Our first "researched" meal in Barcelona came on Sunday afternoon. After a late start and some coffee, we ventured over to the neighborhood of Barceloneta. Many restaurants in Barcelona are closed on Sundays and we passed by a number of places on our list that weren't open for business. But the closer you get to the beach (Barceloneta is bordered by the beach), the more options there were for lunch. We were hoping for some good paella or seafood and decided to stop at Can Majó.
There was about a 15-20 minute wait for a table. As much as we dislike waiting (especially when we're really hungry at 2 or 3 pm!), we decided to stay. The paella looked good, we had walked by so many other places that were either closed, closing or packed, and we had heard good things about Can Majó. The wait wasn't too painful and eventually they offered us a seat on the "terrace" (which was the outdoor seating area across the street). We had heard that prices are generally higher at Barcelona restaurants when you sit outdoors, but it was a beautiful sunny afternoon and Can Majó's location is great for people watching.
The meal started out with some complimentary olives, pickles and pearl onions.
The bowl had an assortment of olives - smaller red ones, green olives and black olives - along with some small pickles and pickled pearl onions. M doesn't usually like olives but she tried these and actually went back for more. These seemed to be less sour, less salty and very fresh, making the flavor a little more mild and reminding us of really good olive oil.
They also asked us if we wanted pan con tomate (tomato bread), a specialty in Catalunya. We thought people had said there was a charge for this but we didn't see anything on the receipt (unless it is picked up in the charge for table service).
This pan con tomate was significantly better than the one we had our first night at Divinus. That one was soggy and didn't taste very much like tomato. This one, in contrast, had bread that was slightly crispy (but not hard), and the tomato spread felt like you were eating a juicy tomato on top of the bread. We also liked that there were white and brown options for bread. We ate the whole plate.
For appetizer, we got the ensalada variada (in Catalan, amanida variada) which cost about 10 euro.
It's been almost six months, so we don't remember how exactly we decided on the ensalada variada, but it was the least expensive salad on the menu and all the others had cheese (or lobster), so we probably thought it was the healthiest option. Also, our previous Barcelona meals had a significant lack of vegetables (and we were looking for more), so that's likely why we went with a salad in the first place.
This was a really refreshing and light salad. In addition to the lettuce, there were tomatoes (both regular red ones and smaller purple ones), hard boiled eggs, cucumbers, corn, carrots and some pine nuts. It didn't come with dressing but they brought over oil and vinegar bottles to the table. It was a very healthy start to our meal and we were pleased with the super-fresh quality of all of the vegetables.
The star of the meal was without a doubt the paella de marisco pelada (seafood paella). Paella is generally priced per portion (person) with a minimum of 2 orders. This one cost about 30 euro for both of us. Not cheap but so worth it for our first amazing dish in Barcelona.
While we sat on the terrace, we saw dish after dish of paella being brought out to all the tables around us. We were so excited when we finally saw ours. After bringing the dish over to the table to show you the full plate, they separate it out into portions for each person, and then take the remainder over to the table for you to keep eating at your leisure.
The first plate of paella for each of us consisted of the delicious rice with vegetables, topped with two giant pieces of seafood that required some peeling - a giant prawn and a langoustine. It was worth the work. After removing the shells, the shrimp meat was so fresh, so sweet and so tasty. We had never tasted seafood so sweet before. It was incredible. The rice part of the paella was a little on the salty side but we were so enamored with the seafood that we were willing to overlook it.
We really enjoyed our meal at Can Majó and it was our first meal in Barcelona where we could truly understand why people always say they love the food in Barcelona. Although we had paella before at home, we had never eaten paella that was this tasty. With a limited amount of time in Barcelona (and plans to make reservations for another paella place the next Sunday), we didn't make it back to Can Majó again on our trip, but we wholeheartedly recommend it. Paella, people watching, and some of the best seafood we had eaten. Excellent lunch!
There was about a 15-20 minute wait for a table. As much as we dislike waiting (especially when we're really hungry at 2 or 3 pm!), we decided to stay. The paella looked good, we had walked by so many other places that were either closed, closing or packed, and we had heard good things about Can Majó. The wait wasn't too painful and eventually they offered us a seat on the "terrace" (which was the outdoor seating area across the street). We had heard that prices are generally higher at Barcelona restaurants when you sit outdoors, but it was a beautiful sunny afternoon and Can Majó's location is great for people watching.
The meal started out with some complimentary olives, pickles and pearl onions.
The bowl had an assortment of olives - smaller red ones, green olives and black olives - along with some small pickles and pickled pearl onions. M doesn't usually like olives but she tried these and actually went back for more. These seemed to be less sour, less salty and very fresh, making the flavor a little more mild and reminding us of really good olive oil.
They also asked us if we wanted pan con tomate (tomato bread), a specialty in Catalunya. We thought people had said there was a charge for this but we didn't see anything on the receipt (unless it is picked up in the charge for table service).
This pan con tomate was significantly better than the one we had our first night at Divinus. That one was soggy and didn't taste very much like tomato. This one, in contrast, had bread that was slightly crispy (but not hard), and the tomato spread felt like you were eating a juicy tomato on top of the bread. We also liked that there were white and brown options for bread. We ate the whole plate.
For appetizer, we got the ensalada variada (in Catalan, amanida variada) which cost about 10 euro.
It's been almost six months, so we don't remember how exactly we decided on the ensalada variada, but it was the least expensive salad on the menu and all the others had cheese (or lobster), so we probably thought it was the healthiest option. Also, our previous Barcelona meals had a significant lack of vegetables (and we were looking for more), so that's likely why we went with a salad in the first place.
This was a really refreshing and light salad. In addition to the lettuce, there were tomatoes (both regular red ones and smaller purple ones), hard boiled eggs, cucumbers, corn, carrots and some pine nuts. It didn't come with dressing but they brought over oil and vinegar bottles to the table. It was a very healthy start to our meal and we were pleased with the super-fresh quality of all of the vegetables.
The star of the meal was without a doubt the paella de marisco pelada (seafood paella). Paella is generally priced per portion (person) with a minimum of 2 orders. This one cost about 30 euro for both of us. Not cheap but so worth it for our first amazing dish in Barcelona.
While we sat on the terrace, we saw dish after dish of paella being brought out to all the tables around us. We were so excited when we finally saw ours. After bringing the dish over to the table to show you the full plate, they separate it out into portions for each person, and then take the remainder over to the table for you to keep eating at your leisure.
The first plate of paella for each of us consisted of the delicious rice with vegetables, topped with two giant pieces of seafood that required some peeling - a giant prawn and a langoustine. It was worth the work. After removing the shells, the shrimp meat was so fresh, so sweet and so tasty. We had never tasted seafood so sweet before. It was incredible. The rice part of the paella was a little on the salty side but we were so enamored with the seafood that we were willing to overlook it.
We really enjoyed our meal at Can Majó and it was our first meal in Barcelona where we could truly understand why people always say they love the food in Barcelona. Although we had paella before at home, we had never eaten paella that was this tasty. With a limited amount of time in Barcelona (and plans to make reservations for another paella place the next Sunday), we didn't make it back to Can Majó again on our trip, but we wholeheartedly recommend it. Paella, people watching, and some of the best seafood we had eaten. Excellent lunch!
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