Gustos Bcn

Walking around the city all day can be very exhausting, especially if you walk by many restaurants with tasty – looking food. And this is exactly what happened to me today – I was wandering around Placa de Espanya for several hours, without any fixed plan on where I will go, and I also met up with an old friend, and later, after we had a nice chat, I somehow ended up next to the Centro Commercial Las Arenas. (You can find the directions to it in some of my other entries, I would not like to repeat myself. All I will say here is Green line – L3. )

And at this point, I was already very hungry, so my stomach started making weird noises. So, I went inside the shopping centre, found the department with restaurants, and started looking for a good one. Needless to say that I preferred the one with typical spanish food over, for example, chinese or any other non – authentic restaurant. After all, I can eat chinese or any other food at home, and here in Spain, I will try to eat as many typical spanish food as possible.

After a few circles, I decided to give a try to a restaurant, named Gustos Bcn. I was surprised that the restaurant was completely empty, although it looked pretty well. But I decided to give it a try, so I went inside anyway, and I was not disappointed. Well, at least not about the food. The price is a different story.

The decoration of Gustos Bcn

Honestly, the inviting feeling of the place, which was archieved with a great decoration, was the main reason that I have decided to eat in this small restaurant. What caught my attention first, were big posters around the entrance, where you could read, what exactly Gustos Bcn offers. And what was even better, there were pictures and prices written next to each dish that you can order there. And another plus, all the dish names were also written in English, which is awesome. For example, for me, Albondigas a la Jardinera sounds like some vegan dish, but in reality, this dish is meatballs with mixed vegetables.

The decoration inside reminded me of typical italian restaurants. I am not sure why, since this is not a restaurant with the italian cuisine, but maybe you will find some similarities too, after you will see the pictures of the decoration.

The tables are wooden, and they are only made for two persons. So this is definitely not a restaurant where groups would go. Actually, if I think again, the tables could only accommodate one person, because if two persons, sitting behind the same table, both ordered something to eat, they would hardly find enough place for the plates and the drinks.

What I especially liked about the tables, is their light brown colour, which nicely fits with the blue napkins on them. I am not sure why, but this combination seemed just perfect to me. What do you think?

The walls of this rather small restaurant are decorated with black – and – white pictures, big pans and other things which, as I already mentioned, remind me of italian restaurants. There is a lot of decoration in this restaurant, but I must say that it fits there very well.

Dishes and drinks

Gustos Bcn offers a wide variety of tapas, so let me just list some of them, which seemed tasty to me. The first one that caught my attention, was definitely a tapa, called Galician octopus. For a few seconds I was thinking of ordering it, but then I thought that I have never had an octopus before, and in case I would not like it, I would remain hungry.

So I kept reading the menu, and the next dish that seemed tasty, were prawns, fried with garlic. I was almost sure that I will order it. But then I looked at the price and at the picture that showed the size of the portion, and moved on.

The next tapa was more than reasonably priced (at least this is what I thought), and I just knew that I could not go wrong with ordering it. So, what was it? Chicken wings! I sat down to the table that was far enough from the entrance that the noise from outside will not bother me, and once I was sitting, I started looking at the drinks. And since I am in Spain, I decided to order a sangria.

It took some time for the waiter to come to me, but the plus is that he spoke almost perfect English, and he said that I will definitely like the dish that I have chosen. The sangria was ready almost right away, and it was really good. Well, for that price, it had to be! I know that sangria is always served with some fruits inside, and I could not resist to eat some of them when nobody was watching. Yeah, sometimes I am such a child…

Then, my tapas have arrived. I know that tapa is just a side dish, but still, for that price, I somehow expected a bigger portion. Honestly, when the waiter brought my tapa to the table, I thought that this is just an appetizer for the tapa and the real dish will be served later, but then I figured out that this is what I ordered. The portion really seems more than small, but after eating it, I was very surprised when I figured out that I was actually almost full.

And I must say that the food was ready very quickly – I was waiting less than ten minutes! But let me start at the beginning – the taste. Believe it or not, the sauce was made with hazelnuts, and it was awesome. Also, the chicken wings were so tasty. I do not know how exactly they are preparing them, but the taste was just superb. Also, as the waiter said, sangria was a perfect drink to have with these tapas.

Prices

Well, we are at this topic again. I think that this should become my new mantra: 'Katja, remember, nothing is cheap here in Barcelona. ' The price of my tapas was 4, 90 €, and 2 dl of sangria cost 3, 50 €. But at least everything was more than good.

The prices of the tapas that I have listed above, were the following: the Galician octopus costs 9, 50 €, prawns fried with garlic cost 12, 50 € and another one that seemed tasty, named mushrooms fried with garlic, costs 6, 95 €. For me and my Slovenain standards, those prices would be reasonable if those were main dishes.

The drinks in Gustos Bcn are also quite expensive, so if I were you, I would bring a bottle of water with me and not order anything to drink there. (I think that it is allowed to do so. ) For example, 2 dl of ice tea costs almost three Euros, a bottle of water (0, 5 l) costs one Euro and a half (! ) and a small Estrella beer costs 1, 90 €.

A few words for the end…

I am not sorry at all that I went to Gustos Bcn. Honestly, the tapas (and sangria, too) were so good that I would pay even more in the future. Oh, if only I knew how to prepare them at home… but I will definitely go back to this restaurant in the near future to test out some of their other tapas. Maybe I will also invite a couple of friends with me, so we can order several tapas and then split the bill, which is probably the most economic option for eating out in Barcelona.