BARCELONA
By Joe Ray
“It’s too expensive,” was the first thing out of a friend’s mouth when I mentioned we were heading to Xemei.
“But it’s goooood,” was the second.
“Best risotto of my life,” said another friend, “made with cod tripe!”
I was sold, plus there was serendipity involved. Food writer Carme Gasull proposed going at right around the same time.
On the weekend, Xemei is bustling with the open concept kitchen with the restaurant’s namesake Venetian twins running the show. It’s a loud, fun and casual atmosphere that stimulates the mind and the appetite.
We start, sharing a giant appetizer dish that’s an Italo-Catalan tapas with cod fritters, anchovies in vinegar on a fresh tomato salsa, a tender slab of mackerel. It’s all fine, but I’m thinking of the “expensive” comment more than the “good” one.
The waiter stops by, proposing a new bottle of wine and when I ask about the screw cap, he launches into a bizarre, five-minute explanation about screw caps, corks, evaporation and, to synthesize, how this case of special Italian wine, initially bound for America happened to end up in their restaurant.
It’s harmless fun, but I want to ask the guy if he actually believes what he’s saying.
“We’ve got a phrase here: he sold you a motorcycle,” says Edu. “He just wanted to sell you the bottle.”
The wine is peculiar but fine, but more important, the mains knock our socks off. All of them. The girls get mushroom risotto and Edu has spaghetti in squid ink that tickles our umami sensors and is served looking like cross between a Sicilian sfogliatelle pastry and a perfect beehive hairdo. I get a squid and artichoke dish - each element cooked separately and perfectly, the whole with fantastic textures.
Expensive? Well, motorcycles aren’t cheap, but it’s not that bad. Goooood? Yep.
We’ll be back.
Count on 40€, with wine.
Xemei - MAP
Passeig de l’Exposició, 85
+34 93 553 51 40
Food and travel writer and photographer Joe Ray is the author of the blog Eating The Motherland and contributes to The Boston Globe's travel blog, Globe-trotting.
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