I’d say that over the past decade or so, tapas has become synonymous with Spanish cuisine. So I thought that I’d make my experience at one of the more highly regarded tapas bars in Barcelona as my first post on my trip to Spain. Tapas 24 is a much more casual sibling of Commerc 24 which, along with being awarded two Michelin stars, is considered by some to be one of the best and most innovative restaurants -small plates or otherwise- in Barcelona.
Commerc 24 was actually one of the restaurants that I had made advance reservations for, but a combination of overindulging on the amazing local cuisine and not being able to get over the time difference ultimately led me to forgo my dinner reservation at the restaurant. After a night’s rest and after regaining my appetite, I decided to go for a consolation lunch at Tapas 24. Even though I had been repeatedly warned about the later local dining habits, I thought that my arrival at 12:00 P.M. wouldn’t be too out-of-line since the restaurant was open from eight in the morning to eleven at night.
It turned out that I was WAY early. The restaurant was practically empty when my wife, kids, and I were seated at our table.
The menu was right on our table and it did not look promising. It looked more like a breakfast menu than one that contained daily tapas specials.
Our server confirmed that we were too early for lunch service. I was really disappointed until I realized that both of their signature menu items (the burger and the ham sandwich) were also available for breakfast. Along with two orders of both the burger and the sandwich, I allowed our server to pick two more items for us. The first was the tortilla – otherwise known as the Spanish omelette.
Yes, it’s called a “tortilla” and yes, I’ve already experienced the culture shock of expecting something close to a Mexican corn/flour tortilla and receiving an omelette (I should’ve done my homework and found out what exactly a tortilla was before visiting its country of origin). Thus I was totally cognizant of the fact that I was ordering an omelette with ham and fried potatoes as its filling. I wanted to see how different omelets from disciplined chefs whose lineage can be traced back to El Bulli would be from the regular tortillas I tried at regular local restaurants. The tortilla at Tapas 24 was definitely better tasting, but it more or less adhered to the traditional tortilla. The included ham was fatty and full-of-flavour while the potatoes were crispy on the outside and not too mushy on the inside. The fried potatoes also had a thickness that were just right. Both items in the filling were naturally enveloped by a mess of scrambled egg whites and egg yolks which looked like every other cooked omelette on the outside. The inside of the omelette was a different story altogether. There were multitudes of textures from runny to tender-soft to firm-bouncy-and-perfectly-cooked.
The omelette, although 100% omelette-like, was one of the most perfectly executed omelettes that I’ve ever had.
The second server-chosen dish was the calamari sandwich.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve never (ever) had a deep fried calamari sandwich before. And you know what? It tasted exactly as I would’ve imagined a calamari sandwich would taste like. Deep fried calamari on rustic bread with mayo and cheese. I like all of the individual components on their own and I liked them when they were combined together. My only complaint about the sandwich was that it was on the drier side. The slightly dry calamari combined with the slightly tough bread combined to create a sandwich that took quite a bit of effort to chew through every bite.
The tortilla and calamari sandwich were both good, but they were not what I came to the restaurant for. I came for the burger and the sandwich. The sandwich in question was the classic Spanish bikini sandwich. Bikini is another name for the all-too-familiar ham-and-cheese sandwich, which is fine and dandy by itself. But there version at Tapas 24 was enhanced with a potentially heavenly truffle spread.
France has its croque madame, Spain has its bikini, the rest of the world has its ham-and-cheese, and Tapas 24 has its BIKINI. The BIKINI was, hands down, the best ham-and-cheese sandwich I’ve ever had. The toast was nicely crusty and toasty on the outside and airy and soft on the inside; the cheese was melty and slightly fragrant; the iberian ham was textbook umami; the concentrated truffle spread was aromatic like a hundred fresh shaved truffles. Each bite of the diminutive sandwich was more flavourful than the previous bite. It’s amazing how something so simple can be so tasty. The BIKINI was without a doubt the best item I was fortunate enough to sample at Tapas 24.
Slighly less amazing than the BIKINI, but an order of magnitude more tasty than the omelette and calamari sandwich was the McFoie Burger.
The burger itself was definitely interesting and different. The patty was fully encased in the bun. The bun was thin and crispy and the patty was beefy and juicy. It was a definitely a good burger, but it was a mere companion to the star of the dish: the foie gras butter. The foie gras butter was light as air and flavourful as only foie gras could be. It was totally refreshing and much easier to tolerate in large quantities than the usual foie gras terrine. It felt like I could have bowls and bowls of it without ever getting sick and tired of it. When combined with the burger, it added an umaminess that upped the flavour tenfold while never making the entire combination too much to bear. When combined with everything else (I added it to every other dish we ordered), it made the plain amazing and the amazing otherworldly. The foie gras butter made everything that it touched much, much better. The irony was that because foie gras butter was so good, I don’t think it necessarily needed to be paired up with the burger. That was in stark contrast with the BIKINI, which I felt was amazing because all of the components worked so well with each other, and only with each other.
This being breakfast, we of course have to have breakfast beverages. My wife and I both had lattes (cafe con leche) while the kids had milk.
The latte/cappuccino was aromatic and mellow tasting. The milk (as with all cups/glasses of milk we were served in Spain) was quite interesting. They served it warm with sugar. As I’ve observed during my trip, warm, sweet milk was quite the common beverage in Spain.
We also had churros to go with our beverages.
I guess churros are pretty standardized in Spain because the ones at Tapas 24 had the same shape, texture, and flavour as every other churro I had during my trip. It just so happened that I loved every other churro I had during my trip so I thought that the ones I had at Tapas 24 were very delicious. They were crispy with a hint of oil and not too thick to chew through; they were the perfect snack for a cup of coffee, tea, hot chocolate, or milk.
That all of the items were well-executed was completely within my expectations. The BIKINI and the foie gras butter were both memorable and unforgettable. I had no complaints about the other items I had. My only regret was that I wished I visited the restaurant 30 minutes later so that I could sample some of their lunch offerings. I’m sure that I would’ve been amazed by some other seemingly normal item with unfathomably amazing flavours.
What I Talk About When I Talk About Food 