If you’re looking for a restaurant for a special occasion and the budget isn’t a problem, then you won’t go far wrong in the restaurant within the Hotel Omm, just off the Paseo de Gracia in Barcelona.

Some of you may know that my flatmate has 24 carat gold "enchufes” and can always be relied on to get me into some pretty classy places that I’d normally never get to try, and that was the case again this weekend, as a friend of his that I met at a party a few months ago invited me to celebrate her birthday in this restaurant. At first I was a little reticent as, knowing this particular lady, the venue was never going to be within my budget, but the magic word to listen out for from a Spanish person is of course the verb "invitar”, which instantly helped me to relax as it automatically has the assumption built-in that the person doing the inviting is genuinely happy to pay.

The restaurant has a very exclusive air and the security is firm but very discreet, but the most important thing was the quality of the food. Each of the 6 courses comes with an individually selected and matched wine, so when the food arrives, each of you is brought a different bottle, and the waiter explains the reasons for its selection. Now, I’m no connoisseur, but I know what tastes good, and each wine was truly excellent and accompanied the food perfectly. There was even a white rioja at one point which went down particularly well!

For the dessert course my flatmate, being Cuban, homed-in on Recuerdos de Havana which included an amazing chocolate-coated ice-cream "cigar” which somehow had been infused with the taste of a genuine Havana cigar! It was truly unique and very highly recommended – and we all tried some of course. The second dessert course was the house speciality, a type of perfumed mousse which strangely came with a small pot containing pieces of card, the idea being that you eat a little of the mousse, and then waft the card with a complementing perfume under your nose. Very odd indeed, but incredibly effective! I caught a glimpse of the bill when it came and couldn’t help but let out a tiny gasp, but if you do ever get the opportunity to eat here, I thoroughly recommend it. And as if a bonus was needed, a little "free extra” for us was that, just across from our table, was the extremely easy-on-the-eye Spanish TV presenter Jesus Vásquez having dinner with his partner and friends. ¡Que aproveche!

Dave Hall lives and works in Barcelona.

One of the biggest complaints about life in Spain is the appalling customer service – business owners are just not interested in going out of their way to help customers (Telefonica are the number one culprits as we know).

Well, today I had a whole new experience in customer service. I am the proud new owner of an Apple Macbook laptop. I noticed that the bottom half of the screen was considerably lighter than the top when watching DVDs, so, having paid a lot of money for this beautiful new object, I thought I would go back to the shop and check that everything was OK. I showed the problem to the Tech guy, explained that I travelled often and would be watching lots of DVDs (not entirely true), and he agreed that there was a difference in screen brightness from one end to the other. He took the laptop off to show his boss. When he came back the following conversation ensued:

Tech guy: The boss says it’s fine and there’s nothing we can do about it, but you said you travel a lot, right?
Me: Uh, yes, I suppose so.
Tech guy: Where are you from?
Me: England.
Tech guy: Well, next time you are in London you could take it to the Apple shop there, we are just a little Apple shop, but they are a lot bigger and might be able to help you.

So there we have it… A whole new level in Spanish customer service: “I’m sorry we can’t help you here, but you can probably get your problem solved in another country!!”

Who wouldn’t want to spend a year travelling around Europe? Scott and Sheryl are living that dream, and their latest podcast is all about Barcelona…

This is a confession — don’t tell anyone. You know that I am gay. In another part of my life — when I was younger — I have had bisexual [experiences]. The last time that I made love to a woman was 22 years ago.

With Penélope, I felt physical desire again. I was very horny with her.

Check out the podcast at Salon.com

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Ingredients

600 grammes (1 1/4 pounds) of Minced beef
1 egg
4 garlic cloves
2 sprigs parsley finely chopped
1 cup of flour
1 onion chopped up in large chunks
2 bay leaves
1 tsp of salt
Olive oil
1/2 glass of wine

Preparation

To prepare the mixture we beat the egg in a big bowl, then add the meat, 2 crushed garlic cloves, the salt and the parsley, mixing with a fork until everything is coated with the egg.

Use a spoon to separate enough mixture to form a golf-ball-sized meatball and shape it lightly with your hands. Be careful not to press too hard because the sauce won’t soak in later, which might leave them very dry. Continue forming balls until the mixture is finished, then place the flour on a plate and coat each of the balls by rolling them around the plate.

To fry the meatballs use a small, deep frying pan filled with olive oil to a depth of around 2 cm / nearly an inch. When the oil is hot add 4 or 5 balls and brown them lightly for 1 or 2 minutes, making sure that you turn them over half way through. Repeat the process until all of the meatballs have been fried.

To prepare the sauce use a large frying pan where you will be able to place all of the meatballs in one layer. Filter the olive oil used for frying the meatballs earlier and pour it into the large frying pan, then add the onion and cook slowly for about 10 minutes. Next add two garlic cloves with the skin still on, and two bay leaves. Add a spoonful of flour (you can use what’s left on the plate where you coated the meatballs) and stir it in with a wooden spoon for 15 seconds, coating the flour with the oil (note that if you fry it for much longer the flour might burn). Then quickly add the wine and about 1/2 a litre of water (1 US Pint). Finally, add the meat balls, and more water – until they are around two thirds covered – and cook slowly for about 30 minutes, stirring every now and again so they don’t stick to the bottom. Note that you can add more water half way through if needed.

And Speaking of Spanish film (the post on nudity in Spanish cinema below is the most commented on in a long time!), it seems Penelope Cruz has been nominated for Best Female Actress in the next Oscars, for her role in the excellent (and bizzarely not nominated) Volver. I find it strange that a Spanish actress has been nominated for this award based on a role in a Spanish film. I shall be surprised if she wins…

Random wikipedia Pen facts:

“Cruz was born in Madrid, Spain. Her parents are Eduardo Cruz, a retailer, and Encarna Sánchez, a hairdresser. As a toddler, she was already a compulsive performer, re-enacting TV commercials for her family’s amusement.”

While they were busy having gang wars (when did Spain get like this ?!) in the suburbs of Madrid this weekend, in Barcelona they decided to make one hell of a statement against fur coats!

While they are busy building enough new flats around Madrid to house the remaining few young professionals that still haven’t fled to the city from the economically depressed provinces, there are a remarkable number of empty flats here in the centre of the city. Half the shutters in the 6 floor building opposite ours are permanently down – a sure sign of an empty home – and no-one has lived next to, or below us, for as long as we have been here. There are a vast number of unoccupied flats in the centre of Madrid, a problem that is reflected in large cities all over Spain.

The local Catalan Government had decided to do something about the problem, and intends to charge the owners of such premises 9 Euros for every day that their flat remains empty (Spanish article in El Pais). The idea is to stimulate a completely stagnant rental market. I remember standing in queues of up to 40 people to see flats for rent in Madrid 6 years ago, and I doubt the situation has changed. Either you were Spanish and had a decent wage slip to show potential landlords, or you could forget it.

Last night I was speaking with Marina and a friend, Yolanda, about Spanish films and, in particular, the classic Jamon Jamon. Yolanda thought that it really went for the dark side of Spanish life (whorehouses, amateur bull taunting, violence), and Marina commented that Penelope Cruz, then 16, portrayed a strongly sexual role. My reaction was: “Typical Spanish film”.

Over the last few months we have seen several Spanish films including Princesas and Azul Oscuro Casi Negro. Princesas is a gritty drama about prostitutes in Madrid, and involves a lot of sex and violence. Azul Oscuro Casi Negro deals with a young flat-block porter, his disabled father, and the porter’s women. Both contain nudity and are essential harsh social reality pieces. Both are pretty good.

But my question is this, does anyone know any Spanish film that does not contain nudity (all be it the odd topless shot) somewhere in the film? (Even the comedies seem to have to show breasts in order to qualify as Spanish cinema…) Am I being unfair? Is this the same everywhere these days?

For all those that are planning to or interested in meeting in Madrid for the NFS April Great Madrid Escape, please read the post in the forum about accommodation. Look forward to meeting all of you in April!