No visit to Spain would be complete without having one of its quintessential dishes: paella. Purists say the Valencian version is the authentic one, but every region in Spain carries its own unique rendition of this iconic dish.
Since Spanish restaurants are hard to come by in the city where I currently reside, I took advantage of the fact that I was in Spain. Hence, I tried to eat paella whenever I had the chance. The ones we had in Burgos were indeed delightful and I couldn't wait to see what Barcelona had to offer.
While meandering around the Eixample district with my amigas, we tried to find a paella place that would suit our needs - good cooking, fast service, location close to the bus pick-up place, and air-conditioning (it was a super humid day and we wanted a respite from the sweltering heat).
Fortunately, we came across this small but cozy tapas and paella bar called Casa Angela. It was the poster with food pictures, mostly of yummy-looking paella plates prominently displayed outside their door that beckoned us. They offered patio seating but there were also some tables inside…and they had air conditioning! So far, so good.
The menu featured an assortment of classic tapas such as tuna belly salad, croquettes, patatas bravas, salt cod fritters, tortillas, and the now-familiar los huevos rotos, among others. But we were bent on having some paella. They had eight kinds – seafood, veggie, campero (with calaf sausage and wild asparagus), chicken, Iberian, black (with zamburina scallops, cuttlefish, and fresh spinach leaves), octopus (Galician style), and seafood fideua (seafood with noodles).
One order is good for two persons, so we got two to share – the seafood one (because when in Barcelona, you got to have seafood) and the Iberian one. Our seafood paella came with squid, clams, shrimps and artichokes. The Iberian paella had pork ribs, black sausage and mushrooms. They had other meat and seafood dishes too, but we figured, the paellas would satisfy us plenty. We just added a plate of homemade croquettes with ham and pork cheek filling for all four of us to share, and of course, some ice-cold red wine sangria.
The food was good and the service was fast and friendly. The bonus was that we had a view of La Sagrada Familia while eating. This was one of those days when we picked a lunch place at random and got lucky. Usually, restaurants near major tourist attractions are dubious. But this one is something I would recommend to anyone without hesitation.
We were able to make it to the bus pick-up place on time. In fact, since we were one of the first groups to arrive, we witnessed members of our party arrive one-by-one. We were not surprised to see Ms. Lady Ring Leader and her minions walk in with shopping bags in both arms. It looked like they skipped La Sagrada Familia and went to the boutiques instead. Oh well…as long as everyone’s happy.
It was a good thing we had quite a heavy lunch, for when we got back to the hotel, we actually just had enough time to wash our faces and brush our teeth before our departure to Montserrat. As we were boarding the bus, we saw some of Ms. Lady Ring Leader’s group quickly wolfing down sandwiches from the hotel’s snack bar. I guess shopping took up much of their time that they forgot to stop and eat.
We came back at around eight o’clock that night. I called my two boys in Canada to say hello and update them on my whereabouts, then fell into a deep sleep.
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