OSMOSIS ♥

OSMOSIS - Carrer Aribau, 100  08036 Barcelona, Spain

If I would recommend one restaurant in Barcelona it would be Restaurant Osmosis. We have been there three times. The first time we went there for dinner and returned for lunch the day after. They only serve tasting menus and this cost 25 euros at lunch and 42 euros at dinner time.

We came there quite early for being in Spain and got a table in the front room. Already reading the menu told us that this was something extra. My wife has a special diet and even if all the dishes are set it was no problem to go through every dish and customize it to her liking. They had a wine package there every glass of wine was selected from the whole world to fit perfectly to every single dish so we left to the restaurant to surprise us.

The first surprise was when the owner himself – Ignasi Montes – sat down at our table to discuss wine to drink with the foie gras that was the first starter. He decided that we should test the pride of Spain – sherry. You can imagine our surprise when he placed four glasses on a black piece of textile and beside that four different types of sherry on another black cloth. He told us the story of sherry and how the different qualities were produced and after that we had a sherry testing. It was really something else to test different kinds of sherry to the first to courses.

During the dinner a number of beautiful wines were served accompanied with descriptions of the wines and were they had grown. As he understood we were very interested in wine he spent quite a time with us during the meal to discuss the virtue with different wines and grapes.

With the dessert he asked if we would like to taste a very special sherry. A German wine grower moved to Jerez to grow wine. As he knew the Riesling best he planted this in Jerez. The Riesling however does not like the climate of Jerez so he decided to produce a Sherry from the grapes. This Sherry is thick, dark brown and very intense in taste.

Before dessert my wife went out for smoking. He came out and said that he had a private cigar-club upstairs there we could go after dinner and have our coffee. When he came with the coffee ha had hidden a big cognac-glass behind his back with a distillation of the special sherry on Riesling. This was only produced in 3000 bottles per year. To my disappointment I found that I had forgotten my cigars in the hotel and asked him if he sold any. He did not, but asked what size I preferred and sent out one of the waiters who came back with a lovely Montecristo. I can tell you it was something else to drink this sherry distillate together with coffee and a good Cuban cigar. The German person who started all this was Peter Simonis, but he soon changed is name to Pedro Ximenes.

Before we left for France the day after we had lunch at Osmosis. The quality of the food had the same fantastic standard even at busy lunchtime and the service as well. We had foie gras, quail, lobster, mushrooms and fish – all perfectly prepared. Even this time the dishes were customized to my wife’s diet.

We have been there once after this. It was together with our American friend and neighbours that we picked up in Barcelona where they arrived on a Norwegian cruise-ship. This time we got a separate room and our own personal waiter. As they only served the most fantastic wines from the whole world with our meal there were a few euros added to the basic prize this time, but it was much more than a meal. It was a total experience that can only be challenged by our local three-star restaurant L'Auberge Le Vieux Puits.

If you read Swedish you can learn more about our trips to Spain on my other blog. Se http://france-midi.blogspot.fr/2011/11/tva-pensionarer-i-barcelona.html and http://france-midi.blogspot.fr/2008/04/en-fantastisk-utflykt-till-spanien.html and perhaps even  http://france-midi.blogspot.fr/2012/05/forsta-dagen-pa-var-spanienresa.html

Revisited October 2013: We were invited to a wine- and food tasting and we decided that a trip to Barcelona would be nice. It is just a little more than two hours drive. It was an evening to remember. The food was as always fantastic and the wine of a quality that you seldom can afford. It was 16 invited couples sitting together and the atmosphere was really nice despite the language problems for us. They provided us with a translator from Catalan so we could follow the information about the wine.

Revisited March 2016: We had our specially designed 70+70 birthday-dinner in Barcelona for friends from Norway and Sweden. It was fantastic. We were sitting in a private room and had our own sommelier. It was something to remember for everyone.

Swedish report from the trip on http://france-midi.blogspot.fr/2013/10/snabbvisit-till-barcelona.html

WEB: http://www.restauranteosmosis.com/
LATEST VISIT: 2016
NUMBER OF VISITS: 5

Reasons for the ♥:
Our favorite restaurant in Barcelona. The tasting menus are always something very special and the service is really friendly. You can afford it too.

MACÉO

MACÈO - 15 rue des Petits Champs, 75001 Paris

This restaurant is connected with many memories for us. We went there the first time when we married in Paris 1991. In those days the restaurant’s name was Mercure Galante and was awarded one star in Guide Michelin. 

The restaurant is magnificent as it should be situated within the complex of Palais Royale. The decoration is genuinely from the turn of the century’s style – overwhelming. The food was absolutely fantastic and the service relaxed and pleasant.

The second time we went there was to treat my very good friend and college from Michigan and his wife. For them it was like a travel to a very obscure culture, used as they were to lunch as something you had on the run. We were eating for four hours and had three sets of waiters who did everything for making us feel good. I don’t think our American friend ever will forget the food, nor the setting and the culture of eating in France.

The third time we went there the restaurant had changed name into Macéo and lost the star – or rather given it up - and changed style. They were now a gourmet restaurant specialized on having gourmet vegetarian as well as normal food. This was perfect as we this time treated an English friend and colleague from Hong Kong with wife and daughter. The women were vegetarian and they were extremely happy with the quality of what they were eating.

The latest time we visited Macéo was on our own. We had their Menu Guide Rouge which was something else. A good thing was that the restaurant served high quality wines by the glass which is perfect for us as a couple. 

If you can read Swedish you can get a more complete picture of this latest trip to Paris and Macéo on my other blog.

WEB: http://www.maceorestaurant.com/maceo_paris_welcome.html#.UYavzMqTyjg
LATEST VISIT: 2009
NUMBER OF VISITS: 4 

LE TASTEVIN

 LE TASTEVIN - 46, rue Saint-Louis-en-l'Île 75004 PARIS

We were recommended this restaurant by some friends who are wine producers. It is very centrally located, not far from Notre Dame. The restaurant is small and genuine and known for the very good kitchen.

The first time we were there was a group of Swedish women sitting at a table next to us. It was a group of Swedish artists from the Swedish cultural society Swea who were enjoying themselves. The, in Sweden quite well known, journalist and historic writer Herman Lindqvist dropped in during the night as his wife is one of The Sweas.

I have been there twice more, once with my wife and once with some academic colleges from Europe. We have always been very happy with the excellent food, welcoming reception and good service.

If you read Swedish you can read more about a visit to Tastevin on my other blog.

WEB: http://www.letastevin-paris.com/

LATEST VISIT: 2008
NUMBER OF VISITS: 3 

L'ESTAGNOL

L'ESTAGNOL - 5 cours Mirabeau, 11100 Narbonne

I have mentioned Restaurant L’Estsagnol earlier as it is situated across (en face) the canal from Restaurant En Face, or it is rather the opposite as L’Estagnol is much older and En Face is an offspring.

Restaurang L’Estagnol have a very good traditional kitchen and is highly valued by those who love traditional food from the region. Here you can sometimes find traditional dishes made from inner organs, blood and intestines. I have tried most of them, but I have very seldom liked it. Our good friends from the region love it and say this is one of the better places to get the right thing on the plate.

Do not be afraid, nowadays they are more and more into serving more normal food from the regional kitchen, which is also very well prepared and genuine, so we go there now and then as the restaurant is well located in the center of Narbonne, next door to Les Halles.

Revisited June 2016: It was i long time since we were here. They have been around longer than most restaurants in the area and are mostly very good. We noticed they now serve Black Angus beef. It is often a problem getting tender beef in France, but Black Angus is mostly perfect.

WEB: http://lestagnol.fr/index.htm
LATEST VISIT: June 2016
NUMBER OF VISITS: >5

LE PETIT PASTIS (CLOSED)

LE PETIT PASTIS - 17 cours Mirabeau - 11100 NARBONNE

We dropped into a new restaurant in Norbonne the other day. It is advertised as Café Comptoir Restaurant and is very nice. The design of the place is modern to apply to the young an busy professionals - very unpretentious but nice.
We had the today's menu that was very good as was the house wine. Young waiters in casual uniforms served us with a smile and we liked it a lot. This might be our new favourite for lunch in Narbonne.

Revisited for lunch in May: This place will be one of our favourite lunch places in Narbonne. The day was fantastic – 23 degrees and no wind. We managed to get a table outside and I ordered the today’s set menu and my wife a Caesars salad. 

For starter I got slices of ripe melon and good classic dried ham, which was exactly as it should be. My main course was half a mini cock that was perfectly cooked, juicy and tasty. It was accompanied by green pies and green beans that were cooked “al dente” and perfect. My dessert was a lovely pannacotta with fresh raspberries and a sauce made of raspberries. My wife’s Caesar salad was made by the text-book, which is not anything you can trust in many restaurants. It was very good and generous. They had even managed to get the egg cooked so the yolk was running. My set menu  was only 13 euros.

The service is pleasant, relaxed, young and very attending. 

Revisited May 2013: We were not so happy this time. My meat was OK but the salads that was so good last time did not live up to the usual quality. The Caesar salad had the wrong salad, which was not very crisp and brown on the edges. It could be that this was a Sunday with very little customers and they did not care about these as much as the regular lunch guests that come regularly. Maybe it was other staff in the kitchen?

 
WEB:
LATEST VISIT: 2014
NUMBER OF VISITS: 4