From the owner: Rustique et moderne Sur la carte de la maison du cassoulet, l'alternative sera simple : il faudra…read morechoisir entre cassoulet de Castelnaudary, confit de canard ou salade cathare. Rustique et design font bon ménage dans une salle très claire, aux tableaux évocateurs de grandes tablées chaleureuses. Une touche à la fois moderne et médiévale qui donne au lieu tout son charme.

There are small signs directing one to this small but excellent charcuterie located in St Laurant…read morede Cerdans. If you happen to be nearby, don't miss an opportunity to stop in and sample and of course purchase some of the delicious offerings. On the other hand, it's well worth a trip to this classic village to take advantage of the fantastic array of dried meats, ham, and pate. The owner is the second generation operator of this establishment which opened for business in 1946. Personable, knowledgable, informative and engaging would easily describe Monsoeur Nou.

Mssr Nou is a gentleman and scholar! I was referred here by a local and it was a great tip. The…read moreshop is small so I presumed the man behind the counter was the owner. And I was right. An affable, helpful bear of a man, he pumped my arm in greeting. Then he proceeded to struggle speaking in English in order to accommodate me. I wanted a gift basket and Mssr Nou had many good suggestions for filling it out with all manner of charcutery. He's made it all there in the back of his shop. He has his own label tins of various pates, too. (I bought a few of those for myself and tasted one on crusty French bread that very night. Delicious!) I wish Mssr Nou operated a shop in my hometown!

This place has very yummy and beautiful chocolates and deserts! We choose a few different goodies…read moreto eat and then friendly woman working brought them out to us beautifully displayed. I had a delicious espresso , while my husband had a nice pot of tea to go with his treats. Very nice place for coffee and treats.

The service was excellent and the food was brilliant. We were also quite surprised at how…read morereasonable the prices were, given that this café is in a popular location of a tourist town, serving huge portions of delicious, gourmet food. Everything we ordered was 5 times larger than we expected, yet made with dedicated care and attention to flavours and ingredients. I could hardly finish my entrée, let alone the main course! And yet it was all so tasty it nearly made me cry not to eat it. This place is great and I highly recommend it.

Cafe de la paix is an institution in Perpignan but I only tried the food for the first time…read morerecently. I was there as part of a birthday party on a Saturday night and the restaurant was packed. There were other groups as well and people kept coming in and asking for a table until about 11! The menu offers a large choice of starters, pasta, pizzas and mains such as meat, fish and skewers. I opted for a salmon and scallops skewer. Considering it was a busy night and we were a group, I would say the food arrived quickly and the 14 of us were able to start eating altogether without waiting too long for everyone's food to arrive. My skewer was served with a side of linguini and vegetable julienne. I was not enthused by either of them, especially compared with the deliciously creamy gratin dauphinois that accompanied the duck magret on the plate opposite me! That said, the salmon was perfectly cooked and the scallops were just right as well, a little on the underdone side. For dessert, we all had the birthday cake which was an Opera: a thin layer of sponge cake with crispy praline and chocolate mousse on top. The cake was fabulous but the slices we got were double or three times the serving we would have eaten had we cut it ourselves. Most of us could not finish it... So beware, keep space for dessert! The service was friendly but a tiny bit rude sometimes. For a busy night this can be understandable though, but not excused so that's 4 stars for Cafe de la Paix!

Can Jubany is about 100 km North of BCN and is Nandu Jubany's vanguard kitchen in search of serious…read moreperfection of the farm-to-table concept. We found Can Jubany worthy of the trip from BCN as the cuisine was ingredient-driven, not involving alien flavors just for weirdness sake as has become the gastronomic trend of some gastronomic kitchens. Can Jubany embraces the farm-to-table model and ensures the high quality of his raw materials by actually growing most them in the small garden and farm that is across the parking lot from the restaurant. These raw materials, fresh from his actual farm next door, are then refined to an extraordinary level while maintaining their recognizable flavor in his glass enclosed kitchen. During our tour of the small farm, asparagus, tomatoes, beets, peas, herbs and calçots were in season and the chicken and other fowl were providing both eggs and meat for the various dishes. Can Jubany might best be described as a down-to-earthy masia-restaurant where locals gather together to enjoy excellent Catalan food on weekends together. There is also an outdoor patio were dinners gather post-dinning to enjoy more libations and a cigar or two. For us, our food entertainment was lunch that took place over a 4 hour period and was titled "A Stroll Around Catalunya" and included: Pork's tribute - Jubany sausage, cracking cheek port, andpork belly foam in an edible rice cone Vegetable garden - included red beet, blue cheese and prune Pumpkin gnocchi - parmesan cheese serum and Iberian ham Puffed pastry with foie gras, caramelized figs and a little salad Codfish "brandada" cannelloni, onions and honey Sautéed ceps mushrooms with pork belly and egg yoke Sea cucumber rice with langoustines broth Hake cooked iat slow temperature with pickled vegetables Roasted young lamb with potatoes puree, vegetables and mushrooms Desserts included - seasonal vegetables dessert; dessert of citrus fruits and textures; The wine pairings were also well selected/matched to complement the tastes of each course(s), and included: Carles Andreu Trepat Rose (D.O. Cava); Sameiras 1040 (D.O Ribeiro); Venus La Universal (D.O. Montsant); Rasim vi pansit blanc (D.O. Costers del Segre) ; and Mas Llunes Garnatxa Solera (D.O. Emporda). The Mas Llunes and Rasim were clearly some of the best wine we have ever tasted. Not surprising as the Mas Llunes was awarded the Great Golden VINAR 2013 of all 700+ competing wines from Catalonia. Our only observation regarding the sommelier was that they were very knowledgeable but were always asking 'what kind of wine would you like to have with the next course". So overall, as we have noted in another of our gastronomic adventures, Can Jubany is currently a Michelin 1* restaurant that in our exploration was producing Michelin 2* cuisine. Clearly you know when you have had a fantastic gastronomic experience when you can remember the highlights (many of them) months later. Now, if we could only figure out how to get from Barcelona to Can Jubany easily vs an expensive cab ride each way or stay in a hotel near by for the evening.