LA FLAUTA

LA FLAUTA - Carrer d'Aribau, 23, 08011 Barcelona, Spain

Just one block from where La Rambla meets with Diagonal in Barcelona we found a very nice restaurants for locals. It was recommended by the owner of the very nice B&B around the corner. When we came there around 9 it was quite empty but just a little after it started to fill up an was soon full of people of all ages.

In Spain we often start the meal with their fantastic ham and “pan con tomate”. It was a generous plate that was enough for us both. We had decided to have a good piece of meat and ordered the tournedos. We had however some language problems ordering so when we got the main dish it was just one portion for us both to share. It was a generous piece of meat, so we said we could start with that and come back later. It was well enough for us both. It came with a innovative style of French fries that looked like band pasta and was delicious and very crispy. I think the meat was one of the most tender and tasty pieces we have got for a long time.

We asked the waiter if he could recommend a good wine with the meal and surprisingly, he recommended the least expensive on the menu and it was excellent. The good thing in Span is that they mostly only add 100% on the wine in restaurants so this bottle was only 12 euros.

If you like a place where locals go and do not mind a little crowded atmosphere later in the evening – this is the place. Fantastic food and nice service. But – be in time if you have not reserved a table.

Telefon: +34 933 23 70 38
Latest visit: December 2018
Number of visits: 1

FANALS PLATJA Ca L’ADOLFO

FANALS PLATJA Ca L’ADOLFO – Passeig del Mar 92, Platja d’Aro, Spain

We were actually looking for another restaurant that we had visited before, but could not find. As we were looking for grilled fish we decided this one would be a choice as good - and it was. We asked what fish they had for the day and we could have Dorade, Loup de Mère and they had one St. Pierre. We settled for Dorade. The fishes were big, perfectly grilled and very tasty. We had a nice white wine to drink with it. After that we could not have anything but coffee. We have however no idea how the other dishes were as we had the simplest and basic one can have in a restaurant 10 meters from the sea.

The restaurant was a family restaurant and the owner as well as the father came down to “inspect” the business and sat down to speak a few words with old friends.

WEB: http://www.torredealtamar.com/en/ 
Latest visit: June 2016
Number of visits: 1

RESTAURANTE CASA HIDALGO

RESTAURANTE CASA HIDALGO – Calle san Pablo 12, Sitges, Spain

We found this restaurant through Via Michelin who had recommended it. The interior is fairly simple, but the service is pleasant and the food is really good. We had a three course dinner starting with two different variations of foie-gras. Both were very good. It was so generous that we could have shared one starter. My wife had a nice piece of veal entrecote and I had one of my favourites – a leg of baby goat. Both dishes Were tasty and the meat very tender.

The desserts were however a disappointment. My wife’s manchego cheese was dry, ice cold and had almost no taste and also my traditional crème caramel was quite tasteless. It was a pity to ruin such a fantastic meal with a bad finish. They however did not charge for the cheese even if they argued that it was the best manchego that was to find. Maybe so but we have had this kind of cheese many times in good restaurants and it is a favourite of my wife.

WEB: http://casahidalgo.es/
Latest visit: June 2016
Number of visits: 1

EL BALCÓ de CALELLA

EL BALCÓ de CALELLA – Pl. Atlàntic 2, Calella de Parafugell, Spain

This restaurant belongs to Hotel Sant Roc and one can sit either outside, on the veranda or in the dining-room. The view from either place in fantastic over the sea, the beach and the village. We settled for their gourmet menu which was a tasting menu so everything mentioned was included. Normally these tasting menus have small dishes, but here they were quite large. It was hard for me to reach the finish even if everything was really delicious.

The first starter was a very good Foie Gras and the second one was an oyster soup that was an absolute dream. The first main was a perfectly cooked fish and the second very tender veal. We also got two very tasty desserts, but at this time we were quite full.

Included in the prize 44 euros per person was white and red wine and they served as much as you felt like. Especially the first white wine impressed on me. It was a mixture of Chardonnay, Sauvignan blanc, Picpoul and Macabeau – which gave the wine a nice balance of fruitiness, freshness and body – perfect with both the Foie Gras, the soup and the fish.

The service was absolutely perfect as it was in the whole hotel. This is a place we will return to as it is just a couple of hours from home and the whole setting I almost perfect.


WEB: http://www.santroc.com/en/gastronomy-hotel-calella-costa-brava/#
Latest visit: June 2016
Number of visits: 1

BAR EL GALLO

BAR EL GALLO – Calle Especiers 13, St. Feliu de Guíxols, Spain

We were looking for a place to eat some tappas and sat down in this little place for just a drink. As the guy who served us was very friendly and helpful we asked if they had food as well. We got some very nice tappas – nothing fancy, but just what we were looking for. We were sitting outside in the street and watching people passing. It was a nice experience in a little bar that we normally would just pass.


WEB:
Latest visit: June 2016
Number of visits: 1

TORRE D’ALTA MAR ♥

TORRE D’ALTA MAR - Passeig Joan de Borbo 88 | Torre de Sant Sebastia, 08023 Barcelona, Spanien

This is really a fantastic experience that does not seem to be that well known. From Barcelona to Barcelonnette, there is a cable car. In the station-tower at the sea-side you find this restaurant. It is situated just one floor above the cable-car-station. The only sign of it from the outside is the door to the elevator. The design of the place is very modern and the view from up there is breath-taking of the whole of Barcelona.
The food is fantastic and to a fabulous price. We had the lunch menu that was a three course meal of the best gourmet class including a glass of cava and a glass of wine. If I remember right the price was 30 euros+ per person. The service was really pleasant and we can really recommend this to anybody visiting Barcelona.

WEB: http://www.torredealtamar.com/en/
Latest visit: February 2016
Number of visits: 1

LOS CARACOLES

LOS CARACOLES - Carrer dels Escudellers, 14, Barcelona, España

You must visit this place. Many people say it is a tourist trap, and maybe so. But – if it has been around for 180 years and my wife was here 1958 and it still looks the same it must have its virtues – and it has. You still have to reserve a table to get in. The atmosphere is fantastic and the service friendly but no nonsense. It is not a gourmet-restaurant, but the food is rustic, nice and generous.

The only problem is that you have to be sober to find you way out after your visit. You enter the restaurant through the kitchen which basically is an enormous stove where they prepare the food. They take you through a labyrinth of rooms, up the stairs and around bends and soon you are lost. Enjoy!

WEB: http://www.loscaracoles.es/index.php?lang=en
Latest visit: February 2016
Number of visits: 1

DON EDUARDO

DON EDUARDO - Passeig Marítim, 68, Platja d’Aro

We visited this restaurant two years ago when we had a short and very pleasant mini-vacation to Costa Brava. When my wife, myself and our friend Eva revisited Platja d’Aro this week we had to go back to Don Eduardo on the beach. Last time we had a very nice fish lunch and a meat dinner that was perfect. This time they had got fresh sole so we settled for that. It was as perfect as we remembered it from last time.

The restaurant is one of the many places on the beach and the service is professional and very relaxed. It is a place where we feel we can trust them to recommend both the food and the wine.

Latest visit: May 2014
Number of visits: 3

For those who read Swedish the whole tour can be read about on http://france-midi.blogspot.fr/2014/05/tva-dagar-i-spanien.html but also and earlier trip on 

http://france-midi.blogspot.fr/2012/09/costa-brava-utanfor-sasongen-sa-skinka.html

CASAMAR

CASAMAR – c/ del Nero 3, Llafranc
Guide Michelin

After some troubles finding a good restaurant that was not closed on Tuesdays we were recommended by a very helpful person in a neighbor village to go to Restaurant Casamar in Llafranc on Costa Brava. This family-owned restaurant was really something else and well worth its star in Guide Michelin. It is beautifully situated high up with a fantastic view over the Mediterranean bay bellow.

All three of us had just a main course as we had planned to eat at a good restaurant in the evening also. We had chateaubriand which came with a puree of potatoes and a sauce with a mild mustard taste. It was delicious and the meat was perfectly cooked to our liking and very generous. The service was relaxed and very professional.

Web: http://www.hotelcasamar.net/

Latest visit: May 2017
Number of visits: 2

For those who read Swedish the whole tour can be read about on http://france-midi.blogspot.fr/2014/05/tva-dagar-i-spanien.html

KøSa bistrõ

KøSa bistrõ – c/ Valls 16, Palafrugell

We had planned to eat at a couple of nice restaurants on our visit to Costa Brava. What we did not know was that most places are closed on Tuesdays. We were however lucky at lunch and found a fantastic place, but in the evening it looked as we should have to eat at a fast food place or a place with roaring tourists that were more interested in drinking than eating.

Again we asked a lady we met in the street that we categorized as someone who might have our kind of taste of restaurants. She directed us to a very small tapas restaurant where we only heard Catalan language when we entered the place. It was this family owned restaurant with the funny name KøSa bistrõ. The food was however not funny at all, but really delicious. It was a kind of local version of tapas that was freshly made by the chef and served on big plates for the whole party. We got the dishes one by one as we ate. We had of course Iberian ham and also big tempura fried shrimps, filled artichokes, cheese, sliced entrecote and I had a lovely baked apple.

Web: https://www.facebook.com/kosabistro
Latest visit: 2014
Number of visits: 1

For those who read Swedish the whole tour can be read about on http://france-midi.blogspot.fr/2014/05/tva-dagar-i-spanien.html

KÖNIG

KÖNIG - Placa Independencia, 2, 17001 Girona, Spain

Esta foto de König 2 es cortesía de TripAdvisor

This is not a gourmet restaurant, but a very good place to go to get good tapas or a burger together with friends. They also serve good German beer with distinct taste of hops, which I appreciate after the more sweetish beers from France and Belgium that we normally get in France.

We tried this place because it was the most crowded place around Place Independencia and we thought it meant something. The food was well made and not at all expensive - exactly what we were looking for after our fantastic lunch at Restaurant Nu.

Revisited August 2014: This is actually a quite good place to eat. The food holds a good quality and the wine is nice and affordable. Tapas is a good choice.

Webb: http://www.konig.cat/konig_2.php
Latest visit: August 2014
Number of visits: 2

RESTAURANT NU ♥

RESTAURANT NU - c/ Abeuradors, 4 Barri vell, Girona, Spain

This restaurant was the best culinary memory from our early spring trip to Spain and normally we do not give a “coup de coeur” to a restaurant after the first visit, but this is an exception. It is a modern restaurant that serve fusion food – a crossing between the Spanish tapas culture and Asian food. Even if the tasting menu was “just” ten dishes it reminded me a lot of the fantastic 35 course dinner I was invited to in Yokohama in Japan some years ago – but this had more Spanish taste. Like in Japan, the beautiful dishes were carefully designed both aesthetically and taste-wise and served on/in containers that enhanced the experience. I will only mention one of the ten dishes – the “foie gras”. The menu says “Salt baked foie gras, Golden apple ravioli, vanilla oil and P.X.” I do not know what P.X. stands for but there was a very thin crispy “blade” of chocolate and a dust of fine coffee powder. You might not believe it but together it was fantastic. Sorry I have to mention one more thing. I normally do not eat sardines, but “Marinated sardines, cream of pine nuts, basil and parmesan cheese” was absolutely fantastic.

The staff was young and professional and very nice. The restaurant had a modern design and the chef was preparing all the cold dishes behind a counter in the restaurant, which was interesting to look at.

The experience did not suffer anything from the fact that the whole menu was under 50 Euros and we could get wine by the glass or whole bottles to reasonable prizes.

Revisited June 2014: The day after our own traditional Midsummer party we did not feel like cooking so we, together with our Norwegian friends, drove down to Girona to eat. Like last time it was absolutely fantastic. We had the gourmet dinner again, which was basically the same as last time but with some new innovations. The foie gras was now caramelized and had got company of a banana ice-cream. Delicious!! The prize had gone up a few euros to 52.

Revisited August 2014: This is the third visit, but the first time in the evening. We got the feeling that the atmosphere was more relaxed at lunch. We enjoyed the food as usual, but I think we should wait a little until next time as the menu is the same every time. The little dish with mackerel was an exception and was the only dish we were not fond of.

Webb: http://www.nurestaurant.cat/index.php?idm=en
Latest visit: August 2014
Number of visits: 3

KIKARA

KIKARA - Iparraguirre 23, 48009 Bilbao

Kikara is a real super designed modern restaurant for the young and beautiful, but nobody minded us a little more matured being there. The design of the place is really something else and you get happy just sitting there. The food is excellent and best of all - it is not expensive.

We had there standard menu with three fantastic starters, main course and dessert. It came with a very good bottle of Rioja and the prize was 29 euros per person.

The only problem was that in the same room a group of their standard customer had fun and that was very noisy - almost unbearable sometimes.

Those who read Swedish are welcome to read about our trip to The Basque Countries - http://france-midi.blogspot.fr/2008/07/utflykt-till-baskien.html

WEB: http://www.kikara.com/main.html
LATEST VISIT: 2008
NUMBER OF VISITS: 1

BAR EL GLOBO ♥

BAR EL GLOBO -  c/ Diputación No 8, Bilbao

One of the great things in The Basque Countries is there version of tappas – pintxos. They are delicious small bits with ham, foie gras, fish, etc. on a piece of bread. In Bilbao we have found a place that serve the most fantastic ones. It is just a simple but very popular bar and is located in the center. The name is Bar El Globo.

Those who read Swedish are welcome to read about our entire trip to The Basque Countries on http://france-midi.blogspot.fr/2011/08/brollopsdagsresa-till-baskien.html

WEB: http://www.barelglobo.com/index.htm
LATEST VISIT: 2011
NUMBER OF VISITS: 5 

Reasons for the ♥:
The central location, the very pleasant atmosphere and the fantastic pintxos makes this place a must when visiting Bilbao.