Barcelona Friday- Day 2

On the first day, after having tea at Cat Bar we wondered over to George Orwell Square to get cakes from Gopal.  Initially I just wanted one of their chocolate donuts that I’d heard so much about,  however when we got there, I could resist getting a cinnamon roll as well and The Boy spotted the carrot cake.  Being too full to eat them there and then, we got them to take away but by the time we got back to our apartment we were both too drained from a long day to eat cake.

Luckily, eating cake for breakfast on holiday is OK.

The chocolate donut lived up to expectations, however the cinnamon roll was just OK and neither of us was keen on the icing on the carrot cake. 

We spent the morning visiting all the Gaudi buildings and we did plan to visit Park Guell however you have to buy tickets now and they only allow up to 400 visitor per 30 minutes.  The queue to book tickets was HUGE (with no guarantee of getting a time slot for the day) and it was far too hot to be queuing.  Instead we just wondered around the open parts (it’s only the central area where the house is etc. which is restricted) and took some pictures from the outside.  When we go again, I'm definitely booking tickets in advance.

For lunch, we headed to Maoz Falafel. Basically, you order either a falafel wrap or salad and you get given the falafel in a pitta or bowl plus lettuce. You then help yourself to other fillings- all but one are vegan.  We went for the falafel wrap meal, which came with a wrap, drink and fries. We didn't really think of how we going to hold all three at once, and I kind of panicked a little and ended up not putting all the available fillings on which was a mistake.

The Boy described this as the best falafel wrap he'd ever had, and I’d agree. The only criticism I have is that the olives still had stones in, and I really don’t get the point of that. 

In the afternoon after making our second trip to Gelaati di Marco, we visited Montjuic, which is the area of Barcelona where the 1992 Olympic Games were held. There was a lovely garden nearby with millions of fountains, and we took outdoor escalators to the top and took in the stunning view over Barcelona.

For tea we went to Rasoterra, which is a vegetarian tapas restaurant with clearly marked vegan dishes.  This was definitely the most upmarket place we went in Barcelona, however neither of us were that impressed.  We placed our order with the snooty waiter (the chef seemed very friendly though), I ordered patatas bravas (obviously) , tofu and vegetable gyozas and carrot and tempeh balls.  The Boy ordered two vegetarian dishes along with some vegan tomato bread.

Out of all the dishes, I would say the tempeh balls and bread was my favourite.  It was my first time trying tempeh and I really loved the texture, it’s a shame it’s so hard to get hold of here.  I wasn’t expecting much of the bread, however it was well flavoured with tomato and a hint of sea salt and tasted very fresh.  The gyozas were a bit meh and the patatas bravas at Cat Bar were better.

Overall I didn't rate this place, the atmosphere felt hostile and it was a bit pricey side especially since there are so many great places in Barcelona with nicer food and a friendlier atmosphere.

For dessert, we head to Pasteleria La Estrella which according to my research sold Lujuria Vegana vegan cakes and pastries.  It’s on the same road as Guell Palace and is a bit further up. I was happy to find that they did indeed sell vegan cakes, and had a dedicated fridge.  However, as we went a bit late on they seemed to have sold out of a lot of stuff.  I ended up going for another carrot cake, which this time I did eat as dessert!

This was a lot fancier (and pricier) than the one from Gopal. And I preferred the lighter icing however the cake itself was just OK. I feel like a right carrot cake snob!

And that was the end of the second day. Next Friday will be my write up of our last day, and also the last Friday of MoFo- it's gone fast!