Barcelona Vegetarian Restaurants

Friday, May 20, 2005

Thai Café

Went to the Thai Café last night - the only place in Barcelona where I've seen a 'menu de degustación' especially for vegetarians. What a very pleasant surprise. The place is quite new, at the end of C/ Comercio just off the Borne. A recent addition to the restaurants in Barcelona, the interior is warm and inviting. The service is attentive without being obtrusive. The food is simply delicious and it's fantastic to not have to keep asking "Does this dish have meat in?", or "What's this?", or "Is there any fish stock in that dish?", etc. The menu is for 2 persons, with around 6 dishes each. Starting with a warm slightly spicy Thai soup for starters accompanied by spring rolls (not deep-fried and filled with fresh mint and coriander amongst other things), the menu is reasonably priced at 18€ per person (dessert, coffee and drinks not included). This is followed by tofu in a sweet satay sauce. Then comes the main which comprised of egg tagliatelle, boiled white rice and a lovely sauce with huge chunks of pumpkin. This is certainly a menu for those with a good appetite, a welcome change to the minimalistic dishes that seem so fashionable these days. Desserts, although at an extra cost are very tasty - we tried the chocolate pyramid (a must for chocoholics) and the mango slice (very fresh and fruity). Add all this to a varied wine list and you can't go wrong here, if you like Thai food.

Thai Café

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Pla

Went to Pla (C/ Bellafilla 5) on Saturday night. I have to say I love that place and have always had very good experiences there vis-a-vís vegetarian food. Also, the service is very good and the atmosphere is rarely bettered in Barcelonian restaurants. However, this time I was left a little unsatisfied. Pla is one of the few places that uses a logo (strangely, a little black chilli) for their vegetarian dishes. So, you just look for the chillis and make your choice. Saves a lot of time. Except this time, I noticed one of the starter 'vegetarian' options contained bacon!?? This keeps in line with the usual "bacon's not real meat" attitude that is so prevalent in Spain. My next disappointment was the 'vegetarian' pasta of the day, which on Saturday was ravioli filled with salmon. Add that to the fact that they didn't have the wine I asked for and we were rather swiftly hurried out at the end (they do insist you arrive on time as they have two sittings at 9:30 and 11:30pm, but we arrived promptly and didn't exactly take our time eating) and all of a sudden, the almost perfect restaurant falls a little short of it's customary excellence. In light of this, I am currently unwilling to add Pla to our database at Sincarne

Tomate

Went to Tomate last week. Very nice place, brightly lit and friendly service. I added the listing to Sincarne and included a review. The site is currently in need of a re-do. I will be getting the new version up in the next few weeks. I'll keep you all posted.

Tomate