ME Restaurant - Barcelona

While I’ve had very little time to experience Barcelona as a tourist, just living and experiencing the day to day as a native (living out of a hotel) has been quite an experience. When I have some more time to write toward the back end of the trip I will definitely go into detail on the cultural differences between the US and Spain, France, etc. For now, I’d like to stick to the topic of food!

It’s been work, eat, drink, sleep, repeat for one full week. Every lunch and dinner has been fantastic; I’ve had not one complaint. And the dinner we had last night was no exception!

We walked to a place called ME just about 4 blocks from our hotel. Some of my co-workers had dined here on previous business trips and they had been raving about this chocolate desert for days, so we had to go try and get a table. After about 10 minutes of negotiating with the owner, they finally let us in even without a reservation. The food, atmosphere, and service was top notch and the owner actually sat down with us when we ordered to answer any questions we had about the food, and then again at the end of the evening. He was super personable, even to the table of 6 who showed up without a reservation, so I’m sure the service is spectacular on any day.

I couldn’t decide if I should go for the octopus starter or entrée, so I ordered both. And I wasn’t disappointed! We each had a desert; I had goat cheese cheesecake and stole a bit of someone else’s chocolate desert which more than half the table ordered. We also wiped out the restaurant of Albarino wine…we drank 6 bottles!

This honestly was one of the best restaurant’s I’ve ever been to, and the prices weren’t unreasonable. If you ever get the chance to visit Barcelona, this is an absolute MUST!

For information on ME Restaurant, I found this utube video including a tour of the restaurant and interview with the owners.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqIxvptawMo

I also found this New York Times Review:
Away from the crowds in the popular L’Eixample area you’ll find this cutting-edge and affordable restaurant, a seven-month-old hybrid of New Orleans, Vietnamese and Catalan cooking created by Thang Pham.

ME Restuarant
Carrer de Paris, 162, Barcelona, 8036
93/4194-933
www.catarsiscuisine.com


ENJOY!

8pm = early bird special

It’s no joke, dinner doesn’t start in Spain until 9pm. Tapas, yes, you can certainly enjoy a tapas dinner at 7pm or earlier but if you’re looking for a real dinner with starter, entrée and desert, don’t expect those restaurants (authentic Spanish restaurants) to open their doors before 9pm.

Last evening we worked in the office until 8:15pm, dropped off our bags at the hotel and headed out for dinner. We arrived at our destination around 8:45 and were the first patrons to walk through the door. At 9:05pm, the doors flew open and tables were full shortly after. How is this possible? How can people afford to have a full dinner, including desert and coffee (and at least 1 bottle of wine) starting at 9pm or later? Simple! Their day prior to dinner looked like this:

9:00 am – employees arrive in the office
10:30am 11:00am– employees leave premises to break for breakfast
1:30-2:30pm – employees leave premises to break for lunch
5pm sharp – employees leave premises for the day
At least 1-2 times within the day, employees gather for coffee and/or a game of cards.

When I find the time, I’d like to do research on the average life expectancy in Europe and I would put money on the average being at least 5 years higher than that of the United States. Stress levels, not to mention cancer and terminal illness, should also be significantly lower. As a psychology student in school, I would love to do a study on overall happiness of Europeans compared to Americans. Even with working 12+ hours days since I’ve been in Europe, the work-life balance is hard to ignore and the work-hard, play-hard philosophy has certainly been put into practice.

** The restaurant we ate at Monday evening was Market Hotel and was fabulous!! A proper dinner with starter, entrée, desert and wine (2 bottles) for 3 people was a total of 90 Euro (without tip). Be prepared, the entrée doesn’t include much of a side, but the meal itself is wonderful. http://www.markethotel.com.es/
Make reservations if possible, for anytime after 9pm. We called about 6 times throughout the day but nobody ever answered the phone, so we arrived at 8:45pm and they gave us a table anyway.

Topic Train!

I’ll start off today’s blog by asking a simple question. Has anyone ever had a good experience at the Paris Charles de Gaul airport? I’ve flown domestically and internationally out of the CDG airport and each time the experience is beyond poor. I’ll skip the details because there are far more exciting topics to discuss, but please do share your thoughts on CDG.

I’ve only been in Barcelona for half a day, but already so much to talk about!! Where to start!!

Taxi drivers – while they don’t drive Mercedes as they do in Paris, taxi drivers in Barcelona are a lot friendlier (not to mention cheaper!!). My driver chatted the entire ride into the city, talking of topics from the economy to the fact that Shakiria is now living in Barcelona. He also made sure to tell me there is a great disco across the street from my hotel!

Sidewalks – I don’t know why, but I love that there are sidewalks on the side AND middle of the larger roads.

Dogs – Last time I was in Barcelona we noticed that most dogs in the city were not on a leash, something you’d never see in the States. As we travel more and more we realize this is the norm in Europe. So far today however, I’ve seen about 10 dogs and every one was on a leash.

Dinner – My hotel is about 6 blocks from the hotel Brian and I stayed in two years ago, and I was determined to have dinner at the little restaurant half a block from our hotel. I made my way there (without a map!) and to my disappointment, the once authentic restaurant with the most amazing paella had been replaced with a tourist bar with pictures of the food for a menu. I sat down anyway, and even though they didn’t have paella I did have three of my favorites, Estrella Damm, chorizo boccadillo, and calamares. All for 7.80 euro!!! Can’t beat it!

Wedding Dress Capital – For those who don’t know, Barcelona is where Brian proposed and because of that maybe I noticed more than ever how many wedding dresses are displayed in shop windows. I’ve been to my share of cities and I swear Barcelona has more than the average number of bridal shops. I noticed it again tonight, as I walked to dinner I must have passed at least 5 shops in a matter of 6 blocks.

Paris Hilton (yes, Paris Hilton) - I find it wrong that Paris Hilton’s arrest with cocaine charges is discussed every 5 minutes on CNN and SkyNews, in between news such as the Prime Minister’s new baby daughter and Glenn Beck’s rally. Paris Hilton’s name should never be spoken on any respectable news station and is it me, or do you think she wanted to get caught to compete with Lindsay Lohan’s drama? I am however very pleased they have English speaking channels. Again, something that was rare in my two Paris hotels.

Hotel – my hotel is fantastic, very contemporary, spacious and has all the amenities. Just one problem. As I was sitting on my bed catching up on the evening news I started to hear a buzzing sound coming from outside. I look out and notice a spotlight that is located directly below my window has turned on. Apparently there my room is located directly below, or next to, a very important sign outside that must be lit up at night. I kid you not, I feel like Kramer on that Seinfeld episode where the red light from the Chicken sign shines into his room and drives him crazy. Look at this picture! It is 10pm and no lights on inside my room. Hopefully the light gets turned off around midnight? One can hope…