This week I was fortunate enough to have a free dinner courtesy of Withlocals (in exchange for writing this blog post.)
In
a small apartment near Barcelona's Plaça d'Espanya my wife Paula and
I met a home cook who uses the name Yosuz
and a Finnish friend of hers. We were immediately served glasses of
homemade summer white-wine sangria
and
started nibbling on fried pastry triangles which we dipped into a
lovely smoky, roasted baba
ganoush
eggplant
dip.
We
all soon sat down to get know each other over a wonderful home-cooked
meal of salty Portuguese clams, simple "Spanish-style"
mussels and a seafood and pasta stew. The food was exceptionally
fresh, not at all overcooked and I greatly enjoyed the difference
from Spanish food in that coriander leaves were used rather than
parsley.
For
dessert we tucked into another homemade delicacy - this one pistachio
ice cream served with an unexpected dab of tahini paste on the side
which beautifully accented the nuttiness of the dish (see picture.)
Yosuz had
lived for some time in Egypt (as well as in Venezuela and England)
and this was also reinforced in the perfumed hibiscus tea we drank
before saying our thanks and goodbyes.
If
our experience was indicative of what a curious, hungry person
usually finds using Withocals
then
I highly recommend it to anyone visiting a foreign country or even
living in one. It struck me as a great way to try international food
of your choice and meet new people.
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