A tiny note on Basque Pinxos

There is a Basque bar in Barcelona where I love to eat 'pinxos', which are Basque tapas - mostly bits of something on bread ( as in the liplickingly good photo above). The Basque take their pinxos very seriously and at dinner time, conglomerate in numbers to eat these while chatting and laughing with their friends. They take their food very seriously too which is probably why most of the 3 star Michelin restaurants in Spain are in the Basque country.

The pinxo on the right is my all time favourite, Xistorra! I just need to look at it to get a cholesterol high! It is a paprika sausage and fried, sends you to that part of heaven reserved for those flirting with a heart attack but hey! a once a month delight can't kill me, right?

Burger Babblings

Burger with foie, Restaurant Raf, Barcelona

So, did you know that a burger is the generic name for a sliced roll with either a non veg or veg filling while a hamburger is one with a meat patty? Hah! I bet you thought a burger was the shortened version of the word 'hamburger'. Note that it isn't spelt like this : 'burger. In the UK, a burger can be just the meat patty on it's own. And no, the hamburger doesn't usually have ham in it BUT, originated from Hamburg, like 'frankfurter' from Frankfurt (duh) and 'wiener' from Wien or Vienna.

Such a pity that fast-food chains like McDonalds have vilified burgers for they can be nourishing and delicious meals ( sad, sad face), especially when served with salads or vegetables ( and why not, a glass of wine!). Happily, many restaurants have taken up the challenge to prove how healthy and delicious they actually can be, and, SUCCEEDED!

Ok, enough talk, here are some delicious burgers I have scarfed: 

Chilli hamburger in Déja-burg, Barcelona

There is a restaurant near mine which serves a wide variety of burgers, called Déja-burg - the word play doesn't make much sense but maybe the owners thought that the Frenchified name would make it sound chic? Who knows...Anyway, the chilli topped hamburger I had was quite good, messy but good! Warning: Definitely not recommended food on a date as you will be splaying out bits of chilli as you eat. Happily, I was with a close friend and she was splaying food out too! Phew!

Burger with foie and caramelised onions, Alba, Barcelona

In yet another restaurant, I had a hand cut sirloin steak stuffed with foie and topped with caramelised onions. Dee-lish-us! The accompanying mustards á l'ancienne and 'dijon' went so well with this - for there is an inherent chemistry of mustard with meat. In the background, you can see the delicious dish of roast veggies I had with this. McDonalds, eat your heart out!

Hamburger in Hotel Meliá Banus, Marbella

Sometimes, all my little heart wants is a simple hamburger with a salad, nothing more and nothing less. Am not a huge fan of doughy baps as they can be quite dry BUT, this hamburger was delicious and once I lavishly lathered on the mustard, ate it too fast for the bap to dry. 

Homemade hamburger

Have you ever done a burger party? I do it once in a while and what you do is either make or buy some good quality meat patties and on the side, chop/slice/peel/lay on a table, a variety of all the ingredients and condiments that could go into making Burger Bliss - lettuce, rocket, tomatoes, gherkins, herbs, onions, ketchup, mayo, ali-oli, mustard etc. Get your bbq ready and as your guests arrive, hand them the drink of their choice and cook their patty to their liking. They can then DIY their burger! Neat idea or wot!? This party is successful among adults and children alike so go on, summer is coming, start preparing...

Homemade burger

A very dear friend of mine, who didn't consider herself to be much of a cook, taught me one of the most delicious ways to make a burger that I know of:

A'S CARAMELIZED ONION BURGERS

Serves 2

Ingredients:

300 gm beef

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

Breadcrumbs as needed

1 egg

Salt n pepper

Chives/parsley optional

Method:

In a heavy base frying pan, fry the onions on low heat until caramelised - be careful to not scorch them! Once the onions are satisfactorily cooked and, cooled, add them to the other ingredients in a bowl and mix and then shape into 2 patties. Cook these to your liking in the remaining oil in the frying pan. ENJOY! 

Burger with onion marmalade, Cafe Charlotte, Barcelona 

A gem in L'Eixample?

Just like on a first date, I get very excited when a new restaurant opens up - it won't get better than this, I tend to think! The chef will be wanting to prove her/himself and therefore she/he will be full of motivation and ideas, the waiters will be inspired with the newness of the project, the place will be bristling with freshness and the food...ahhhhhh, the food....

Let me introduce you to Alvart, a small restaurant which recently opened up in my neighbourhood. I went in Feb, a few months later. The chef is around 26 but has an impressive resumé of having worked in some of the best restaurants of Barcelona but this is his first restaurant as owner and chef.

I went in with a friend to try their lunch menu. This is what we had:

A hummus aperitif which was beautifully presented in one of those cans which seem to be such a popular way to present food nowadays. Lovely mouthful which definitely made us eager to try more!

My first course consisted of a pea soup - the peas were so lovely and sweet! with a poached egg topped with laminates of pancetta. I must say that the pancetta with its fatty flavours, though looked beautiful on the plate, didn't add much to the flavour. But the soup itself was wonderful!


My main course was divine - hake pan fried to perfection, lying on a bed of mashed potatoes, with a demi-glasse sauce poured over. The flakiness of the fish was complimented with the lovely sauce and you know that mashed potatoes go well with any protein. And finely chopped chives are a compliment to fish dishes...



I suck at eating desserts - the sugar makes my face scowl unhappily so it's a once monthly ritual which has to do with the tides of the moon. It so happened to be that time of the month and so I tried the dessert and was so very disappointed! Just a normal vanilla ice cream over some sort of orangey tangy, demerara -sand mix (scowl scowl)..

Hmmmmm....so what do I think? This chef is like a nerd chef - he knows ALL his lessons very well -  but, definitely needs more time to let himself loose and stops trying to show off what he knows vis-a-vis what he can create out of his own imagination.  I will go again soon and see whether he has become more creative but my instincts say that he will!