the special birthday and the eating out meme

*First of all, today is a very special day:

Happy birthday to my dear sister X! and many, many more!

**Secondly, we enter the meme zone, as the charming coffee lady Sanni tagged me with the following:

The Eating Out Meme.

These are the rules:

1. Link to the name of the person who tagged you.
2. Include the state and country in which you live.
3. List your top 5 favorite places to eat at your location (locally).
4. Tag 5 other people (preferably from other countries/states) and let them know they’ve been tagged.


This is a thrilling, delicious yet difficult task. I live in Barcelona, Spain since the early 90's but still haven't tried all the different restaurants this lively city has to offer and won't ever be able to. So I will share with you some of the places we enjoy , here is the list, in no particular order.

1. Merendero de la Mari, beautifully located at the old port with a great view! large terrace and fine cuisine, Mr Mar loves their "tronco de merluza" (hake). They have wonderful salads if you'd rather have a light dinner. Remember dinner in Spain is not served before 9pm, with rare exceptions. It is hard to find a good restaurant serving a warm meal at 7pm. Just for your information.

2. Cerveceria Catalana - it is actually a beerhall but it's mainly known as a great place for Mediterranean tapas, the display will blow your mind! This is a great option for an early tapas dinner (say 7pm!) since the kitchen is open all day. It's a busy, busy place, must get there before the business people leave their offices and arrive here after work!

3.

Grupo Tragaluz has a fun website with a great view over Barcelona facing the Mediterranean. You can see the whole list of restaurants which belong to this group on the left, click on any of them and the site will show you the location on the same view of Barcelona, it's fun to take a look. I was actually looking for the link to my fave from this group, El Japones, Asian cuisine : fried dishes and tempura, light sushis and meatrolls. Even if you are not a sushi fan, like me, but they have wonderful and tasty dishes, all in small portions so you can eat a whole variety. All in a minimalist-decorated ambiente. Very pleasant. It's clever to make reservations.

4. El Glop de la Rambla - here you can find Mr Mar and I having lunch if I happen to go downtown Barcelona during the week. It's a nice place offering a daily menu for about 8 euros/ 11 USD

5. Fresc Co , a wonderful self-service restaurant, perfect for an outing with the girls!! They offer a large salad buffet, pasta (I am happy with any restaurant offering these two!), just check their "menu and prices". This is the place where my sister and I have lunch when she is visiting and we do our shopping tour downtown Barcelona.

So far, so good. Only I don't tag so maybe you can share one favorite place of yours in the comments to please our Sanni and those hungry bloggers! If you include a link I will list you right here :) Bon Appetit!!

Gastronomic suggestions from the gourmet visitors:

(be the first one!!)

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***Special Friday bonus for the meme zone: Lovely Links Of Love


alexia.com
I was tagged by our distinguished Cyber Cruise Captain with this meme... Since it’s about making connections through the Blogosphere and there is a list of blogs to visit, kindly click here to find out all about it!!! Make sure to go to Alexa and see your blog rankings..!