Quimet & Quimet - Review

Intro
Quimet & Quimet - Highly Recommended
C/ Poeta Cabanyes 25
08004 Barcelona, Spain
Phone: +34 934 423 142

My first night in Barcelona and we hit one out of the park by going to Quimet & Quimet. This place was so ridiculous and I guarantee you will not experience this anywhere outside of Spain. Premise of the joint is that it's a tapas bar, but a lot of the stuff you get is basically canned seafood. This may not sound great, but trust me - this is no chicken of the sea your getting here. Basically, incredibly fresh seafood cooked and sealed in high quality extra virgin oil - when it ages the flavors get intense and the texture is perfect. That is only half the battle though - you have the expert tapa barman creating these masterpieces in front of you. Kinda like a sushi chef having the same ingredients in front of him, but creating something completely different each time. Overall, I give the restaurant an 93/100.

Our Menu
1) Seafood Platter - baby clams, razor clams, mussels, squid ***
2) Duck and Foie Gras Pate, Caramelized Onions, Balsamic Glaze ***
3) Smoked Salmon, Truffle Honey, Creme Fraiche ***
4) Pickles, Tomato, Sardines
5) Pickles, Anchovies, Olive Stuffed Anchovy, Red Peper ***
6) Second Random Plate - Foie Gras, Mushrooms, Dried Tuna, Dried Beef **

Rating System
--- What the F - in a bad way * Good ** Great *** What the F – in a good way



















Dish Comments
1) A big time WTF moment - all canned seafood, all spectacular. Like I said before, this is not your normal chicken of the sea tuna. The seafood had such a great flavor - sometimes sweet, sometimes rich. I was experiencing a Yasuda zen moment - where each piece of seafood tasted spectacular in it's own different way. Like what I've seen in England, the vinegar added the perfect pop to the plate.
2) A really great fun dish to eat and my first montadito which is basically bread with small ingredients on it. Sweet onions, rich pate, and sweet balsamic reduction make for a wtf moment of flavors. This combo makes sense and it was hella delicious.
3) My favorite dish of the night. Smoky fatty salmon, topped with sweet and earthy truffle honey, and light creme fraiche. A ridiculous explosion of textures and flavors but more importantly I had the most ridiculous smile on my face after eating this. Definitely going to recreate this very soon.
4) A nice dish, but the sardines totally caught me off guard as they were crazy fishy. An OK dish and I generally like sardines, but these were hella strong.
5) Another dish, another WTF moment. More of the same with combinations of the salty meaty anchovy, sour crunchy pickles, and sweet peppers. Huge flavors and a perfect combo.
6) The final random plate the tapa maestro laid down for us - mushrooms, more of the pate, and this time slices of foie gras which caught the attention of others as it wasn't displayed on the bar. Foie was decent, but not great; the mushrooms were solid but the killer item here were the cured tuna and beef. Again, huge flavors and the only thing I can compare them too was a jamon iberico although less intense. Perfect texture, a little chew before melting away and the curing made it so much more intese.
















Overall Restaurant Experience (93/100)

• Food 9.3/10 – An amazing combination of textures and flavors. Everything was so bright and vibrant. Writing this review is pretty tough, since I want to eat all of those dishes right now!
• Service 9.5/10 – I didn't see any menus, so I basically rocked the "que me recomienda" and the tapa man got everything for us - he spoke some English though. Really cool dude and he knew exactly when to come over with new random plates. Again, very cool how he asked us what we liked and would make up new dishes in front of us based on our answer...so awesome.
  
• Atmosphere 9.5/10 – Total sushi zen moment as you see all the ingredients laid out in front of you like a sushi bar and there are two people behind the bar ready to take your order. Ingredients available to purchase are displayed all along the walls of the tiny 200 sq foot room (no seats and no tables). People eat a tad later in Spain, so I was surprised to see it crazy packed at 7pm on a Thursday. Place was packed about 80% Spanish speakers and 20% Americans/Brits/Aussies. Everyone was very friendly and just having a great time there.
  
• Price 10.0/10 – Ok this was the best part. This whole meal was under 30 euro...a big time WTF moment for the amount that we ate. This included many a cava - the sparkling wine in that area. Btw - cava everywhere in Barcelona was 1-2 euro...
  

Closing Comments
What a fun place and such a great food experience. Granted, there's probably better tapas in Barcelona, but for the service, atmosphere, and price it'll be hard to eat.