Exploring the World: (Barcelona) Les Quinze Nits Revisited

I know, I know, the amount of neglect this blog endured is extremely inexcusable.  Documenting our travels has taken, not even the backseat, but rather the trunk is the more appropriate term to put it, as I try to juggle stuff at home at work and our CFC Work.

We’ve travelled quite a few times in the past couple of months and to ensure that I don’t miss any trips, I’ve decided to start with the very first trip we had this year, which was in Barcelona.

Barcelona holds a special place in my heart and so does this quaint restaurant.  The first time we’ve been in Barcelona was to celebrate our 1^st Wedding (6^th in total) Anniversary.  The very first night we spent there, we had our dinner at Les Quinze Nits and immediately, I fell in love with it (well not with the snooty Filipina waitress though – well that is a different story altogether). 

In my mind, I could still taste the creamy Paella Negra teeming with shrimps, mussels and other little sea treasures.  I could still recall the oh-so-tender pork dish that reminded me so much of home.  I could still remember how refreshing the pitcher of Sangria served to us.

With this charming memories, the moment we booked everything for our Barcelona trip, honey automatically set aside a dinner to be spent is this oasis of a restaurant. 

The evening started very well with this very pleasant Maitre de welcoming us (he was a Filipino – very nice man!).  He even gave us recommendations as to what we should order.  We decided to order the Paella Negra (again – we just enjoyed it so much the last time) and a pork dish.  We were so excited, our eyes were fixed on every menu being laid on our table and with such profound excitement, it felt like our knives and forks have lives of their own and made their way, without even being guided, to the dishes that were in front of us.  However, the boiling excitement turned very quickly into a fizzle the moment we placed the first mouthful of Paella Negra in our mouths.  Gone was the creamy and heavenly Paella, in its place was this salty plate of black rice.  Gone was the pot of divine treat teeming with little treasures from the sea, it its place was black rice interspersed with very little seafood.  The pork dish was forgetful, I don’t even remember how it tasted or what it looked like. 

I’m a bit saddened that this little gem of a place turned into a nondescript restaurant.  I give them plus points for the nicer staff, the maitre de even gave Baby Bee some chocolate truffles after we had our meal but the quality and taste of the food is not at par with what we had in the past.

I guess I will never be able to taste that heavenly treat that we had there 5 years ago, too bad.