[Carolyn Tillie]

On my last day in Barcelona, I was wandering the Gothic quarter's area where the antique stores reside. Having mostly eaten my fill (okay, not really) of tapas, I found a restaurant intriguing enough to warrant dinner as there was Kangaroo Carpaccio on the posted menu. While I wanted to get to some of the more noted establishments like Rías de Galicia, I figured I would have decent luck getting my traveling companion somewhere relatively close to our hotel...

Well, it *was* an adventure, I will grant that. We ordered a 2004 Genium Priorat and proceeded to order. Gee, a salad with pine nut ice cream? That sounded promising! Look at the picture and note the addition of peanuts and raisins in the salad -- it will become a recurring theme. Actually, the salad was not that bad; the addition of the pine nut ice cream was quite interesting. There was also sliced tomato, Asian pear, kiwi, cherry tomatoes, and a flower. It would make for an interesting interesting intermezzo in a large-coursed meal (well, the ice cream part, anyway).

Alongside the salad, we ordered a "tagliatelle with langostine, mushrooms, and soya." This was an extremely salty offering with a tad too much soy sauce. I couldn't tell you what the cheese was atop the pasta. The langostines were over-cooked and looking at the pictures, you can see how over-dressed everything was.

Now for the Kangaroo Carpaccio. This is what intrigued me to the restaurant and could have been extremely brilliant. Notice the peanut/raising pattern again? What gives? The "dressing" (I think it might have been a balsamic reduction) was so sickeningly sweet as to killed whatever flavor the kangaroo might have offered. Those langue du chat were savory and meant to accompany the dish. One bite are we were both done. Quite possibly the most bizarre dish I have ever had and a complete travesty.

Dessert - why, oh why, did I bother? Well, the servers were nice and it was quiet and bizarrely Oriental (look at the pictures - the entire restaurant was edged with the left-overs of a Chinese restaurant's motif they obviously haven't bothered to remove). The dessert we ordered was "chocolate lasagne." Hmmmm... are you seeing peanuts and raisins again? Yep, more garnish of peanuts and raisins along with more Asian pears and kiwi, just like the salad. The "lasagne" was supposedly chocolate pasta separated with thick chocolate ganache and overly garnished with chocolate syrup. You may not see it in the picture, but this monstrosity was HUGE, covering almost half the length of the table. Two bites sufficed. An interesting end to Barcelona and I promise there will be other follow-up reports which are far more interesting...

Nexes
C/ Banys Nous 8
08002 Barcelona

933 171 812

Pics on the blog.

[foodie52]

I once had a meal like that in Laredo, Mexico, sans kangaroo. No kidding. Only, it was really, really inexpensive, which I imagine yours wasn't.

[KRamsey]

Man, those pictures look like Lileks Gallery of Regrettable Food! Especially the one that looks like splayed and halved corn dogs.

[Silly Disciple]

and to think it could have been Rias de Galicia!

[Cathy]

Ewwwwwww. The pics look like a dissection in progress.

Thanks for taking a bullet for the team, Carrie.

[Carolyn Tillie]

I'm not sure why I spaced out on it, but the Kangaroo was topped with grated foie -- as if it makes a difference!

It may go down as the most memorable meal by virtue of being soooooo bad.

[Wilfrid1]

Oh, dear. Barcelona has turned into a silly place.

And you could have been eating snails and deep fried artichokes at Portalon on the same street. Number 20.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Oh, dear. Barcelona has turned into a silly place.

And you could have been eating snails and deep fried artichokes at Portalon on the same street. Number 20.

You are killing me, man!

[Wilfrid1]

You didn't memorize my recommendations before you went, did you?

Anyway, I am going soon, so I'll be updating them.

[SamanthaF]

You didn't memorize my recommendations before you went, did you?

No trip to Barca complete without them!

They have proved invaluable over the years. I really look forward to Edition Two!

[Carolyn Tillie]

You didn't memorize my recommendations before you went, did you?

Of course I did -- I just didn't pay attention to street addresses and was not successful in getting the lame-ass traveling companion to go anywhere beyond the immediacy of "I just want to stop here for a glass of wine..." and me having to suffice with whatever was being served there.

[Silly Disciple]

Prejudice is a great traveling (eating) companion. Assume a restaurant is bound to be bad unless someone you trust recommended it.

[pim]

You found a restaurant in *Barcelona* with Kangaroo meat on the menu and you went inside? You just wanted a bad meal to write about didn't you?

[Carolyn Tillie]

You found a restaurant in *Barcelona* with Kangaroo meat on the menu and you went inside? You just wanted a bad meal to write about didn't you?

<hanging head in shame> yeah, I know..... </hanging head in shame>