A DAMN FINE TAPAS DINNER AT OCANA - BARCELONA

 Today I take you further into my culinary experiences in Barcelona. Today, I take you to Ocaña. 

 After a delicious Brunch followed by a lovely day on the beach, it was time for dinner. Much later though, since in Spain dinner is not served until 10 or so, meaning I was starving by then. 

 We dined at Ocaña, a tapas restuarant, Ocaña is located in Plaza Real, which is one of Barcelona’s most popular and charismatic squares. It is a meeting point for many artists and is always crowded. The perfect place to go people watching, if you ask me. 

 As it was a tapas restaurant and bar, tapas and drinks were what we had! Let me start out with the cocktails.A deliciously mean mojito and a grapefruit juice gin and tonic. 

 Just look at its meanness! 

 With that sprinkled confectioner’s sugar all over the mint leaves. Deliciously mean, like I told you!That didn’t stop me from trying the other one, though. 

 Now, I’ve never been a big fan of gin tonic, I simply don’t feel like I can stomach gin and its dryness well, but the grapefruit made me almost want to order it for seconds. Still, my mojito was just a tad better, so why change a winning horse? So came the second cup! 

 Which I then sipped down in no time! The disappointment when I discovered nothing but ice left in my cup was major. 

 But I was soon cheered up with the arrival of the tapas. 

 Just look at that variety of goodies!

Please, allow me to clarify: We started out with the simple dishes, pictured above: some watermelon gazpacho with tomato lathered bread for dipping.

Then, the must: Jamon Iberico 

 With roasted, almost charcoal-grilled Padron Green peppers. Yum! Just a little kick of spiciness when you bite into them. 

 Followed by the Spanish masterpiece in our opinion: corn-fed Ham croquettes 

 They almost ooze with deliciousness when you cut into them.

Then, Arabic style pan roasted lamb in buns. 

 They almost had a hint of sweetness with the cinnamon that they added for flavor.

Up next: dijon chicken skewers with olives and fries. Simple yet super satisfying. 

 We cleaned up our plates, quite literally, mopping everything up with some pieces of bread after we finished them and happily sat back and observed the people in the Plaza.

We contemplated having dessert at the restaurant or going for a little stroll (or hunt) for frozen yogurt and came back fully-handed and belly-filled. 

 Someone sure looks very content with how her evening turned out! Ha!

Love,

Rosalina