Quimet & Quimet, Barcelona: a Review

Prior to visiting Barcelona, knowing I should be temporarily residing in the barrio of Poble Sec, I looked up recommended eateries on various foodie sites. Every one I checked out recommended Quimet & Quimet as THE place to eat.

I almost never queue to enter an eatery. Due to the exceptionality of the recommendations for Q&Q, my travelling companion and myself on this one occasion decided we should wait with the other wannabe eaters standing patiently in a British-style queue outside of Quimet & Quimet. We were a few minutes early for opening time and to be fair Q&Q opened exactly on time. I have no idea whether queues are normal for them, or whether we mix of Brits, Japanese, US Americans and even Spaniards, were just an unusual, eccentric bunch of obsessed foodies.

As the doors opened, the queue held back until the opener re-entered the tapería. Then it was all in, quick dash. There are zero seats for the place is tiny. Anyone in a wheelchair is best parking up outside. Being on the pavement is probably the cooler option anyway! There is no wc here: so ensure you have used facilities elsewhere prior to arrival. However, the walls just seem to keep going up, up up (images below - sorry for blurriness) and are covered with shelves holding various bottles of alcohol, some even costing hundreds of Euros.

 

I noticed some Spanish (locals or returnees?) removed their bags and stowed them in a cupboard beneath the dining-surface. We shared our 'shelf' with a couple of young Brit lasses, but all was silent as we scoured the menu.

I opted for partridge with apricot, prune and almond (image above) with a glass of Q&Q's own brand ale. This is the luxury end of the tapas/pinchos/pinxos market. Delicious flavours, perfectly tender and oddly substantial. The dark ale was so delicious, and very much like a British bitter. We bought a bottle to take home.

 

Feeling quite full already, I next opted for a smoked salmon tapas, washed down with a dry white wine. Again delicious. By this time the volume in Q&Q meant one had to shout over the cacophony - menu-reading time was over. We did enjoy shout-chatting with the two young ladies sharing the ledge and mutually recommending other taperías to one another, for Poble Sec is rapidly becoming the area in which to search out cheap, quality food served with alcoholic beverages, especially amongst the young, back-packers and similar.

Quimet & Quimet was even recommended to us by two different taxi-drivers in Barcelona, including one who averred that he ate there himself. We also can only recommend Q&Q. But if you want to be heard, we recommend queueing to get in with the first cohort prior to the noise levels rising and the proximity of multiple bodies pressing into one's own flesh.