One of the happiest moments when I travel is to savour the local cuisines. The best place to satisfy my curiosity and my stomach is the Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria at La Rambla, one of the main streets at the heart of Barcelona.
It's a large indoor food market, ranging from raw ingredients to freshly prepared foods. I must warn you not to read this post when you are hungry or dieting. I'm writing this post around midnight and my tummy gets a bit rumbly as I selected the pictures for this post. Such a bad timing!
The foods look fantastic. And they are as delicious as you think they are. Sausages, burritos, pastries, fried seafood, tapas... they have everything a foodie would love to try.
Up for something spicy and exotic? This is the right place to go.
If you are the type who want to try a little bit of everything, try finding this sausage shop near the entrance. For 1 euro, you can try all sorts of local sausages.
Then if you know which one you like the most, you can purchase them individually.
One last place I'd recommend you from the market is this tapas restaurant located somewhere in the middle of the market.
You'll be served with the typical Catalonian pa amb tomàquet (bread with tomato and olive oil) as a started. They're really tasty!
We tried the pincho de tortilla or the Spanish tortilla, made of potatoes and eggs. Although I'm not a big fan of potatoes, I really loved it.
The navajas (razor clam) was especially delicious. It's definitely a must-try when you're there.
The grilled squids are scrumptious as well. The sauce is similar to the one they used in the razor clams, which is to say... AWESOME.
Lastly, we also tried butiffara, a traditional Catalonian pork sausage. It's very juicy, very tender and flavourful. Ahh, the fats... it's just so good you can't say no to the artery-clogging substance in that.
From 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest), I'd give a 9.5 for satisfaction. If I ever go back to Barcelona, I'll definitely come back to visit this market! :)
