La Boqueria

Address: Placa de la Boqueria, 08001, Barcelona

http://www.boqueria.info

Phone: 93 318 25 84



I have started planning for this Spain trip after watching Anthony Bourdain's No Reservation Spain episode. I was totally impressed by the Spanish's obsession with food (my kind of people!) and their commitment to bringing their cuisine to a new frontier. El Bulli and its spin offs have made Spain the most exciting culinary center of the world , that's why Gan and I just have to travel to Spain to eat. See how we tip-toed around whether Spain is the best food country in the world, given they already widely recognized best chef in Ferran Adria and best restaurant in El Bulli. For our food tour, we will begin our journey in Barcelona, making our way to San Sebastian, and then back to Barcelona. Our focus in Michelin stars restaurants will be in San Sebastian where we'll be dining at the famous Mugaritz, Arzak and Extebarri. Note we've tried unsuccessfully to get reservations at El Bulli since a year before this trip but Gan thinks it's actually a good thing. Every good story or movie usually have a part deux, or even a trilogy. So you'll just have to tune in for that. No despair as other than the usual Michelin star studded food, there will be lots of tapas/pintxos bars hopping, trying all sorts of food that Spain has to offer.

First stop, the Boqueria Market near La Rambla. Although I have been to many amazing markets in other countries, I thought this market has the best food selections and the produce sold there are unbelievably fresh! The sight and sound, color and beat of the market are unbelievably vibrant, considering it's only off one of the more touristy street in Barcelona, the La Rambla. You can see locals and tourists inter-mingle within the premises. At the fruit stalls, I saw a good mix of popular fruits such as cherries, pineapple, apple, grapes and more exotic fruits such as dragron fruit, mangosteens, lychee and rambutans. Most of the fruit stalls also make freshly squeezed fruit juice. There were also a lot of stalls selling all sorts of candies and chocolate, meat, cured meat such as jamon, seafood etc. Some of the more unusual sightings were a display of rabbits and game birds (that still have their fur on), and cow heads. This Market also houses tapas bars that are highly recommended by many people, and we went to El Quim for breakfast this morning.