A fantastic view – Check in @Eurostars Marina / Barcelona / Spain
Categories Destinations, Hotels2 Comments
Contributed by Jens Hoffmann.
Me gusta Barca.
The nice Eurostars Marina 5star hote, located in the city’s Port Vell, the unique architectural structure looks like the bridge of a large ship, the hotel Eurostars Grand Marina is a great place full of comfort and luxury.
The building, which resembles a transatlantic liner, is often mistaken for the ships and cruisers which, anchored in the port of Barcelona, protect the hotel.
All rooms have the constant presence of the Mediterranean light that finds its way into the most hidden corners.
The main hall sports an impressive circular staircase designed by the architect, Leohming Pei, the creator of the famous pyramid forming the main entrance to the Louvre Museum in Paris. The hotel is full of cutting edge design details and repeatedly houses temporary, avant-garde art exhibitions. Take a stroll on the Ramblas, lovely Barca is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia.
Unfortunately the beautiful outdoor pool was closed.
The urban area of Barcelona extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 4 millions and it is Europe’s largest metropolis on the Mediterranean Sea. The 5 star Barcelona hotel resto has also become a culinary reference in Barca city.
By the way, the place is famous for for all kinds of events and food.
Me gusta Barcelona.
If you are on a world travel and want to see everything of Spain, watch a match of Barcelona or Real Madrid. And do not miss “my” resto in Girona (near Barcelona) and try to get a table at Celler de Can Roca.
The booming -world restaurant #1- is run by the three Roca brothers: eldest brother Joan Roca is head chef, Josep Roca is sommelier and Jordi Roca is the patissier. The restaurant is situated in the pleasant town of Girona, which has a well-preserved medieval old town and is about 60 miles north of Barcelona. The restaurant opened in 1986 but moved to a purpose built new building in 2007, with large kitchens giving plenty of room for its 30 chefs to work. There is also a large temperature-controlled wine storage area at ground floor level to accommodate the vast wine cellar, of which more anon.
The dining room is laid out in a triangular shape around an atrium with several poplar trees behind a glass partition. There is a wooden floor but each table rests on its own patch of brown carpet. The tables are well spaced and carefully lit.
There are wooden slats with back lighting forming one wall, a drop window facing the garden another side and a bar area making up the third side.
The tables are set with crisp white linen and Rosenthal china. There are tasting menus around 150 €, as well as a la carte dishes. The restaurant is noted for its large wine selection, and the two huge wine lists, one for white and one for red, are mounted on their own trolley and wheeled to the table. While you consider the wine lists a little bush arrives at the table, on which hang caramelised olives which you pick.
Although this is an original presentation idea I found the sweet taste from the caramel a bit special.
There are no less than 2,800 separate wines available, with 60,000 bottles stored in the cellar area.
A little Bellini cocktail appeared in a chocolate sphere; this was lovely, the peach taste coming through very well. This came alongside a little blob of rich chicken mousse sandwiched in-between two very delicate slivers of fried potato.A further nibble was deep fried anchovy bone with rice tempura, which was tasty and was made with very delicate batter, followed by an appetiser of mushroom brioche with hot meat consommé. The brioche had an incredibly light texture, a really remarkable piece of baking that practically melted in the mouth.
The breads were made from scratch in the kitchen here and were impressive. The tray had a selection of white bread, ciabatta, multi-grain, brioche of olive oil and tomato and also brioche of black olive. The breads had lovely texture, and the flavours came through really well. European lobster was very tender and had excellent flavour, served on a bed of absolutely superb mash with truffle, with a rich black trumpet mushroom sauce. We had smoked langoustines, which were beautifully cooked, served with a lovely sauce made from the head juices, onion and Comte cheese, which had a fairly subdued flavour, which in this case was just what was needed as it allowed the delicate flavour of the superb langoustines to really shine. My main course was a veal steak tartare, using veal from Girona. This was served as a rectangular slab, on which were dots of mustard ice cream, mustard leaves, spicy tomato ketchup, caper compote, Sichuan pepper, a little lemon compote to provide acidity, praline cream and dried of Olorosso sherry, with a garnish of little fried potatoes and smoked paprika; this was finally offered with a little pool of meat béarnaise sauce.
I had an excellent apple dessert, with apple in a series of styles and textures, with little leaves of crisp apple surrounding apple ice cream, the Creme Catalan, which is essentially a Spanish creme brûlée, served with caramelised strawberries. This was creamy with a perfectly caramelised top, topped with wild strawberries, dried strawberries and strawberry syrup; this was simply magnificent. Followed by very good coffee and a selection of petit fours. Yummy.
Overall we had a superb meal, with terrific ingredients, high levels of technical skill on display, well judged flavour combinations and attractive presentation.
If its to expensive for you, you still have the option to eat at Mama Roca in the center of Girona. Perfect food. Go for it…
Me gusta, House & Hotel Magazine was happy.
Culinary tip: The mama of the Roca brothers, owns a resto in Girona. Great food.
I was more than happy.
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