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Barcelona Dining - El Xampanyet

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  • Barcelona Dining - El Xampanyet

    On a recent trip to Barcelona, I was fortunate to have a colleague who had spent a lot of time in Barcelona, and knew where to go for a bite.

    My work days were fairly long, but this worked well there, because people eat fairly late here, and when we arrived at a dinner venue at 8pm or 8.30pm, things were usually just getting started, and most dinner places really only got busy from 9pm onwards.

    But El Xampanyet, a tapas / Cava bar in the Born district of Barcelona, appears to be permanently busy.

    Tip: If you want a good meal, and want to avoid some of the more overtly touristy places, head to Born, or Passeig del Born, a part of the city, still fairly central, where the Picasso Museum is located, where there are numerous wonderful eating options.

    This set of posts is about dinner I had at El Xampanyet. A tapas and Cava bar popular with locals and foreigners alike.



    Set along a narrow street with numerous eateries, this place was packed to the gills when we were there at around 9pm. This was standing room only. Our colleagues, who had arrived earlier, had waited 30 minutes for a table, and there were six of us huddled around a table really meant for 4 (or 2...).


  • #2
    Another of my colleagues, from Hong Kong, remarked that he thought Hong Kong was crowded, but this was even more crowded.

    They must have been here for a reason...

    This place sells vast quantities of the house Cava (A sparkling wine similar to champagne.), but the tapas are superb as well...

    You know how in Singapore you get mee pok, wanton mee, chicken rice almost everywhere, but there are certain places which the locals gravitate to and acknowledge as the best? El Xampanyet is one of those places as far as Cava and tapas are concerned...
    Last edited by yflyer; 16 March 2014, 08:14 PM.

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    • #3
      We ordered the house Cava, and tapas...lots of them...

      We started with the anchovies...

      Cold salty, preserved anchovies. Maybe an acquired taste, but I found these delicious, with an intense flavour and firm texture...

      Here you had two kinds of anchovies. Usually you had a choice of either the white coloured ones, or the darker ones, but here they came interleaved.



      Then a platter of the most intensely flavoured Jamon Iberico (Spanish Ham) I have ever tasted.



      Jamon Iberico is available in most countries (and in Singapore), but the selection of hams is far better, and prices far lower, in Spain than elsewhere. Jamon Iberico is by far the most wonderful ham a person can eat...this stuff has nothing to do with the regular supermarket ham you get in a sandwich. This stuff is to ham what Japanese otoro tuna sashimi is to canned tuna flakes.

      Also in that pic: artichokes with a tangy creamy dressing.

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      • #4
        Speaking of tuna, a small plate of tuna was up next. This was delicious.



        Then we had small chilli peppers stuffed with cheese...

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        • #5
          The table next to ours ordered a plate of razor clams...

          We got the attention of the waitress...pointed to the next table, and asked for the same dish...



          Wonderful stuff! Any resemblance to ET is entirely coincidental...

          Grilled lamb with chilli peppers was up next...



          Then spicy chorizio sausages on bread...



          And Spanish omelette with potato...any resemblance to PacMan is also entirely coincidental...

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          • #6
            At that point, most of us were ready to burst, but our host insisted on us trying the house dessert platter, which was quite unique...

            A plate of assorted sweets and pastries...


            Which you could eat by dipping it into sweet dessert wine...


            I was sceptical at first, but it all tasted wonderful!

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            • #7
              A wonderful dining experience, and some of the best tapas (at reasonable prices) I have had in Barcelona!

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