Barcelona Culinary Tours Weekend

Luxury Barcelona Culinary Tours Weekend:

Highlights:

• Chef´s tour of the spectacular Boqueria Market
• Catalan Cooking classes
• Cooking class and lunch with the charming Jaume Brichs
• Michelin Starred Dinners at Can Fabes & Abac
• Chocolate and Cheese Tastings in Barcelona

View images of Barcelona Catalonia Penedes & Priorat

Barcelona, along with San Sebastian, is probably Spain’s most interesting city for “foodies” and globetrotting gourmets. This elegant and exuberant cosmopolitan city boasts an array of creative restaurants, many with Michelin stars, along with innovative tapas bars and stylish winebars. The cuisine of Barcelona (and greater Catalonia, or Catalunya as it is known in Catalan) is wholeheartedly Mediterranean, with an emphasis on fish, Olive Oil, fresh produce and wine. The Mediterranean Diet has long been championed as the healthiest in the world, and on this gourmet cooking weekend in Barcelona you will gain a solid introduction to the culinary secrets of the Med. Some of the world’s most famous chefs work here in Catalonia including Ferran Adrià (El Bulli), Carmen Ruscadella (San Pau) and Santi Santamaria (Can Fabes). You will enjoy some of Barcelona’s most exciting and glamorous restaurants on this weekend tour, such as Michelin starred Abac and indeed the mythical Can Fabes, located just outside Barcelona in a lovely stone farmhouse.

Over the course of this epicurean weekend, you'll enjoy two private cooking classes in downtown Barcelona with a top chef, learning about the pleasures and benefits of Spanish olive oil, local vegetables, pristine seafood, hearty nuts and wine. An introduction to Catalonia's four main sauces (sofrito, samfaina, picada and ali-oli) will also be made. A guided market tour of the colorful Boqueria market will give you the inside scoop as to where Barcelona chefs buy their truffles, their local cheeses, their fresh fish, etc. You’ll also see smaller markets like Santa Caterina, and enjoy a cheese tasting in an old butter mill in Barcelona’s old town. Sleep in a gorgeous converted 18th century palace, only steps away from the lively Ramblas. This tour is the perfect introduction to food and wine lovers looking to deepen their culinary knowledge on a fun and luxurious weekend in Barcelona!

Arrive to Barcelona airport, where your private driver and elegant Mercedes will be waiting. You'll transfer to your elegant & historic hotel for check in, located near the medieval "Barri Gotic". Your charming personal chef will meet you in the lobby of your hotel and you will join him for a market tour at the small but ultra gourmet Santa Caterina market to select some smoked cod, farmhouse Catalan cheeses, marinated olives, and ingredients for a three course meal that you will cook today.

Transfer to the private loft which will be your cooking venue for two classes, and crack open some vino with your chef. Taste some Cava (bubbly) from the nearby Penedès wine region while you get to work on the first course. Today you will learn how to re-create some classic Catalan dishes such as Escalivada (gorgeous roast vegetables like eggplant, red peppers, tomatoes and onions), Suquet (a soup seafood dish), and Menjar Blanc (an almond and cinnamon based pudding whose recipe dates back to medieval times).

After your cooking class, return to your hotel to freshen up and relax. This evening your private driver will arrive to collect you at your hotel and take you to the hills just outside downtown to a very special gourmet dinner at the Michelin starred Abac, newly relocated and glamorously redesigned. You can look forward to the chef´s tasting menu tonight paired with excellent local Catalan wines from Alella and Priorat. Benvinguts a Barcelona!

The morning is free to sleep in or explore Barcelona on your own. In the late morning, your private chef will meet you in the lobby of your hotel and today you will head to the breathtaking Boqueria market, without a doubt Spain’s best food market. You will begin your market tour with a glass of bubbly served at El Quim de la Boqueria, one of the cutest bars in the market, frequented by locals and gourmets. And now to explore the Boqueria!

You’ll see stall after stall of neatly stacked exotic fruits, nuts, and chocolates; every vegetable conceivable on the planet in every shade of the rainbow; fresh fruit juices made with mangos, papayas, Lychee, Passion Fruit and African cucumber; Atlantic and Mediterranean seafood including monkfish, hake, cod, fresh anchovies, red tuna and dozens more; wild mushrooms and truffles from Catalonia; amphora and collectors bottles of olive oils and wine vinegars and about one hundred different types of cured Spanish hams and “embutidos”.

Your chef will take you to meet the most charming and famous vendors, and you´ll select the ingredients for your class. Today you will cook more Catalan” specialties such as Cocas (something between a flatbread and a pizza, the best recipes for it come from Mallorca), Paella (the eponymous Mediterranean rice dish) and a delicious dessert like Hazelnut Mousse. Today is your last day with your private Barcelona chef and he will send you away with a keepsake gift. Head back to the hotel and the rest of the evening is yours to enjoy.

Today, you are going to explore Barcelona by foot with your own private art guide who will take you on a guided tour of the city, with a focus on food and wine. You will begin the tour with a thick Spanish hot chocolate at one of the oldest patisseries in Barcelona located in a delightful art nouveau building. Carry on to an array of olive oil, wine, and pastry shops and pop into an ancient butter mill for a cheese tasting of four Spanish farmhouse cheeses paired with fun, local wines.

After this morning of walking and snacking, your guide will drop you into good friends of ours at the Taller de Tapas for a sublime tapas feast. You’ll try dishes like Galician Pulpo (octopus), baby clams, Padron peppers (spicy!), roasted almonds spiked with garlic and smoked paprika and many more. Following lunch, the rest of the afternoon is yours at leisure.

This evening your elegant driver will collect you from your beautiful hotel to whisk you away to an unforgettable night in the countryside at Michelin starred Can Fabes. What a treat! You’ll have Santi Santamaria´s tasting menu paired with Catalan wines from the Empordà and Terra Alta. The food is divine, as is the atmosphere, and this is a dinner you will remember forever. Your driver will take you back to your hotel when you finish, take your time and enjoy the meal!

This morning at your preferred time, your private driver will take you to the Barcelona airport for your outbound flight. And this concludes your fabulous culinary weekend in Barcelona. Hope you had a great time!

What's Included:

What's Not Included:

Prices:

This is a SAMPLE TOUR ITINERARY. Please note that our chauffeured luxury tours have the following starting prices:

More Information on Barcelona Culinary Tours Weekend:

If you are interested in this package, contact us today for more information. This tour can also be adapted for bigger groups with a substantial discount. All of our tours are available year round upon request for your private group of minimum 2 people. If you would like us to customize a luxury gourmet tour for you, contact us with your requirements, and we can send you a free itinerary and quote with no obligations. We organize cooking packages and wine tours from 1 day, to weekends to longer food and wine discoveries throughout Spain, Portugal & Italy. Contact us at

Email us at: info@cellartours.com