08470 Barcelona / Tel.: (+34) 972 79 89 95 / Email: info@spaintaste.com
© 2005 Spain Taste All Rights Reserved
Culinary Vacations in Catalonia, Spain.
SPAIN tASTE
Some reviews from our clients:
"Easily
the best food tour we could ever have hoped to have experienced. Only
local knowledge can ensure an authentic adventure. In a nut shell, this
is what Spain Taste delivers. Your host, Yvan, capitalises on both his
local knowledge and local contacts to introduce customers to an amazing
gustatory journey. Catalan food and culture is the name of the game, and
it is delivered in spades. Bar-style and gourmet tapas, together with
regional and five star restaurants, are all included in the tour... not
to mention the cooking classes where customers learn to create their own
Catalan creations. The side trips are both informative and quirky. This
tour is a must for all lovers of food." Michael & Robert
Brisbane, Australia May 2011
Brisbane, Australia May 2011
"P. and I
want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the most wonderful
week. It was perfect in every way, the visits to meet interesting and
friendly people, the accommodation, the sight-seeing and of course the
eating!
We re-visited everywhere that you took us to and with Jaume and Vincenc's help, we had another week of incredible food and sights. In three weeks we did not have one disapointing meal.
Then too, we have to thank your wife for organising the hotel in Barcelona, the Ciutat, it was very good, well-positioned good rooms and friendly, helpful staff.
We arrived back home on Thursday and we have been singing your praises ever since."
P. & V. from South Africa October 2009
We re-visited everywhere that you took us to and with Jaume and Vincenc's help, we had another week of incredible food and sights. In three weeks we did not have one disapointing meal.
Then too, we have to thank your wife for organising the hotel in Barcelona, the Ciutat, it was very good, well-positioned good rooms and friendly, helpful staff.
We arrived back home on Thursday and we have been singing your praises ever since."
P. & V. from South Africa October 2009
Our
group of seven traveled with Yvan in mid-May 2011. We all had a
delicious and informative tour. The food was outstanding!
The inn located Girona was wonderful! We were all thrilled to
receive a private cooking class with a world class chef. Yvan
accommodated the requests of our group with grace. We highly
recommend him and Spain Taste.
Jerry and Karen Glaser, NY May 2011
Jerry and Karen Glaser, NY May 2011
SUNFLOWERS OF CATALONIA
I can still see the fields of bright yellow sunflowers that cover the rolling hills of the Spanish countryside. My culinary adventure in Costa Brava exceeded all of my expectations. Everything was like a fantasy--from the charming village of Madremanya where we stayed for six nights and our fantastic 14th century converted farmhouse hotel, La Placa, to our handsome Catalan guide, Yvan, and our star chef instructor, Chef Vincenc--the whole experience could not have been more perfect.
Our personal guide, Yvan, met us at the airport in Barcelona. We were presented with our itinerary and then we were off on the 90 minute or so drive to our hotel, located in Madremanya, which is north of Barcelona, in the hills between Girona and Emporda. To say the area is stunning does not really begin to describe it. Beautiful old medieval villages dotted the hills, with golden stone streets and buildings surrounded by fertile farmland and what seemed like miles and miles of blooming, bright yellow, smiling sunflowers! It was like I was looking at a postcard.
We arrived at La Placa and settled in a bit. A few hours later, Yvan returned to take us on our first adventure--dinner in the historic medieval town of Girona. We were so lucky to have Yvan, He is Catalan and consequently very knowledgeable about the area and it’s history and, most importantly, it’s food! There is so much to share about the food, the wine, the restaurants, the villages . . . Yvan took us on a tour of a different quaint village or historic town every afternoon. Each evening was topped off with a fabulous dinner at a different restaurant each night with traditional Catalan cuisine. The tours even included a visit to a family-owned bakery still baking bread and other goodies the way they did over a hundred years ago and in the same wood burning oven in the wall of the building. We also went to a small Catalonia winery and visited with the winemaker and tasted some of the wine. One of the most fun and interesting tours was our visit to a local chocolate maker, who gave us some samples of some really delicious and original “bon bons” (my favorite was the chocolate with the lemon crème filling). After the visit in the tiny chocolate “factory” in the medieval stone building, he generously and proudly opened up his entire home to us and gave us a tour! The chocolate maker gentleman is a collector of fine art and antiques and he took us room by room throughout his home and shared his beautiful pieces with us. We were truly in awe of this generous man. And his home is actually built into part of the old medieval fortress wall that once surrounded the city. Words cannot describe how humbled, thankful and happy I felt at the end of that day.
Oh--I haven’t even told you much about our hotel, it was the most gorgeous place! The owner, Jaume Vidal (who is also a chef), has restored the medieval farmhouse to pristine beauty, inside and out. There is a pool--which looks like it’s been there hundreds of years (very well don’t to fit the charm of the hotel and it’s surroundings!) and a fabulous garden. Roses, herbs, vegetables, fruit trees . . . Just gorgeous! As an aside, while we were in the kitchen one day with Chef Vincenc, Jaume burst in with the latest copy of a magazine called “Cuina” (which means “kitchen” in Catalan). He was so excited that his hotel and kitchen were featured in the magazine and there was a full 2-page beautiful picture of him in his lovely garden. I bought a copy at a newstand in Barcelona so I could bring it home . . .even though I can’t read it! LOL! The photo spread is truly fantastic (okay--I know I’m overusing the words beautiful, gorgeous, fabulous, fantastic . . . .but those really are the only words to describe all of this!)!
And the cooking! Our daily cooking classes were taught by Chef Vincenc, who runs the kitchen at La Placa. His English was great (which was good since our Spanish was not so good), and he was very at ease showing us the ways of traditional Catalan cuisine. Each class ended with us sharing our Catalan creations and a bottle of wine (or two) with Chef Vincenc. He always gave us his full attention, even with dinner service looming each night and prep for service for a 300 guest wedding party for the coming weekend! On Thursday, deliveries kept arriving in the kitchen as we worked and Chef Vincenc was so enthusiastic about all of it--he showed us the gorgeous fresh fish that came in and described everything and made us feel so welcome and comfortable in his hard-working kitchen. Oh--and we discovered that he and his wife, Monica are big U2 fans, as well! They saw U2 in Barcelona for the opening night of the 360 degree tour! Anyway, as for cooking, check out the pics.
L.P. from L.A. 2010
I can still see the fields of bright yellow sunflowers that cover the rolling hills of the Spanish countryside. My culinary adventure in Costa Brava exceeded all of my expectations. Everything was like a fantasy--from the charming village of Madremanya where we stayed for six nights and our fantastic 14th century converted farmhouse hotel, La Placa, to our handsome Catalan guide, Yvan, and our star chef instructor, Chef Vincenc--the whole experience could not have been more perfect.
Our personal guide, Yvan, met us at the airport in Barcelona. We were presented with our itinerary and then we were off on the 90 minute or so drive to our hotel, located in Madremanya, which is north of Barcelona, in the hills between Girona and Emporda. To say the area is stunning does not really begin to describe it. Beautiful old medieval villages dotted the hills, with golden stone streets and buildings surrounded by fertile farmland and what seemed like miles and miles of blooming, bright yellow, smiling sunflowers! It was like I was looking at a postcard.
We arrived at La Placa and settled in a bit. A few hours later, Yvan returned to take us on our first adventure--dinner in the historic medieval town of Girona. We were so lucky to have Yvan, He is Catalan and consequently very knowledgeable about the area and it’s history and, most importantly, it’s food! There is so much to share about the food, the wine, the restaurants, the villages . . . Yvan took us on a tour of a different quaint village or historic town every afternoon. Each evening was topped off with a fabulous dinner at a different restaurant each night with traditional Catalan cuisine. The tours even included a visit to a family-owned bakery still baking bread and other goodies the way they did over a hundred years ago and in the same wood burning oven in the wall of the building. We also went to a small Catalonia winery and visited with the winemaker and tasted some of the wine. One of the most fun and interesting tours was our visit to a local chocolate maker, who gave us some samples of some really delicious and original “bon bons” (my favorite was the chocolate with the lemon crème filling). After the visit in the tiny chocolate “factory” in the medieval stone building, he generously and proudly opened up his entire home to us and gave us a tour! The chocolate maker gentleman is a collector of fine art and antiques and he took us room by room throughout his home and shared his beautiful pieces with us. We were truly in awe of this generous man. And his home is actually built into part of the old medieval fortress wall that once surrounded the city. Words cannot describe how humbled, thankful and happy I felt at the end of that day.
Oh--I haven’t even told you much about our hotel, it was the most gorgeous place! The owner, Jaume Vidal (who is also a chef), has restored the medieval farmhouse to pristine beauty, inside and out. There is a pool--which looks like it’s been there hundreds of years (very well don’t to fit the charm of the hotel and it’s surroundings!) and a fabulous garden. Roses, herbs, vegetables, fruit trees . . . Just gorgeous! As an aside, while we were in the kitchen one day with Chef Vincenc, Jaume burst in with the latest copy of a magazine called “Cuina” (which means “kitchen” in Catalan). He was so excited that his hotel and kitchen were featured in the magazine and there was a full 2-page beautiful picture of him in his lovely garden. I bought a copy at a newstand in Barcelona so I could bring it home . . .even though I can’t read it! LOL! The photo spread is truly fantastic (okay--I know I’m overusing the words beautiful, gorgeous, fabulous, fantastic . . . .but those really are the only words to describe all of this!)!
And the cooking! Our daily cooking classes were taught by Chef Vincenc, who runs the kitchen at La Placa. His English was great (which was good since our Spanish was not so good), and he was very at ease showing us the ways of traditional Catalan cuisine. Each class ended with us sharing our Catalan creations and a bottle of wine (or two) with Chef Vincenc. He always gave us his full attention, even with dinner service looming each night and prep for service for a 300 guest wedding party for the coming weekend! On Thursday, deliveries kept arriving in the kitchen as we worked and Chef Vincenc was so enthusiastic about all of it--he showed us the gorgeous fresh fish that came in and described everything and made us feel so welcome and comfortable in his hard-working kitchen. Oh--and we discovered that he and his wife, Monica are big U2 fans, as well! They saw U2 in Barcelona for the opening night of the 360 degree tour! Anyway, as for cooking, check out the pics.
L.P. from L.A. 2010