Saturday, February 25, 2017

My First Calçotada in Barcelona, Spain

Calçots

Did you ever see that Bourdain episode where he went into the Catalan countryside and drank wine from these long spouts while eating grilled onions dipped in an orange Romesco sauce? Ever since I saw that episode, I've been salivating over that. And fortunately, I found a tour that took us out to Alella just north of Barcelona for some wine tasting before heading to Restaurante Can Roca in Tiana for those calçots above.

It was everything I imagined it to be, with the wonderful aroma of grilled onions pervading the air once we stepped out of the van. It was messy too, using our hands to slip the charred skin off before dipping the warm insides in that delicious sauce. That was accompanied with some pa amb tomàquet as well as botifarra sausages, among others. The porron wine spout was fun too; surprisingly I did OK on the second time without much spillage onto my shirt. Yay!

3 comments:

tery said...

URGH! I saw that same episode and have been having dreams of it ever since! From time to time it will pop in my head.. Looks like I will have to plan my next trip to Barca specifically in this time period. Btw, did you try to make reservation at El Celler de can Roca? Its a short drive out of Barca but you will need to plan in advance!

-tery-

tery said...

I forgot to ask, could you share which food/wine tour you took? I would like to take note for future reference. Thank you!

-tery-

bma said...

Here is the link to the tour.

And yes, I was fortunate enough to have a chance to try a catered meal by the Roca brothers last year.