O Abel

For our return to Portugal, nothing better than starting with one of the master pieces of portuguese cuisine, the "posta mirandesa" (Mirandese stake). We took the opportunity of a small holiday in Trás-os-Montes, the north-easternmost province of Portugal, to return to a cherished memory of a previous visit to the land beyond the Marão mountain, the O Abel restaurant in Gimonde. Gimonde is a small village about 5 km out of Bragança, on the road to Quintanilha and to the Spanish border.

As you drive into Gimonde, the O Abel is found on the left side of the road and can easily be identified on only by the large name sign but also by the terrace beside the large grill where they cook the local delicacies. As soon as we parked the car, the smell of grilled meat flooded our senses. Impressive on the grill, we could see huge t-bone stakes and the mythical "postas mirandesas", huge lumps of red meat from the Mirandese cattle, a typical race from north-east Portugal which in now becoming increasingly rare. For an ample dinner for two we only needed:

Starters

Bread

Butter

Olives

Main course

"Posta mirandesa" (Mirandese stake)

A single serving of "posta mirandesa" was more than enough for two, being wealthly accompanied by delicious home made French fries. As soon as we started cutting the meat it became obvious how tender it was. When we brought the first piece to our mounths... the taste was indescribable. The texture, the flavour, everything was perfect in that piece of meat, which was only seasoned with a little bit of salt.

The Portuguese cuisine is just like this, without complex recipes. All that is required are top quality products and simple processes to produce unique gastronomic experiences. A nice red wine would probably have been a nice complement to our dinner, but we only had water, very cool water because the warm August night was well above 30 degrees.

Price: 9 euros/person

Address: Gimonde, Bragança 5300-533

Phone number: +351 273382555

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A change in setting

This blog started out to witness our "gastronomic tours" in the Spanish province of Catalunya. However, life is ever in motion, and we eventually moved back to Portugal. After a pause of over one year, we decided to resume this blog, now with our "gastronomic tours" in our home country, Portugal, likely the best place in the World to eat good food at even greater prices.

So, bye bye Catalunya, Portugal here we come!

Udon

Let's forget about Catalan cuisine for the time being, let's try something more exotic. There is plenty of offer around Barcelona, and we decided to go for Japanese food. We went to the Udon which is not really a traditional Japanese restaurant, but not quite the fast-foody versions you now find in many places. The restaurant is located in the ever busy Carrer Princesa, the decoration looks smart and functional and there was a Bruce Lee movie being projected on a white wall. We were five this time and ordered as follows:

Starters
Gyoza
Marinated salmon
Good roll
Very good roll

Main Courses
Tempura udon
Nabeyaki udon
Beef yaki soba
Tori nanba udon

Dessert
Banana & Co
Mochi
Chocolate cup

We can guarantee that the taste of the starters was much better than their choice for names! From the gyoza dumplings, stuffed with pork and vegetables, to the the noodle rolls with salmon, avocado and mango (good roll), the tempura rolls with salmon, avocado, cheese and sesame seeds (very good roll) and the marinated salmon, they were all delicious and filled with the tastes of Japan.
For the main dishes we went mostly for Udon, traditional thick white noodles which were served as soups and with Japanese soya broth and vegetable and prawn tempura, chicken slices, eggs, spinaches, leek and bamboo shoots. The beef yaki soba was also quite good, with buckwheat noodles cooked in the wok with green and red peppers, shiitake mushrooms, carrots, cabbage, soya sprouts, marinated beef and yaki soba sauce. Of course everything was helped down with Japanese beer: Kirin and Asahi.

The desserts were also quite nice, but awfully small. Fried banana with coconut ice cream, chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and the always strange mochi, Japanese rice cakes with strawberry filling.
We recommend this restaurant if you are looking for good quality and tasty Japanese food with a price tag that is not to extravagant.
めしあがれ！

Price: 19 euros/person
Address: Carrer Princesa 23, 08003 Barcelona
Phone Number: +34 933105969


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Nou Celler

A few days ago we felt like going out for dinner. With no particular place in mind, we walked around the Born district looking to find a restaurant that would catch our attention. After crossing a few narrow cobbled streets we walked by the Nou Celler. It is a small, cosy, old-fashioned restaurant, with wooden tables, white walls and old furniture, bottles and amphorae for decoration. The local old men having dinner in a table by the door told us this was the right place to stay for dinner. We went in and had:

Starter
Esqueixada

Main Course
Estofat de vedella a vi blanc
Pollastre a la catalana

Dessert
Crema catalana

Once again we chose esqueixada as a starter. This time we got a lot more fresh cod, delicious tomatoes and onions, instead of the pile of lettuce you sometimes get... A lot better like this. In fact this was the best esqueixada we've had so far!

Pollastre is Catalan for chicken. For this recipe, the chicken is cooked with dry fruits (prunes,raisins and pine seeds), which gives it a tasty, sweet flavour. You get 1/4 chicken in one piece covered with the sweet sauce and also a small sausage that honestly didn't really add much to the dish.
The other dish is a veal stew that was served together with chestnut purée. The meat was quite tasty and together with the chestnut flavour felt a bit exotic. Both dishes were very good and we most certainly recommend them. Only one complaint: our Portuguese stomachs tend to expect a bit more garnishing with the meat, we still have to get more used to Spanish/Catalan habits. Next time we order a side dish of patatas bravas!

For dessert we went for the typical crema catalana. This is simply a Catalan version of crème brûlée. Quite tasty. Overall, we were very happy with our dinner at Nou Celler, the food was good, the serving staff welcoming. Another very good experience with Catalan cuisine.

Price: 17 euros/person
Address: Carrer de la Barra de Ferro 3, 08003 Barcelona
Phone Number: +34 93 3104773


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La Niña

Last weeked we headed for Sitges looking to try some paella. Sitges is a small town located some 20 km south of Barcelona. During the summer Sitges is always full of tourists that enjoy the quiet beaches the town has to offer. During the winter, rumour has it that this is one of the best places around for a good paella!
The train ride takes about 40 minutes and offers some beautiful ocean views. Sitges welcomes you with an old fascioned train station and quaint little streets meandering down to the beach. The restaurant La Niña is located on the beach front, you can find it easily if you turn right by the curch and continue along the promenade. Actually, La Niña is only one of three restaurants, all adjacent to each other, all belonging to the same owners. The other two are called Santa Maria and La Pinta, after the names of the three ships in Cristopher Colombus' fleet when he first went to the New World. They are a great place for a sunday lunch with some friends or family. The food is too tasty to waste your stomach on starters, so we went straight to the main courses. This time we had:

Arroz negro
Paella marinera
Fideuà blanco

We had been planning to try arroz negro for some time, and this was our chance. Literally black rice, this dish is similar to paella, with rice and seafood, but squid ink is added making it completely black. The recipe for this traditional Catalan dish (also common in Valencia) includes cuttlefish or squid, rice, garlic, green cubanelle peppers, sweet paprika, olive oil and seafood broth. The taste is definitely worth the black teeth you get after eating.

Like the arroz negro, the paella marinera came in a traditional paellera, the shalow pans in which these rice dishes are cooked. It was a rich paella with plenty of seafood, including enourmous mussels, shrimps, crayfish and squid. The rice is yellow because of the saffron and you just can't stop eating it. Finnaly, the fideuà is a typical dish from Valencia. Basically, for the untrained eye, it looks just like paella, but instead of rice you have noddles. In fact "fideu" is the catalan word for noodles. Myself, I prefer the paella, but many people like the fideuà better. You have to try both and choose for yourself.
This seafood feast was absolutely wonderful. By the end we were so full that we could almost fall asleep right there on the table. Of course it all went down with a delicious sangria de cava. This time the sangria had strawberries and the mixed tastes of cava and red fruits was really, really good. ¡Salut!


Price: 22 euros/person
Address: Passeig De La Ribera 65-68, 08870 Sitges
Phone Number: +34 938940999

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Origen 99,9%

This time we went to the ever-active Born district of Barcelona. This is one of the best spots in town to find nice places to eat, snack, drink or simply hang out. A friend had recomended us a restaurant that specializes on Catalan cuisine. In fact, the Origen 99,9% is a chain of restaurants present throughout Barcelona, that not only offer regional specialities, but also claim that all products used in their kitchen are local (at least 99,9% of them!).

We were presented with a vast menu, and ended up choosing the following for 4 persons:

Starters
Coca d’escalivada amb romesco
Coca de ceba i anxoves

Main Course
Calamars farcits
Ànec amb préssec
Vedella amb peres
Espinagada

Of course, like in any Catalan place, the meal started with the usual bread with tomato. The novelty was that we just got bread, whole tomatos, whole cloves of garlic, some olive oil, and knives. We had to do the spreading ourselves. Fun!
Then came the cocas. Coca is a special type of bread, somewhat similar to pizza, and the ones we ordered were nicely covered with caramelized onions (ceba) and anchovy fillets from l’Escala (anxoves); and grilled red peppers, onions and eggplant (escalivada) served with romesco sauce. Delicious.
Then we had Calamars farcits, squids stuffed with minced meat, mixed with hard-boiled egg, garlic and parsley. The squids were covered with a sauce made of chick peas and the squid's own ink. Apparently this is one of the most resounding
recipes in Catalunya. Continuing the meal, the Espinagada is a spinach pie served with fresh vegetables. Both other dishes were made with meat and fruits. Anéc amb préssec means duck with peaches and it looked just as tasty as it sounds. The duck is an animal highly valued in the Catalan gastronomy. There are many fruits that can combine with duck: pears, apples, plums, cherries or peaches, like in this case. Vedella amb peres is veal with pears. Again, the fruity taste mixed well with the meat. Of course all of these were drunk down with a delicous Sangria de Cava, a sangria made with Cava, the traditional Catalan version of Champagne. The ambience was completed with soft music, including at least one Portuguese fado, and of course great company. Origen is a great place for a meal that is both informal and exquisite.

Price: 18 euros/person
Address: Passeig del Born 4, 08003 Barcelona
Phone Number: +34 932956690


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Café Ninoska

You can't always go to fancy places. Not on our pay checks anyway... Today we went to a small snack-bar for a quick lunch. However, we were very surprised with the quality of the food and decided it was worth sharing here. The Café Ninoska is owned by Peruvians and so they have some Peruvian cuisine in the menu. Like most places in Spain, you can have a full meal, including starters, main course and dessert all together in a special menu that goes easy on the pocket. The two of us had:

Starters
Ensalada de la huerta
Entremesa de la casa

Main Course
Bistek con patatas
Seco de Ternera

Dessert
Tarta de la casa

The ensalada de la huerta is a simple fresh vegetable salad, but it was nicely presented in a square bowl and looked atractive to the eye. The entremesa is a mix of diferent sausages, ham and Manchego cheese, together with a salade made with chicken, pasta and mayo. The delicious Spanish sausages are perfect to build up your appetite for the main course.
The bistek is simply a grilled beefsteak, but this one was seasoned to perfection. The main surprise of the day was the seco de ternera. This Peruvian stew is made with beaf, potatos, carrots and pees and seasoned with plenty of coriander and parsley, which gives it a green colour, and further spices that made the whole deal slightly hot and extremely good.

The dessert was also quite good, the pie was made with chocolate and crema catalana (typical Catalan custard tart), and filled that last empty spot in our stomachs.
The Cafe Ninoska may not be a gourmet restaurant, but is certainly a good option for a nice unexpensive meal with a south-american taste. We are sure to go back there to further explore the Peruvian options in the menu.


Price: 8.5 euros/person
Address: Avinguda Icaria, 131 (Villa Olimpica) - Barcelona
Phone Number: +34 932212444


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