August 15th, 2013
I got up early and set off for Barcelona with friends for a weekend of eating and drinking and a strong desire to revisit La Festa de Gràcia, a spectacular street festival that I haven’t seen in 21 years.
We got in at 13.45 and I was starving, so having dropped off our bags, a menu del dia seemed like the perfect option. However, the fixed price, 3 course menu del dia is generally only served on regular working days and today’s a bank holiday, fortunately Bar Victoria is different and provides 3 courses with wine, all the time, for about 11€, even at night!
I was delighted to find Gazpacho on the list of first courses. I really wanted typical Spanish food and since it was about 29º C with 75% humidity, cold vegetable soup was perfect.
Even more exciting, was my second course choice, Croquetas de Bacalao – these are very popular salt cod croquettes, deep fried to perfection. Served here with fries, grilled red pepper and allioli.
To keep ourselves cool we drank a couple of bottles of rosado (Spanish rosé).
For pudding I had my favourite, Crema Catalana – the Catalan equivalent of crème brulée, which generally contains more citrus and cinnamon than the English and French equivalents.
To set me up or finish me off, I ordered a Carajillo de Cognac, an espresso topped up with brandy – named by Spanish troops fighting in Cuba who drank coffee with rum for courage (coraje).
We left the Victoria at about 17.30, giving us an hour for siesta before marching up the hill to Gràcia…
Restaurante Victoria is at: Carrer dels Angels, 8, 08001, Barcelona
What a lovely and delicious menu. I especially like the look of that dessert!
thanks for sharing your meal, MD.
Thanks Ruth – maybe I should take Flat Ruthie with me next time, at those prices I can afford her lunch too 😉
What a pretty golden colored gazpacho! And that Crema Catalan, delish!
It was all delicious, but the croquetas were my favourites 😉
Hope you’re having fun – you ordered all my favourites! Enjoy the “Festa” 🙂
Thanks – I can never resist croquetas, though I’ve never made them… 🙂
yum yum yum splendido!
Thanks Fiona – you’ll have to come next time 😉
Okay. Must make gazpacho this week. And croquetas….you’ve put me on a mission! Now I need your recipes…Enjoy the trip…que dizfrutes…
Thanks Natalia – I could eat a whole load of croquetas right now!
What a delicious lunch and such great value! I want to go to Barcelona!
The Victoria is always great value, but that was probably my favourite meal there ever. Do check my blog for restaurants if and when you go, I’ve made a big effort to find the best ones for lunch time menus 😉
You really do find the best places to eat, MD. This meal is no exception. And a citrus-flavored brulée, in any language, would be delicious.
Thanks John, I bet you’d really enjoy those bacalao croquetas too 😉
You know me so well. 🙂
I’ll see if I can find something else with bacalao 😉
I would have ordered exactly the same thing and what a terrific price.
It’s so good that one could almost go there daily – perhaps some people do 😉
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