Food tripping in Barcelona

Despite our scary experience at the train station in Barcelona, we couldn't complain about Catalan cuisine. It was like eating at home, away from home. Let me explain. By virtue of our birth in a former Spanish colony named the Philippines, we were all familiar with Spanish food, tradition, language and Catholic faith. It was our first visit to our former motherland Spain and we only had one full day.

Naturally, eating paella was on top of our list. Paella is a saffron-flavored Spanish dish with rice, vegetables, meat, chicken or seafood. Secretly, I wanted to taste a paella made in Spain. As expected, the paella was delicious in a peppery way. I guess the Spaniards like it with a lot of peppers - red, green, jalapeno. We all finished a whole paella each, scraped the toasted bottom of the pan, and drank our sangria. What better way to spend the Spanish siesta time but to eat?

Little did we know that we were in for a better treat for dinner. As we strolled along La Rambla, looking at menus of restaurants, who but a Filipino waiter would approach us.

"Filipinos?" he asked with a knowing look.
"Why yes!" The four of us - myself, Joan, Aida and Rachel -were all surprised.
"Dito na kayo kumain," he continued. (Eat your food here.)

So that's how we ended up in Amatxu, a restaurant along La Rambla. We felt at home at Amatxu, because the manager, cooks, and waiters who served us were mostly Filipinos! For tapas or appetizers, we had pan con tomate (which is crusty bread brushed with olive oil, garlic and tomato), puntillitas (battered and fried baby squid), calamares and vegetable salad. For some reason, the pan con tomate and puntillitas never made it to Philippine shores which is a pity.

For our main course, I had paella again, this time with chorizos (Spanish sausages). It was interesting to note that since the cook was a Filipino, it did taste like a paella made in Manila - not hot with peppers, but a little wet on the sauce and with generous toppings. For the first time, I ate a fresh Spanish chorizo which was not smoked nor red in color. I can't decide which paella version is better, because both tasted delicious in its own way. For our dessert, it was the Spanish flan called Creme Catalan, vanilla custard with caramel sauce. It's sweet and light, it must be the fresh cream or milk they used. A perfect ending to a delicious, full meal.

As recommended, we visited Moka Cafe (along La Rambla) the next day for breakfast. Thanks to Rachel, our food enthusiast, we got to try churros con chocolate made in Spain. Along with tapas like calamare, Iberian ham and cheese, we feasted on Spanish churros dipped in thick Spanish chocolate. Superb! The Spaniards cook their churros to a crisp, clean pastry, devoid of any dusting of sugar or cinnamon. The secret lies in the thick, rich, dark, Spanish chocolate. When you dip the churros in the hot chocolate, the combination is perfect - rich, dark Chocolately taste. No wonder the Spaniards drink chocolate morning, noon and evenings! I also got to try something called tarta de patatas (potato tart) which I confused with torta de patatas, which is a Spanish omelette filled with fresh potatoes. Nevertheless, the tarta de patatas was creamy and filling. I learned the Spaniards also topped tarta de patatas with melted Spanish chocolate. Ay, deliciosos!