PRICE:
Frommer's Very Highly Recommended

Alkimia is one of Barcelona's most individual and highly regarded restaurants. Owner Jordi Vilà -- a chef's chef if ever there was one -- is a proponent of New Catalan cuisine, the culinary wave started by Ferran Adrià, which has been sweeping the city in recent years. The minimalist decor is not intended to distract you from the food, as you need to have your taste buds and wits fully about you when sampling these challenging dishes. Try, for starters, the deconstructed version of the simple but traditional pa amb tomàquet (white bread rubbed with tomato pulp and olive oil), in which Vilà filters the tomato, separates the juice -- where all the flavor is -- and then adds a little oil and some crumbs of toasted bread, serving it with some lloganissa salami. Other offbeat Vilà versions of traditional dishes include tuna belly instead of Iberian ham in faves a la catalana (Catalan style broad beans); truffle added to a plate of cabbage, potato, and sausage; and fried eggs and Majorcan sausage served with preserved quinces. Exceptional among his desserts is the imaginative combination of litchi soup, glacé celery, and eucalyptus ice cream.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Barcelona, 3rd Edition, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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