One of my favorite things when going somewhere is trying out the local grub, and so far Barcelona has provided some great food! Today I walked to El Poblenou, where I ended up in a very rustic and ‘authentic’-looking restaurant. Not another tourist in sight. Since my Spanish is shamefully poor (read: can order up to seven beers), I was positively surprised to find also an English version of the menu. Albeit with some funky translations. I opted not to go for the ‘Mussels in special sailor sauce’. Instead I went for the ‘Ear to the Catalan style’, figuring this might be a carefully selected local speciality....maybe even a medley of specialties! What I got was a boiled pig’s ear on a plate. Felt a bit let down, especially since this was a seafood restaurant. And this must then have been the only meat-dish on the menu. But, a girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do, and washing it down with a bucket of wine certainly helped. So, lessons learned: Always have a snoop around the local market before chancing it on a menu. And learning the local lingo is always, always a good idea.
At the local market, later in the day....
