A Foodie's Guide to Barcelona, Part 2

Last week I posted pictures of the Mercat de la Boqueria as a teaser to get you daydreaming about a trip to Barcelona. If it worked, you may have already started comparing flights and checking out hotels. Well, good!

If you enjoyed that little appetizer, you may be interested in seeing a menu, a selection of Catalan taste experiences not to be missed.

Let's start with breakfast: xocolata at M. Viader. M. Viader is the oldest granja (chocolate café) in Barcelona--it dates back to 1870. And Xocolata is a thick, rich, chocolate soup served under a slab of sweet cream, with a side of melindros (ladyfingers).

Xocolata (photo by Su-Lin of Tamarind and Thyme)

Melindros (photo by Su-Lin of Tamarind and Thyme)

M. Viader (photo borrowed from this blog)

For lunch, head to the Café de l'Academia, a gem hidden in the heart of the Gothic district. Sit inside in the sophisticated-rustic dining room or outside in the small and relatively quiet plaza, order a glass of cava with your lunch, and then sit back and enjoy some of the best modern Catalan fare in Barcelona.

  In Barcelona I prefer tapas hopping to "having dinner." Wherever you find yourself, there's always some irresistible restaurant or café enticing you to enter. Oscar Wilde famously said, "The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it." The Spanish are masters of seduction. Give in.