Twelve Days Eating Through Spain
One city, two islands, and more jamón than I thought was possible
This summer took us to Spain. It was my first time in the country and it exceeded all expectations. We try to take one international trip a year with the boys, every year, Covid being the obvious exception, and I don’t take a single one of them for granted. This one might be my favorite yet, mostly because of what we ate, which is the least surprising sentence I will ever write.
So instead of a play-by-play, here are the food highlights, place by place.
Barcelona
Barcelona won me over fast. It is beautiful and so walkable, with wide promenades, and it’s a rare city where you get beaches and mountains in the same place. The Sagrada Familia lived up to all of the hype. The colors from the stained glass inside were stunning, and the whole thing felt surprisingly modern, not at all what I expected from a church that’s been under construction for over a century. We’d been warned about pickpockets and stayed careful the whole time, and had no trouble at all. And the tapas, of course, were addictive.
Sartoria Panatieri was our first stop, straight from the airport, and it set the stage for the whole trip. One of the best pizzerias in the world, with long wooden tables, a clean white backdrop, and the pizza makers making magic in the middle of the room. They cure their own meats and pull vegetables from small local farms and their own harvest, and you taste that care in everything. The standout was a pizza with burrata stracciatella, tomato, basil pesto, and pine nuts.
Bar Cañete was our first real Spanish tapas, and it was intoxicating in the best way. Not a hidden gem, everybody knows it, and it absolutely earns the reputation. It was our introduction to pan con tomate, jamón ibérico, and my new favorite summer wine - Albariño - which became staples at every meal that followed. The boys got into an actual fight over the famous squid sandwich, which looks like nothing in photos and tastes like something you’ll cross a city for. We know this because we did cross the city for it, a second time a few days later.
JONCAKE is the dream of a former aeronautical engineer who walked away from all of it to make cheesecake. Jon Garcia now has people lining up out the door. We had the pleasure of meeting him (skipping the line!) and touring his bakery, oohing and aahing over his spotless kitchen and trading war stories about running a booming bakery. It reminded me so much of those early Sprinkles days and felt nostalgic in the best way. The menu is tiny and the cheesecake is creamy, barely sweet, and completely addictive - something you could easily justify eating for breakfast.
Mallorca
I thought I knew Mallorca from seeing it all over my TikTok, but I really didn’t. The island is vast and the driving is no joke, hairpin turns and steep cliff drop-offs that you don’t want to be navigating at night. Lucky for us, my husband gets a thrill from driving in Europe and happily took the wheel for all of it. We stayed in Banyalbufar, on the cliffs with seaside views rather than sandy beaches. We strolled the charming towns of Deià and Sóller, plus a full day wandering Palma, which I loved.
Foradada Mar is a restaurant you can only reach by boat, so a day out on the water got us there. You climb up a cliff and they cook paella and steak and seafood over an open fire while the whole coastline falls away beneath you. It is as ridiculous and as wonderful as it sounds.
El Caminito in Palma gave us one of those meals that only happens by accident. Everyone was tired and hungry and cranky with no plan, we walked past it completely packed, and I just knew we had to eat there. We asked sheepishly for a table we hadn’t booked, one opened up at the exact right moment, and it turned into one of the best meals of the trip. The menu was perfectly edited, the room intimate, elegant and lively, everything I love in a restaurant. The ceviche, octopus and chicken were standouts.
Formentera
Formentera is a thirty-minute ferry from Ibiza. Most people stay in Ibiza and come over just for the day, but I’d make the case for the opposite. It is tiny and quaint and felt genuinely Spanish rather than overrun with tourists, and the beaches and water were unreal, Caribbean-clear, with the kind of beachfront restaurants where there are no bad tables.
Es Còdol Foradat sits right on the beach, elegant but easy, where they carry enormous lobsters over to your table and lay out the catch of the day so you can see exactly what you’re in for. This is where I became obsessed with llauna, a shallow black-rice paella that crisps at the edges, intense with seafood stock that you scrape from the center of the pan outward, chasing a prawn and a dollop of aioli.
Can Carlitos is in town on the beach, where everyone goes to watch the sun set. They play Queen as it drops, the whole room throws their napkins in the air, and then everyone walks out onto the sand to take their sunset photos. It’s also where I finally tried a dish I’d been seeing all over Spain and couldn’t stop wondering about. Fried egg broken over potato chips, piled with prawns, tuna, or lobster depending on where you are. Humble and fancy, crunchy and creamy, and I was obsessed.
The staples that got me through
The pieces I lived in for twelve days of boats, beaches, cobblestones, and dinners.
The bathing suit. I'm obsessed with Left on Friday. Everything from their mix-and-match bikinis, which come in every imaginable fit and color, to their new rash guards that protect you from the sun (and from any brushes with Mediterranean jellyfish!)
The sunnies. A friend turned me onto this French brand, Jimmy Fairly, and this wrap-around style is not only chic but genuinely protective in a way most sunglasses aren't.
The hat(s) There is nothing more annoying than traveling with hats, and yet I insist on bringing several. One brand reigns supreme, Janessa Leone, and I packed not one but two of her insanely beautiful bucket hats.
The matching set If there's one thing to know about me, it's that I love a matching set, particularly on vacation. It feels effortless and put together at the same time. Add the fact that this knit set packs perfectly and arrives wrinkle-free, and it’s a real winner.
A quick note: It feels strange to post something this happy while Spain is living through devastating wildfires right now, with real loss of life and thousands forced from their homes. My heart is with everyone affected.
From our family trip, to cheering on their World Cup win, to a speaking engagement that will take me back to Madrid this fall, it’s turning into a very Spain year for me, and I’m here for it! Speaking of, if you have Madrid recommendations, restaurants, neighborhoods, anything I shouldn’t miss, please send them my way.
I know this travelogue is a break from my usual Sweet Success style, but let me know if you enjoyed it. I’ll be back to the regular programming in the next couple of weeks, and in the meantime, is there anything in particular you’d like me to tackle or dig into?
XO,
candace
P.S. Because you've been with me every step of the way on this wine glass escapade, I wanted you to see where it ended up. Inc. Magazine ran a whole feature this week on how I've turned my platforms into a real-time focus group, with the wine glasses as exhibit A. Who knew a complaint about stemware would end up in a business magazine! [Read it here.]
