Le petit gascon, Lleida (1/2)

Unfortunately, I have been informed today (14/8/2009) that this place does not exist anymore. The owners have moved to Switzerland.

This is an outstanding restaurant, where I took a sample menu with wine marriage.
Quality, quantity, price, and service are really exceptional!!
Sample menu: 35 EUR + 7% VAT
Sample menu + wine marriage: 45 + 7% VAT
This posts will be split into two parts: meals (part 1) & drinks (part 2)
Menú degustació:
1. Terrina de Foie entier al Pedro Ximenez

2. Vieires amb cruixent de nous i cremeta de meló

3. Turbot cuit amb la seva pell, salsa de porros

(I forgot to take the photo. I apologize for the inconveniences)

4. Magret d'ànec amb salsa de figues

5. Petit filet de bou gascó amb foie saltejat
6. Assortiment de formatges afinats "Deux Chavanne"

These are the cheeses

You will taste 10 different ones. In this photo you will see 6 small mountains with 5 small pieces (I took the photo when 4 cheeses were already eaten, and we were 5 in the table)

Postre sorpresa de la casa (in this case, two dishes like this one for 5)

these are the bottles of the wine marriage (to be continued tomorrow)

Tastapans

Tastapans
C/ Rovira Roure 17, Lleida
http://www.tastapans.com/

fixed price menu (lunch time): starter+main course + dessert + 1 drink (1 glass of wine or beer or water) = 10.5 EUR


starters

salad

rissoto de bolets amb formatge parmesà

main course

llonganissa del país a la brasa
crep d'escalivada i pernil

desserts

Bica bica

Bica bica bar

C/de Casp 92, Barcelona

This is a peaceful bar in Barcelona where you can eat good "patatas bravas" and drink a Moritz beer (1,9 EUR per bottle).
In most of the places, such as in the tapas places of León (see previous posts) the potatoes have an oil excess. This is not a problem in Bica bica. However, IMHO, only the potatoes are great. do not try the other tapas. They are small, expensive, and not very good.

patatas bravas (3 EUR aprox.)

Castell de Xàtiva

This is a restaurant in Barcelona, C/ València 360, where you can eat a reasonably good dinner for a ridiculous price. The speciality is rice.
They have fixed price menus:
Menú Xàtiva: 15,23 EUR + 7% TAX (on Sundays and holidays 18,69+7%TAX)
Menú Gourmet: 21,87 EUR + 7% TAX (on Sundays and holidays 23,37+7%TAX)

both menus include a whole bottle of wine for two.

this is a sample of the Xàtiva menu (starter+main course+dessert+wine)

starter

main course
dessert

bling H2O

This is a post about water. Do you think that the Tanqueray TEN is an expensive gin? look at the photo. It was taken at Colmado Quilez, in Barcelona. If you want to buy this water, I recommend you to look at this website: http://www.blingh2o.com/ you can find it cheaper (40 USD + transportation)

Tanqueray TEN

Tanqueray 10 (also known as T-10)

Although I do not like too much cocktails and mixes, there is an exeption: the gin-tonic of Tanqueray TEN.

You can see the soul of this gin-tonic below. This is a one litre bottle, that costs around 35 EUR in colmado Quilez, Barcelona. Do you think it is expensive? see the next post tomorrow, and last but not least, taste it! I discovered it at TIRSA.

Colmado Quilez-La fuente

This is a nice place to buy drinks and delicatessen. You can even check the prices at the website: http://www.lafuente.es/
This is the classical shop in Rambla Catalunya/Aragó (Barcelona)

This is a new one -recently opened-, specialized in drinks (C/Aragó 241-243, Barcelona, very close to the previous one)

Altar, León

Bar Altar C/ Platerías 2, "barrio húmedo" León

I forgot which the tapa that they provide for free was. Probably potatoes. anyway you can see a sample of some "raciones".

morcilla
chorizo

El Llar, León

El Llar C/Plaza de San Martín, León "barrio húmedo"

This is the tapa that you get for free: potatoes with cheese sauce

This is a sample of the "ración" that you get (if you pay, of course)

Latino, León

Latino, Plaza de San Martín 10, "barrio húmedo" León

They have a nice device to cool the bottles

They have a large selection of good Catalan Cavas
This is the tapa that you get for free (for two people) with the drinks or alternatively, you can choose potatoes
They have a large selection of "embutidos"
This is the tapa ("ración") of cecina + excellent bread that we got for 19 EUR