Paco Meralgo

Address: c/ Muntaner 171, Barcelona (Hospital clinic metro stop)

http://www.pacomeralgo.com

Phone: 93 430 90 27



About Paco Meralgo...Gan wasn't too excited, at first, about dining there. We had to make our way to Hospital Clinic metro stop from Sagrada Familia to get to this restaurant and his first impression of the restaurant when he saw it was, "it looked like a chain restaurant". I don't blame him, since he just had his favorite tapas meal in Inopia last night. But don't judge a book by its cover, I told him. As it turned out, he really liked some of the dishes at Paco Meralgo!

Paco Meralgo is a cooked food tapas place, and seems like their specialties are grilled seafood and catalan dishes. Just like the Spanish, we got into the habit of drinking while eating, be it breakfast, lunch or dinner. I had a glass of red wine while Gan went with a glass chardonnay. We ordered the broad beans Catalan style, Razor clams with olive oil and lemon, small plate paella, fish and seafood croquettes, beef fillet with black pepper and fried suckling lamb. All the dishes were simple, but spot on in terms of seasoning and taste. The razor clams were just with olive oil and lemon, but it's one of the nicer olive and lemon razor clams I have eaten. The fish and seafood croquettes were amazing as well, the Spanish really knows how to make awesome croquettes! The black pepper beef fillet, very good, and our favorite turned out to be the small plate paella - so moist and to die for!

For dessert, we ordered two torrija de santa Teresa (Catalan French Toast) since we really love the torrija we had in Degustation Wine & Tasting Bar in NYC. But Paco Meralgo's version of torrija was somewhat different from what we had before, but still good. It was coated with egg on the outside and fried just like a regular French Toast, but instead of bread, it has a more "custardy" texture on the inside.

Paco Meralgo dishes and ambience are definitely more refined, but still comfortable and unpretentious. Seems like it's a popular lunch spot for businessman as well. We like this place.