When it comes to foodie cities, Barcelona deserves to be mentioned in the same conversation as Paris, Rome, New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong.
A visit to La Boqueria public market is a highlight, but here are several other food-centric corners that merit your attention.
Caelum (Palla 8) is at the confluence of two alleys in the Barri Gotic, Barcelona’s Gothic quarter. The shop, which consists of a food store, a tearoom and a basement cafe, sells honey, preserves, marzipan, cakes and biscuits made in convents and monasteries. The store has a sacred and precious air to it — perhaps even holier-than-thou.
As I snacked on an almond tart in the lower level, I took a photo of the menu on my smartphone. The hostess walked up to me and said, “We don’t like what you’re doing.” I apologized and felt like the Ugly American. I imagined what it would be like to steal Caelum’s ideas and start a pastry shop in America called “Get Thee to a Nunnery.”
At any rate, I bought an assortment of jams made by Benedictine monks. Upon my return to America, I declared the jam at U.S. Customs, and the agent asked me, dryly, “You say it’s jam, but are you sure it’s not jelly?”
Casa Gispert (Somberers 23) is a dimly lit store that sends you back in time. Its website says it was founded in 1851. The store roasts coffee and nuts in a wood-fired oven and also sells dried fruit, oils and vinegars, herbs and spices, chocolates, honey, jam and preserves. It’s behind the Santa Maria del Mar church in a neighborhood called La Ribera.
La Botifarreria de Santa Maria (Santa Maria 4) faces the Santa Maria del Mar church. It has the vibe of an intense French bakery, except that the youngish artisans in the shop are focused on handcrafting botifarra, or Catalan sausages. They also sell fancy cheeses, salami and other deli meats.
While recovering from my Ugly American moment, I experienced my Awkward Tourist moment at the sausage store. I created a stir by not knowing how or what to order (I don’t speak Spanish or Catalan), and I didn’t know how to say, “Can you cut a little piece of this one so I can try it without buying the whole sausage?”
There was also some sort of numbering system that I had not followed. After some commotion, a sympathetic sausage salesman showed me some vacuum-packed salami, which I happily took back to my hotel room.
Thomas Huang
