Barcelona, December 2016 – Botafumeiro is probably the undisputed best seafood restaurant in Barcelona, regardless of whether you ask a local resident or tourist.  My first visit to this culinary legend was 20 years ago, and that dinner is still one of the few things I remembered from that trip. So it is time I share my latest dining experience there with all the foodies and travelers out there.

Botafumeiro is elegantly decorated with light oak wood panels and maritime fixtures & artworks. The menu is very extensive, with no lack of choices but we decided to indulge a little….and focused on crustaceans.

To start, we had a salad – with white asparagus, which were very sweet and juicy; in fact, so delicious that we ordered another dish of white asparagus only.

Mr. King, my son and I shared a gigantic grilled seafood platter that included 1 lobster, 3 large scampi (with big claws), 2 fresh scallops , 3 king prawns, 10 shrimps, 20 small clams, cockles, calamari and 3 razor clams.  Everything was fresh and well cooked.

While we were still hard at work on that seafood platter, our gorgeous pan of seafood paella arrived. The waiter portioned the supposedly small size paella for 3 of us. The air was immediately filled with the aroma from the rice soaking in rich seafood broth in the paella pan.

Despite our best efforts, we couldn’t finish the seafood platter, and had to take the clams and small shrimps back to our hotel.

After a brief recess, our friendly waiter presented us with an elegant tray of mouth-watering desserts. There must have been 10 different choices. We couldn’t resist and ordered the lemon meringue tart, crema Catalan and “white” strawberries to share. The lemon tart had a sharp citrus flavour, and the creme Catalan was very smooth; even the “white” strawberries were small, yet very sweet. Somehow, we managed to finish our desserts.

This establishment is one of Barcelona’s finest seafood restaurant, and the bill reflected its premier status too (rather expensive). Our lunch came to about Eur 280. However, Mr. King (on his full stomach) agreed that this dining experience was certainly worthwhile.

After lunch, we strolled around the neighborhood, which had many small quaint shops.

Botafumeiro – Gran de Gràcia 81, 08012 Barcelona, T:+34932184230, botafumeiro.es

All photos were taken by Mrs. King.