Girona was a great city to explore for a couple of days with all the historical buildings, the beautiful old Jewish Quarter and of course, looking out for the shooting locations of Games of Thrones! However, we decided to explore outside of Girona and visit the Théâtre-Musée Dali à Figueres (Dali Museum in Figueres) and also grab a really nice lunch along the way at La Barretina.
Not knowing how busy the restaurant would be, we made a reservation with La Barretina way in advance. MJ had to ask her Spanish friend for help since they did not reply to my email. The drive to the small town of Orfes, where the restaurant was located, was really nice and cool with views like these along the way.
As we turned into the little parking lot right outside the restaurant, we lost all (mobile) connection with the outside world. Luckily Google map managed to bring us there safely before abandoning us!
See the reflection of our little red Audi there 🙂
When we walked through the main restaurant entrance, we saw a middle-age lady walking down a flight of steps with a confused look and said something to her companion in a language we couldn’t understand. We ignored them and climbed up, stood in front of the closed restaurant door (shown here on the left) and rang the door bell. Who would have known that we are required to ring the door bell to get into a restaurant right??
Shortly after, we saw the lady with her friend in the restaurant 🙂
The décor of the restaurant was simple and cosy. There was even a mini garden behind the restaurant leading to the chef’s house and his wine cellar. Other than the food, the garden was probably my favourite part of the restaurant. The sound of water flowing in the mini fountain and the cool air in the garden was really refreshing.
Sheryl Ott wrote about La Barretina and its onion cake in one of her blog posts and I made sure we ordered that (they now have English menu!). The cannelloni we ordered was delicious but the onion cake was so good!! I’m not much of an onion-person but I have to tell you, this onion cake was OUT OF THIS WORLD! Sweet, creamy and flavourful – it was amazing and definitely my favourite dish. I could have gone for a second round if not for the mains lol!
For the main courses we ordered the duck confit, chicken with wild mushrooms and lamb stew. The meats were all seasoned beautifully and so tender that they came apart easily with the use of a fork and knife. Even though I don’t eat lamb, all 3 of us agreed that the duck and chicken were the tastier dishes.
Hungry faces (even though we just finished the gorgeous starters!)
We were stuffed finishing all those food but still managed to order 2 desserts to share (which we forgot to take photo of because we were greedy!). The chef cum owner also served us his home-made sweet wine (we think), free-of-charge. They were fragrant but too strong for me.
We left the restaurant full and satisfied.
Was extremely glad that we took the detour to enjoy the scrumptious lunch at La Barretina. I would go back anytime for the starters, particularly for the onion cake! And maybe this time, I will spend more time in this area and walk around the beautiful Lake Banyoles.
Anyhow, La Barretina, yet another great meal in Spain to remember by.
Tell me about your memorable meal in Spain! Do you know you can visit Girona on a daytrip from Barcelona?
Looks absolutely delish and your post is making me drool especially at the onion cake 😀 Thank you as always for sharing Dariel! 😀
You are welcome! Good things are meant to be shared 🙂
My tummy growled !
I was salivating while writing lol!
I’ve never heard of Onion cake before, but your post makes it sound delicious! I will definitely have to go here when I visit Spain, hopefully next year!
Neither have I, until I came across the article 🙂 Would be a good idea to stay 1 night in the area.
Wow is it a private kitchen? I haven’t heard of a restaurant that you have to ring a doorbell to get into! Hope you asked for the recipe for the onion cake 🙂
It is not a private kitchen but not sure why they closed the door lol. Oh, it didn’t cross my mind to ask for the recipe! Might be a better idea for it to stay as a good memory 🙂
I did not know Game of Thrones was filmed in Girona. I was there a couple of years back, but stayed in some sort of retreat in the mountains. I loved the scenery there.
There’s a few big scenes from here 🙂 Would love to explore the mountains next time.
That restaurant looks very quaint and has a lovely ambiance, however the food looks extremely delightful. 🙂
The surrounding adds to the culinary experience!
That restraunt looks so nice. The food! Wow. I’ve never heard of Girona before, but I’ll definitely look into it!
Girona has a 3 star Michelin restaurant too if you are interested 🙂
It’s like going in a secret supper club, how cool is it to ring a doorbell to go to a restaurant? I thought your map gave you the wrong direction at first. The restaurant looks fab! Very cozy and charming. The food looks great too! 🙂
We thought the same too when Siri told us “you have reached your destination”. Luckily the name of the restaurant was right at the top of the main entrance. Wish I’m there right now for the onion cake!
This is a great post! I love Game of Thrones! I’m off to Spain in 2 weeks. Can’t to try some of this food!
Thanks Natasha! The food in Spain, don’t get me started 🙂
Wow, this sounds like an amazing restaurant! Great descriptions and now I’m hungry 😉
Thanks! It was a random find from the Internet and really glad we found it 🙂
Oh that food looks so good! And I looooove onion, so I think this is just the place for me 😀
Jacky 🌞
Absolutely! The best onion I’ve ever eaten 🙂
This all looks so yum! It’s great when you hear of another foodie place.
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