Teo is an open minded guy. I know him since he was 18 (there is a 9 years gap between us). We almost share the birthday (I’m on the 4th of October, he’s on the 6th).
The first time he came to visit me in Barcelona (he was here before), he amazed me with his knowledge of Spanish by sending me a text message with the following content: ‘Donde esta la fabrica de tortilla?’ (Where is the tortilla manufacture?). I couldn’t, obviously, answer that. But I could take him to the tortilla place (neh, I just tricked him; it was actually the bombas one).
Having tried to eat at Bar Bodega l’Electricitat where they told us they only served cold dishes for the night (on a late November evening this was not our first choice), and not having many other choices in the neighbourhood (I was still fresh in Barcelona), I lured Teo to a tapas bar.
Where, to my surprise, he refused to enter. If my memory does not fail me, he explained that tapas, in a Spanish – English dictionary – meant sandwiches. And no sane Romanian would dine sandwiches in a restaurant. I vouch for that!
I therefore chose – randomly – a restaurant that seemed specific for the area (we were in Barceloneta), he followed me in and instantly fell in love with the food bar: all the tapas were there for us to select from. La Bombeta has a motto:
No hablamos ingles, pero hacemos unas bombas cojonudas. (We do not speak English, but we make delicious bombas.)
It took him some time to decide what to eat – he covered a wide range of delicatessen, from kidneys to patatas bravas and bombas (potato croquets), all drown in clara (beer with lemon juice, Fanta or similar) – but once he was done, he was a happy man.
I went back to that place so many times, I cannot even count them. It is a good culinary attraction for my visitor friends: the waiters are funny and quick, not too rude, and the treat is as familiar as a foreigner could wish for. After listening to your order, the waiters scream to the chef to get it (next to your table) – which is part of the local adventure. You might need to wait to get a table; buy a beer to enjoy outside, and wait. It’s worth it, I promise.
Order pa amb tomàquet – you might have tried it before, but this is the real deal –, any of the seafood dishes and – if brave – los caracoles. They are amazing (huge portion!) with a nice flavour of thyme. For the meet lovers, la morcilla (blood pudding) and la chistorra (spicy sausages) are delicious. Sangria is also good and the must-have desert is home-made: la crema catalana (don’t be shy, look into the kitchen to see how they add the finishing touch, the caramel).
