Barcelona Trip - Bar Casi

Bar Casi - Sangria

Bar Casi - Appetizer

Bar Casi Main Course

Bar Casi - Cortado

After travelling to London, my friends and I flied to Barcelona. Again, Barcelona trip was not a designated coffee trip. I did not expect European's coffee is good except Italian coffee. I did not really give it a try on coffee on the first few days I arrived in Barcelona. I realized I have to tried Cortado before too late. 

Cortado originated in Spain. It is a mix of steamed milk and espresso. In Hong Kong, you can seldom see Cortado in coffee shops. In Japan, if I remembered it correctly, this is the same case. And I could not remember I saw "cortado" on the menu of Norway, Finland and Sweden's coffee shops. To my surprise, "cortado" was everywhere in London's coffee shops. As I doubted the authenticity of cortado in London, I did not try any of them in London.

This was my first time visiting Spain. I was amazed that the red wine was served all the time in restaurant. The set was really reasonably priced. You have wine, appetizers, main course, desserts and also coffee for finishing the meals. Spanish really knows how to enjoy the life. The set was even more "complete" than the set served in Hong Kong's local restaurant. I am really used to Hong Kong's style. Set with both meals and drinks. We can have coffee, milk tea or lemon tea with the main course. But here in Spain, we had red wine instead of coffee, milk tea or lemon tea. You know, red wine is considered a real expensive drink in Hong Kong. We could have it like water in Barcelona. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Back to Bar Casi, this was not the restaurant I chose. This was chosen by my friends to have a proper local dishes in Barcelona after a gorgeous visit to Park Guell.

Park Guell

Park Guell

Park Guell

Bar Casi is located near to Park Guell within a walkable distance. It was a very busy bar. Locals came in and out the bar. We had a set lunch there. After the big meals, I decided to have a cup of cortado even though this was a bar rather than a traditional coffee shop. Bar Casi really amazed me! The cortado was wonderful!!! The taste of Ginseng of the coffee was prominent and outstanding. The milk acted beautifully as the complimentary leaf to the coffee. The sweetness and mouthfeel of the milk was just optimum and did not steal any places from the coffee. This was the best cup of coffee I had in this London and Barcelona trip.

This cup of cortado did raise my interest to the cortado served in Barcelona. However, the cups I tried afterwards were not really outstanding and memorable as the cortado by Bar Casi.

P.S.: for Hong Kongers, you may find the meal served by Bar Casi a little bit too salty. My friends and I came to the same conclusion that Spanish food is salty to Hong Kongers in general.