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