Spain for some reason, was never really high on my list of country to visit. Culturally , I have no point in common with them between eating very late and tapas. Regardless , the positive is there is a big seafood culture as Spain is surrended by water by more than 60%.
During our trip we visited Madrid, Toledo , Barcelona and Montserrat so this gave us a spectrum of the varitety of food .
Overall , food wise its pretty much on par with his neighboor Portugual .
Madrid & Toledo
We landed in Madrid early and, luckily enough, were able to get our hotel room right away. We started exploring the city, beginning with the Palacio Real. We then headed out to get our first bite in Spain at the Mercado de San Miguel. This is a big food court with several vendors, so you can get drinks, fruits, fish, jamón, etc. We saw some fried seafood and settled on that. It was really good!
In Madrid, one of the classics is heading to Chocolatería San Ginés for their famous churros. I had churros in Mexico and they were pretty average. These were smaller and a bit crunchier, dipped into that warm chocolate — it was decadent. It’s a bit pricey, but it’s worth going. We ate the whole pile in a few minutes 🙂
Toledo is known for its almond-derivative products, such as marzipan and turrón. So obviously we couldn’t skip this, and to be honest, it’s pretty hard to avoid since it’s everywhere. We settled on a more artisanal shop and bought a little bit of everything because it was very tasty.
Barcelona
Spain is known for its jamón, often put on par with prosciutto in Italy. Is it better? I wouldn’t say that, but it was really good. We ate at a local restaurant that specialized in it, among other local dishes; the place is called Casa Alfonso. As mentioned, we had the jamón but also the patatas bravas, garlic shrimp, padrón peppers, and cod fritters.
Patatas bravas are potatoes with a tomato-based sauce. I know it looks like mayonnaise mixed with ketchup, but it’s not — it’s smoky and has a bit of a kick, which I really liked. The garlic shrimp were the highlight of the meal; they were cooked to perfection. The padrón peppers were meh, not my thing. Cod fritters, just like in Portugal, are a favorite of mine — we ate them in about 6 seconds.
One dessert I’d wanted to try for years was crema catalana, Spain’s answer to crème brûlée. Instead of cream, it’s made with milk and infused with a hint of orange or lemon zest, giving it a lighter, brighter flavor under that classic caramelized sugar crust. It was absolutely delicious, and I’m already planning to try recreating it at home.
Overall, Spain was very enjoyable from a food and cultural experience.