After the best meal on earth, I am sorry to report on the worst one ever in had in Barcelona or all of Spain for that matter (as I have not traveled that much in this country!).
PASSADIS D'EN PEP (some signs are Passadis del Pep) is located not far from the ocean in the old port area and has no sign on the door, just the number "2" for the address on Pla de Palau (or Palace Square). You walk through an alley-like lit corridor and eventually see the sign on the door to enter a cavern of ancient arches of gigantic blocks of stone, ochre faux walls, wood beam and painted ceilings and lots of modern "food" art. It is a quaint and warm (literally TOO warm) setting, although tonight's temps were in the 60's. I knew that there was no menu and that they just bring food here, but what happened to me, and I fear even many of those who speak Catalan (or Spanish), was a total RIPOFF.
As soon as I had sat down the waiter popped the cork on a bottle of MAS TINELL (from Heretat), CAVA Reserva Especial. Indeed, the corks kept popping all night, often making me jolt. My first thoughts were that they just kept this stuff pouring and the "fixed price" dinner must include unlimited Cava, kind of like Sunday brunch in the US! WRONG! I was charged 14,50Euros (which isn't much at just over $18.50) for the bottle on my tab, and frankly, I can't finish a whole bottle of champagne (or Cava) by myself without getting severe gas problems! I would have much preferred to choose a wine of my own, but nobody ever gave me (or anyone else who entered the joint) a chance. I did see one waiter ask a couple if they wanted a second bottle after finishing the first (but did he tell them they had to pay?). Within seconds of sitting down the waiter brought over three plates: one with oiled bread, one of JAMON IBERICO (about 10 small slices) and one of SMALL CLAMS IN GARLIC that were as tender as could be and oddly enough seemed to each have TWO feet, rather than the usual one. Any ideas? Before I finished these plates, another appeared with beautiful seashell like snail shells (those long spiral ones) and fresh snails in butter and garlic within....they were sublime, I have to admit, as were the clams. I asked for a bottle of sparkling water and was brought VICHY CATALAN, which at first seemed fine (read on please).
After finishing all these, two more plates appeared: DEEP FRIED TINY BABY FISH each of these about 1-1/2 in long and barely the width of a coin. They were more batter than fish I think and each had an odd little black dot on either side of the front of the fish, obviously miniscule eyes. The dish was bland and unexciting, but was accompanied by the best dish of the evening, a plate of SAUTEED WILD MUSHROOMS, ONIONS and bits of ground PORK and BEEF. This was the only dish all night that did not suffer from oversalting, and then when I tasted the water again I realized how salty IT was; I have never had such salty sparkling water ever in my life!
At this point my waiter said that several more dishes were coming, but would I prefer beef or fish for the entree; I could get little more information from him, so I decided to stick with fish, thinking it lighter and knowing that is what they specialize in. The next two plates were both of huge PRAWNS with head, claws and tails all intact; one dish plainly poached with oil and yes, lots of salt, the other with sauteed onions.
I now saw another waiter picking up a beef entree at the counter and dipping his fingers in a tray of salt and liberally sprinkling the salt all over the dish. I must admit that I did not see this happen again, but sure felt that perhaps both the chef and waiters were salting every dish double-time.
A nice dish of al dente RICE with Sauteed BABY SQUID followed, but was quite oily and extremely salty, and then came my fish. I thought it was cod, but the bill (when it came) did not say bacalao, but "rape." Perhaps they "raped" me financially, but maybe someone knows what "rape" is in Catalan. The fish was plain with lots of salt, oil, garlic and some plain mushy bland zucchini, tomato, carrot and potato on the side. Only the potato was a blessing to cut the salt! It was at this point I saw two gorgeous half lobsters being brought to the table next to me. Why did I not get that option? I also started to smell the smoke from a nearby room. Smoking is generally banned in Spain in restaurants unless they have several rooms and designate one room as smoking; another reason to stick with small one room establishments.
I decided to have some lemon sorbet with an awful hazelnut biscotti for dessert to cleanse my palate of all the salt. They then brought two bottle of liquors to the table: a clear anisette-like Orujo and a decent, but strong, yellowish LICOR DE HERBS. It was a nice gesture, and I was grateful they didn't charge me when the bill came.
Speaking of the bill, I assumed it was a fixed price menu that only changed minimally with what is available in the market (even more a reason not to re-visit the place), but each item was itemized. However, I was not given the chance to decline or change anything. THAT SUCKS! At a total of over 108Euros ($140) I almost went into shellshock. Don't get me wrong, I spend this amount with no qualms, but not without having a choice or chance to decline dishes I would not even want. What really is amazing is that my glorious lunch at BOHEMIC was just over $70 and I would have gladly gone back there the same day for dinner...even for the same food! That's how much of a disappointment Passadis d'en Pep is.
