you have spoilt me. Now, Char Siew can never be the same again!