Barcelona: Degustacion Menu?

There are so many restaurants to choose from in Barcelona that I'm a bit confused about where to make reservations... This is for the end of May (weeknights) so I'd need to be able to get a table within a couple of weeks. Gaig, Alkimia, Commerc 24, Hisop... any suggestions out there? My upper limit is 100 Euro/pp before wine. I'd like something inventive but not too over the top since i'd like to avoid having to watch the boyfriend do his eye-rolling. Is there something that might fall somewhere between TRU and Alinea?

I'm looking for a great restaurant in Barcelona with a tasting menu around 100 euro/pp. Any suggestions or experience with Alkimia, Commerc 24, Gaig, etc? I'm looking for something not too over the top lest it generate snorting noises from my boyfriend but from the descriptions I'm reading on-line, they all sound highly experimental.

We were recently in Barcelona, and altho I was looking primarily for regional food and tapas bars, my research for degustation options put Cinc Sentits at the top of my list. Here's a NY Times review:

http://travel2.nytimes.com/top/features ... 4996091973

and from Frommer's:

http://www.frommers.com/destinations/ba ... 55402.html

We never got around to trying it out but we did stumble into one upscale, relatively unknown restaurant for lunch. Here's my report on that one:

"Bon Vivant, c/Diputacio 280

A darkhorse that we stumbled upon--I'd seen it recommended nowhere--near Passeig de Gracia. About two years old with simple but elegant decor, it proved to be a wonderful place for an upscale lunch. The menu focuses on seafood with some fusion elements, but we stuck with the regional specialties, splitting potato/cheese timbals (floating on a pool of truffle oil and wild mushrooms), tuna medallions (encrusted with pepper and herbs), and squid (stuffed with black sausage), well-worth the 50 eu tab (bottle of wine and water included). We'll be back for dinner on our next visit."

Thanks very much for this reference, Cinc Sentis has been mentioned quite a bit elsewhere. I'll look for a longer review to try to get a feel for the place.

Right now, I have reservations at Abac and Gaig and now Cinc Sentis is a possibility. I can only afford one of these places since I'm taking friends out. I've also read that Sauc on Passatge Pellicer 12 has a great degustacion menu for only 36 Euro so I'm trying this place as well for a non-occasion meal.

BTW, is there any difference implied by the terms "degustacion" menu and "tasting" menu? In general, it sounds like I should expect fewer courses for the price in Barcelona, i.e. 5 courses for 100 USD.

We went to Alkimia last fall and enjoyed it very much. I'd put it into the "experimental modern Spanish cuisine" mode. We enjoyed it very much. It was quiet and cool and they were very good about our very bad Spanish.

Great, how many courses did you have at Alkimia, or did you order off the menu ? (do you remember the cost?)

I'm also very intrgiued by 'Passadis del Pep' (few doors down from Cal Pep) -- there's no menu at all and NO PRICES. They just start bringing out courses until you ask them to stop. From the person's review, it sounds like it came out to a little over 100 Euro/pp but can be much higher than that, depending on ingredients used. They liked this place much more than Abac, Commerc 24, and Cinc Sentsis -- it would be so great if I could afford to eat at all these places over one vacation.... Passadis del Pep sounds like a great, very unique experience of Catalan cuisine -- I'm just terrified of the bill.

trotsky wrote:Great, how many courses did you have at Alkimia, or did you order off the menu ? (do you remember the cost?)

We had their tasting menu, maybe 10 courses? We'd have to go back through our credit card records to find out how much it cost - but on-line I see that in Jan 2004 it cost 40 British Pounds...

http://www.barcelona-metropolitan.com/A ... icleID=149

Wow, that's a very good value. Maybe I've heard incorrectly about the tasting menus. I'm sure it's gone up since then but even 100 USD would be a very good price for 10 courses.

This isn't getting any easier. Commerc 24 sounds a bit too trendy, we may go with Cinc Senstis or Gaig. I'll give a report when I get back but until then, any reviews and comparisons would be really appreciated. We're looking for atmosphere that isn't too formal -- more like ironic and a little playful and we all love red meat and seafood. I don't like too many "liquid" courses if that makes any sense...