Paco Meralgo, Barcelona

I've been in Spain for a few days already and havent really had time to do my usual blogging but today, probably due to jet lag, I am awake early so I decided to post this. Paco Meralgo is one of my favorite tapas places in Barcelona and whenever I am in Barcelona, I have to eat here at least once.

No, Paco Meralgo is not the name of the owner of the restaurant. It is short for Para comer algo (to eat something) and it became Paco Meralgo since the spanish talk so fast and shorten all the words...did you get it?

Anyway we had lunch here last sunday with a small group of friends..this place only serves tapas and even the paellas are tapas portions (for those who dont know, tapas are all kinds of appetizers and dishes served in small portions).

For starters, we had the very typical Pan con Tomate and Jamon Iberico. Pan con tomate is bread(in this case chapata) rubbed with a special ripe tomato and drowned with virgin olive oil and salt. The jamon is hand sliced Iberico ham (naturally grown and fed with acorns that grow naturally in the trees). We also had pimientos del Padron, which are green peppers sauteed in Olive oil then sprinkled with salt before serving. They come from a town called Padron in Galicia. Most of the peppers are sweet but a few of them are very spicy, which adds character to this dish.



We then had 4 more dishes: Boquerones a la plancha, Baby Clams (coquines), Ventresca salad, and a Tapa of steak Tartare. The Boquerones were griiled a la plancha with a little olive oil and garlic: simply delicious. The baby clams wer very small but very tasty, also slightly sauteed in oil and a little garlic. The salad was a ventresca de atun (Tuna belly), olive oil, mustard seed and Raf tomatoes. And of course, Steak Tartare, how can I not order this? Mounted on bread it was very tasty, not drowned in tabasco or worcestire sauce. (needless to say I had seconds of this)...




Most of the food served were considered 'cold' tapas so after a few minutes the 'warm' tapas started arriving. We had Dados de Solomillo(tenderloin cubes in oil and garlic), Calamares with beans and Paella de Marisco (Seafood Paella). The tenderloin was tender and had the right amount of salt, plus a little spicy which I liked. The Calamares was pleseantly surprising, since it was the first time I tried something like this. Fresh calamares sauteed with baby beans (fabes) with oil and pimenton (paprika). The paella was a seafood paella and was served in small individual plates. It was perfectly cooked and had lots and lots of seafood in it...



During the whole meal we had with their house white wine from Penedes(very light and crisp sav blanc). We had no more room for dessert so we just had a cafe solo (espresso). Definitely an enjoyable experience and I hope our friends who joined us for lunch enjoyed as much as I did...