WRITTEN IN NOVEMBER, 2014 IN PRIORAT, SPAIN I haven’t been to too many restaurants in the past month but I’ve been eating well for the most part. On some days it’s defrosted ragout dumped over still quite crunchy pasta cooked on a stove whose gas source doubles as a hot water heater for the shower.…
Out on the bank of the Guadalquivir river, in one of the most hip, if touristy, neighborhoods of Sevilla is the Mercado Lonja del Barranco, a modern gourmet market housed inside of a building supposedly designed by Eiffel, constructed in 1861 and declared a World Heritage Site. As you enter this almost clinically clean and brightly…
“I will never move above Diagonal,” I solidly declared back in January. “That’s where old people and families live.” Maybe. But, as it turns out, El Barri Gòtic is for the most naive of tourists, Erasmus students and the shrewd, local pickpockets who rob them with ease. It’s the Disney World of Barcelona; far from the typical Catalan neighborhood for which…
It was our last day in Sevilla. Our trip had, unfortunately, come to an end. We only had one Andalucían meal left to enjoy, so we chose to have it at a restaurant recommended by my boyfriend´s old Erasmus buddy and local Sevillan. He had assured us that the price to quality ratio and authenticity of…
A few weeks ago my father came to Barcelona to attend a neuroscience symposium and to visit me in my newest city of residence. I met him in the hotel lobby at midday and he brought me down a colorful array of conference canapés wrapped in cocktail napkins. (Not the first time he’s done that. It’s become a bit…
It wasn’t too difficult a decision to turn down the complimentary breakfast service at our hotel in Galway. The day before my friend and I had passed a slew of cafes, bakeries and pie shops on our walk down to the pier. Each one had its own charm that beckoned us in to enjoy a coffee and a pastry…
Another great tapa especially popular in Andalucía are berenjenas fritas or fried eggplants. The dish has Arabic origins and is famously prepared in the province of Malaga, where it is served with miel de caña (sugar cane honey). The eggplant is soaked in water, then dried, coated in a batter made of garbanzo bean flour, egg whites and beer and then…
Six years ago I visited Galway and fell in love with the city by the sea. Winding cobble-stoned avenues lead down to a harbor where a row of colorful houses glow bright under the setting afternoon sun, their various shades of red, yellow and green reflecting clearly in the crisp waters of the Atlantic below. It’s a college…
On my last night in Dublin I was craving something substantial, a warm and hearty plate of traditional Irish comfort food with meat and veggies and a beer to wash it all down with. My best friend, her boyfriend and I ended up at O’Neill’s Bar & Restaurant on Suffolk Street near Trinity College. The restaurant is often…
In Córdoba, Spain there´s a thing called the flamenquín that is pretty much impossible to miss. You will catch a glimpse of these long, deep-fried rods of meat dangling awkwardly off plates in every direction you look, whether you´re walking through the touristy alleyways of the Old City, the Jewish quarter or some airy plaza where locals also gather. They´re…
That Best Bite 