Alcazar - Pricy glamour on the Rive Gauche

Where do you take a posh American friend who comes to Paris to celebrate his birthday? Acazar is an option to take into account. I was a bit nervous when I had to pick the place: the guests were flying in from all over the world (Chicago, Florence, Madrid and Barcelona), so it had to turn out well. I have been here just for a few weeks, so I am really no expert about this city, but after a few consultations with my local friends, I found the right place.

Alcazar is a very glamourous and design-oriented restaurant, which is not surprising, as it is owned by the British design guru Terence Conran. Meals and cocktails are served in a stylish environment with a soft and intimate lighting by a super efficient team of waiters in a black monochromatic outfit. Personally, I am a huge fan of understated places that privilege content over form, but I was not disappointed by the experience. It's true, the space is very big and a bit loud, and the menu is not extremely creative, but the buzzy atmosphere of Alcazar was just perfect for our party mood.

The cuisine is what you would call fusion/international, although no dish stands out as truly innovative. You can opt for the luxury version of Brit classics like fish and chips or poached eggs, or give your dinner an exotic Latin American touch with a fresh fish ceviche. There are several traditional French brasserie dishes, like the entrecôte, veal kidneys, poultry with vegetables and mushrooms and, of course, a couple of revisited Italian starters, (mozzarella with tomatoes and pesto and the rocket salad with Parmesan). I went for a light vegetable salad for starter, followed by Scottish salmon sashimi with guacamole sauce. Maybe not a groundbreaking culinary invention, but I was very satisfied with the quality of all the ingredients. Speaking of which: they have the best baguette bread, which they serve copiously in wicker baskets.

Alcazar includes two spaces, each on a different level, with slightly different concepts. Apart from the restaurant, on ground level, there is a cocktail and snack bar on the upper floor, called The Mezzanine. Here you can opt for a more frugal -and less pricy- meal, with a fixed price menu including a dish and a glass of wine.

Alcazar

Rue Mazarine, 62 – Paris

Phone: +33 1 53 10 19 99  

Price range (restaurant): 70€-100€. The price depends crucially on wine (more than usual). 

Paris

The Unwanted Gap Year moves to Paris for a few weeks! I am here, checking out a few places, and doing some business. This is a great city with a long culinary tradition, so I am expecting to find interesting venues. Check out the next posts for tips in la Ville-Lumière.  

Federal Café

In spite of its international vocation, Barcelona sticks proudly to its Catalan roots, and this translates into a mixed restaurant scene. Even in the trendiest areas of the city you will find a bar de toda la vida, meaning the traditional (sometimes shabby) tapas bar where people from the neighbourhood go regularly to have a beer and some patatas bravas or to watch the Barça football match. On the other hand, you sometimes find cool and trendy places even in the most godforsaken locations, which is why every area of Barcelona deserves a visit.

In Sant Antoni, a quiet residential area next to the old town centre, a few Australian guys spotted an outstandingly nice low rise corner building and turned it into one of the coolest restaurants in town. You can't miss Federal café if you walk by: there's always a crowd waiting for a table and two huge windows at the ground floor are constantly open, inviting you to take a look inside. This looks pretty much like your typical anglosaxon polyalent place, that integrates a small delicatessen shop, an open kitchen, and a versatile restaurant that offers a menu that goes for a brunch, for dinner, or for an afternoon snack.

Although Federal is open all week and serves lunch and dinner, for some reason it became my favourite destination for the Saturday and Sunday lunch. I figure that a healthy, light and tasty meal is the best choice when you are hungover from a weekend of intense clubbing... This restaurant is very ecofriendly, and they prepare simple dishes using local organic ingredients. The menu is rather anglosaxon, so you will find eggs with toasted bread for breakfast, veal and veggie burgers or cesar salads for lunch. However, they always give it a fusion twist, so the menu also features Italian style bruschettas (toasted bread with cheese, tomato and olive oil), South American yucca chicken or Middle Eastern hummuses. There is a good selection of natural juices and smoothies, and their pastry is exceptional. Except for the cupcakes, all the desserts are home made.

The space, developed on three levels,  is very versatile. If you arrive early, you can choose to stay at the ground level and share the large communitary wooden table with other customers, or you can have an individual table at the upper floor or on the rooftop terrace. The latter is my favouite option in the summer: they have a few tables on a wooden deck and cool music in the background. It feels great to chill out on a glass of white wine, and bring back some nice saturday night mood with a few friends.

The crowd is pretty mixed, but in general the vibe is very young and creative. Last but not least, the staff is extremely nice. You will never have to wait to leave your name if there is no table available, as the manager or a waiter will rapidly come to welcome you at the door.

Federal Café

Carrer Parlament, 39 – Barcelona

Phone: +34 931 87 36 07
Price range: around 25€ 

Me (or the understated sophistication)

Finding a truly innovative fusion restaurant is no easy task nowadays. We are used to all sorts of cuisine combinations, and I think that very few places manage to come up with something really new. However, Barcelona is a workshop of culinary innovation, and there are some really interesting options in the fusion department.

Me is perhaps one of the most brilliant places I have been in Spain, and it proposes a blend of viet-namese and New Orleans creole cuisine, an unusual combination, at least in the Old World. Founded by a viet-namese chef and a Catalan well travelled partner, this restaurant manages to offer a perfect blend of flavours from two different continents. The place feels laid back and sophisticated at the same time, and proposes an understated and stylish decoration. You can see a small collection of paisley patterned ties hanging from some of the wall lamps: that used to be part of the manager's wardrobe. You will doubtless get to meet this guy if you go. He walks around the tables, always in an impeccable dandy outfit, and literally sits with you to explain the dishes, recommend wines and take your order!

The menu features a short list of elaborated dishes that combine the cornerstones of creole cuisine (e.g. crabs, shrimps, dill, citronella) with Asian flavours. Slices of fresh fish sashimi match dill and red onions, Lousiana crabs come in a light tempura crust, and Saigon style entrecôtes marry citronella and tasty grilled potatoes. It is hard to recommend a specific dish, as they all have strong and different personalities, and vary according to season and availability of ingredients. My pick is the cooked tofu with mushrooms, spinach and pomegranate.

Me is a cosmopolitan experience: expats and well travelled locals are the usual crowd. If you have a bunch of friends visiting from abroad, I recommend that you take them here. Intrestingly enough, some of the best cocktail bars in Barcelona are a few blocks away (off the top of my head, Dry Martini and Bar Ideal). My very personal Me dinner ritual begins with a Martini cocktail at Bar Ideal and ends with a glass of amontillado wine right after the main course.

Me
Carrer Paris, 162 - Barcelona
Phone: + 34 934 19 49 33
Price range: 55€ - 60€

Ideal Cocktail Bar
Carrer Aribau, 89 - Barcelona
Phone: +34 934 531 028

Dry Martini
Carrer Aribau, 162 - Barcelona
Phone: +34 932 17 50 80 

San Telmo

As a vegetarian wannabe, I shouldn't be reviewing an Argentinean restaurant. I've recently read Jonathan Safran Foer's “Eating Animals”, a brilliant essay that explains how the animals that end up on our tables live and die. The descriptions are so crude that it's sometimes difficult to turn pages, and as soon as you've finished the book you decide to go vegan right away. As much as I try to stick to a meat-free diet, I always end up in San Telmo, and, to be honest, I never feel guitly. Why? Because the solomillo de ternera that they serve is just glorious, and you are sure that it comes from a cow that was happy during its life. Such tenderness and taste are just incompatible with suffering. Like the Kobe veals, that are treated like kings and even receive massages and just for that taste like no other meat in the world. Well, this restaurant serves the best meat in town, directly imported from the south American pampas to your plate in Barcelona.

What I love about San Telmo, apart from the quality of their products, is the service. It's all Argentinean and Uruguayan waiters, who do a terrific job, making sure that your table is never left unattended. They always serve the meat in the right way, and they bring along a hot iron plate so you can heat up the meat and have it at the right temperature. Of course there's a variety of meat mains, from bife ancho, to entrecôte and the classical solomillo, in different sizes. You always have a welcome appetizer of canapés with argentinean sauces, and a range of empanadas as starters. The meat empanadas come with a meat and tomato filling and taste just delicious. The portions are rich and plentiful, and a starter and a meat main will do, unless of course you are starving. If you have some room left for a dessert, you can go for the dulce de leche, the caramel mou cream that motivates all of my Argentinean friends in Barcelona to go back to their country at least once a year.

The place has a curious layout, with a bar and a few tables in the front and a large back room with an internal patio with a nice olive tree in the middle. It's cozy and warm, and, as I said, the waiters make it even more pleasant. Saturday night is the best evening to go: it's packed but there's a nice buzz, and it's generally full of smart youngish groups who have fun. They sometimes have tango players that entertain for brief moments the customers with guitar and voice. It's not tacky at all, the whole place is very authentic. This restaurant is a passepartout: you can bring there your date, your mum and dad, or a group of friends in a silly mood. I've done all three!

San Telmo

Carrer Vilá i Vilá, 53 – Barcelona

Phone: + 34 934 41 30 78

Price range: in general around 50€, although it can vary according to the quantity of meat ordered and the type of wine and spirits.

Open on Sundays!