Friday, May 25, 2007

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!!)

1.
2.

3.


***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..!

11 comments:

  1. LOL! I noticed RIGHT after I did NOT tag you that LC did!!! Ha! You can never escape the tag!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Silly me! I'm back up at the top meme looking for IT's comment section! Sheeeeeesh! You know I would be a skinny woman living in Spain! The restaurants don't serve dinner until I am in bed!!! LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ah la,la these taggers ! I have to unveil my favourite restaurants too ! Here the usual supper hour is 8 sometimes 7.30 for a restaurant but that's rather rare. 9 is really late ! It's bedtime ! Don't dare to steal my little Rosel ! We will have to wait until mid-end June until we can get her, but as I am going for 12 days to Turkey on tuesday (sounds nice Turkey on Tuesday, a new meme) for holidays, round trip + rest, the time will go by fast.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Good girl playing :-)

    I'll save this list with eating places til the day we get to Barcelona. One day we will go there. I'm sure. I've wanted to go there for very long now.

    I'll send out early warning signs if we do.... *giggles*

    ReplyDelete
  5. Girl, no matter how long I read your blog you just keep getting cooler and cooler!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for the invite and your choice sounds delicious. Top of the cream would be to take Diane with me one day and enjoy some of this delicacy together with you and Mr. Mar!
    And then: Happy Birthday to your sister with a big hug from Norway!

    Btw: A gastronomic suggestion: How about a paella? At least to me it sounds Spanish:-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. hello from sugarloaf mountain

    ReplyDelete
  8. I don't suppose McDonald's counts? Truly, for a world traveler, I'm embarrassed to say sometimes there's nothing like a Big Mac. But, to answer your question seriously, one of my favorite places in our town is called Meson Sabika where there is fabulous tapas dining. Our wedding reception was held there, but we always use it for a special eating out destination. Also, in Chicago there is a restaurant called The Russian Tea Room, which is really not a tea place at all. It is covered in red velvet decor, and has the most delicious goulasch I've ever tasted.

    ReplyDelete
  9. What? Dinner is not served before 9pm? I usually have dinner at 6!! But mmm Cerveceria Catalana sounds good..love tapas food!! And a beerhall at the same time!! :D

    Ps thanks for doing the tag. I hope you enjoyed it.. If you know of anyone else doing it please feel free to send me a message and I’ll update them too on the updated list of tag doers..so far you are the first from Spain doing the tag!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Cerveceria Catalana - looking at your description blow my mind already so yeah.. I can't imagine if I see the list :D

    Grupo Tragaluz sounds like a nice place.. great view.. great food.. ah nothing more a tourist can ask for right?

    Thanks for doing the tag. Our tag network list just grew wider :D

    ReplyDelete
  11. Happy belated birthday to your sister!

    Thanks for playing, Mar. I guess I have to come for a week to Barcelona - I couldn´t decide... want to see (taste?) all the places!

    Liebe Gruesse!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your comment, the best part of every post!
☀ IMPORTANT: ☀ kindly leave your direct link to the current meme, if you have multiple blogs. Thank you very much!!