Spanish eating etiquette.

[Paul Carmel]

BTW Paul...apart from that (and the weather) - how are you enjoying it there?

Mouse
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Loving it! It's nice to be a tourist for once! And it's such a great city just to wander around and get lost in - every day we find a new little alley with yet another nice bar or restaurant in it. Also the markets are just fantastic.

Some of my favourite things so far: a really nice beer and the most amazingly tender beef and padron peppers at the El Vaso de Oro (best Estrella I have tasted), or a stupidly cheap sarnie and a bottle of Cava at Can Paixano. Favourite restaurant: L'Academia in Plaça St Just. And unbelievably good cheap eats at La Dolce Herminia and La Fonda.

And yes, Los Caracoles may be a bit touristy but we took the outlaw there for Sunday lunch and he absolutely loved it - the service and atmosphere was great,( apart from Rosa Klebb's patronising looks ) the waiters put on a show, and the food was very good and not, IMO, very expensive - we had just come back from Seville where we didn't have a single good meal and in general it was a lot more expensive there.

But being right in between the Born and Barceloneta is great. You have a great beach ( what's left of it ) and a local atmosphere that reminds me of my old stomping ground Ladbroke Grove pre that bloody film Notting Hill. Would I come back? Yes! Only downside is the depressing sight of so many limbless beggars, and the endless stories of petty crime.

[Mouse]

Great to hear it's working out well for you! And of course with the great rail system you've the opportunity to travel around the mainland too.

Only downside is the depressing sight of so many limbless beggars, and the endless stories of petty crime.

That's so true...still it's no where near as bad as in the 1970's there Mr M tells me!! Oh how he can regale me with stories of bars that resembled that one in Airplane Still he was young and adventurous

Mouse
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[CSE]

The comment that is not customary to leave a tip here is totally untrue; you’d have to have really bad service not to leave a tip of some kind.

On Trip Advisor there are some Americans who regularly post there that also state it is not a custom to tip in Spain... PLUS to add insult to injury they add that a service charge is always included. We have never seen this either. it just gets our ... I was going to say goat, but best not(?)

a really nice beer and the most amazingly tender beef and padron peppers at the El Vaso de Oro (best Estrella I have tasted),

If you think the beef and Pimentos de Padron are good in BCN then you should come to the land which these come from, the produce is much fresher. We too have Estralla de Galicia beer.
But glad to see that you are enjoying your self, we also liked BCN a lot.

[Giddy Goat]

it just gets our ... I was going to say goat, but best not(?)

it would mine too I and I!!

[Topcat]

Paul and Mimosa, have you tried El Bosc de los Fades (the Fairy wood)? Not much in the way of food, but it's certainly different.

TC