Barcelona has joined the ranks of New York, London, Rio de Janeiro, and... Atlantic City? by hosting its inaugural Restaurant Week from February 20-28. Coming off the back of the million-man Mobile World Congress hosted in Barcelona last week, this Restaurant Week was perfectly timed. Obviously the hospitality industry has taken a hit as of late and what better way to re-kindle interest in all the city has to offer than to publicize special 25EUR menus at some of the top restaurants?

Needless to say, Lauren and I will be partaking. Yesterday, we had a delicious lunch at Hisop. We were a little dismayed once we realized that the restaurant regularly offers a 25EUR menu on most week days AND week nights but, as we had to point out to the waitress, the Restaurant Week menu is tax free and 1EUR is donated to charity.

While 25EUR seems expensive compared to NYC's gimmicky $20.10 (or whatever year it is - if they still do that?), we were delighted to find that the restaurant pulled out all of the stops and didn't simply prepare the cheapest dishes from their a la carte menus (as they often do in NYC and other cities). With two amuse bouches, a starter, a main, a palate cleanser, and a dessert, we got our Euros' worth and felt special all the while. Oh! but they did neglect to offer us cheeky test-tubes filled with what could only be cava at the end of the meal. All the Catalan patrons got them! As did a British patron with pink hair! Lauren almost blew a gasket.

We have a couple of Michelin-star stars to check out in the next couple of days and will keep you posted with any great finds.

Barcelona Turisme, bravo!

Barcelonins, get your chow on!