Saturday, June 21, 2008

Flamenco @ Cordorbes, Barcelona

Thanks to my sis Alice who booked this dinner and show. It was a real worth it experience. The place is along La Rambla which is the main tourist street of Barcelona. It is a long street and is on the end closer to the beach (in case you decide to hoof it there).










When we reached, we were greeted by this beautiful stairway, so photo op time! :) The next time, we were greeted by the buffet of tapas, paella, deserts and more tapas. The best thing was that they included a bottle of house red wine, and house white wine, and unlimited drinks (sangria, juices), so we went bit nuts on the alcohol.. *weeeeeeeee*








There were tapas like octopus galicean style, spanish omelletes, A HUGE yummy avacado with stuffing, some anchovies. Deserts included the crema catelana, some date pudding etc etc.



After we virtually stuffed ourselves with the great food, on to the flamenco show. Before the show, we were served with more drinks (Spanish cava which is like the French champagne.. very nice). And thus began the flamenco show!


What can I say, I dont understand Spanish but there was a good tune, the guitarists were terrific, and the dancers were even bett
er. It probably got a bit monotonous after a while, so it was good it only lasted as long as it did. The girls were wearing cool dresses with frills and the guys tight pants *droolz*. The clapping and tap-dance like dancing were darn cool and it was a great night in Barcelona. The stage was a little small but it made us feel more like an authentic show rather than a super big theatre.


Probably a tourist trap for US tourists but we did enjoy ourselves and we slowly took the stroll back. So, here you go, Cordobes along La Rambla, Barcelona

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Restaurant Bacco Barcelona

Work has been a bit of a downer lately, so best to reminise more days from the holiday....

Along La Rambla lies one of the best restaurants I've ever eaten in. Restaurant Bacco was recommended by the Hotel Nouvel (the hotel we were staying in), and we thought,.. hmm.. another overpriced restaurant maybe? But it turned out to be a great restaurant. Anyone in Barcelona should really eat there.

They started us off with free cava drinks which is always nice, olives, olives, olives, and the best bread...

Dad ordered some tasting tapas, and a gazpacho, the gazpacho tasted like a liquid salad, so not my favourite, but was ok. My grilled baby squid with citrus and garlic oil. was LOVELY (refer picture in the foreground). We ordered other variety of food which included a steak, duck, pasta, etc... which we oOoo-ed and Aaahh as we ate..:D
The service was also great though we could hardly speak a word of Catalan, and Alice was great at being our translator. With all the cutlery on the table (due to the many dishes), I ended up with like 3 forks on my plate, and somehow threw it on the plate rather loudly when the waiter was collecting the plates.
He was then pretending to be really hurt and wanted to send me to the kitchen to wash dishes... which was kinda funny. Anyways, we took a picture with him in the end..

Great experience in the restaurant, good night...




Monday, June 16, 2008

Robbed in Madrid!

I'm back from my long holiday! Short little snippets with pictures are on its way! The most memorable moment? We were robbed in Madrid... *sob sob*. We went to Spain knowing that this was the land of pick-pockets (sorry to Spanish people) and apparently what I heard is that Spain has the lowest paying wages.

How did it happen?

We were sitting in a long rectagular table and we had my dad and mom on one side, and us 3 on the other side. So basically a blue knapsack was at the end of the other side, next to the door (which was probably oversight on our part already).

We were happily enjoying our breakfast and a young chap tapped my shoulder and said "Your keys?" (in spanish of course, while pointing to a set of keys on the floor) I was shaking my head and he was insisting i bring it to the counter to report it. So i did exactly that...
When we were leaving, we were looking around "Where's the knapsack?" and it was gone! We just realised that the whole keys thing was a distraction for them to swipe the bag. And thinking back, they walked into the cafe without purchasing anything. *SIgh* So we quickly started to think about what was in the bag, and luckily it was a couple bottles of water, a raincoat, and the Madrid Vision headphones. My mom was paranoid after that, constantly thinking that people were watching here, and wanting to steal her bags.
We did tell our stories to other travellers, so be careful yea!