I have never liked Paella very much...

...before I found out about Cheriff!

It's not always easy to find the perfect Paella, with the rice having the right chewy but cooked(!) texture, the sauce being just sufficient, not being too dry or soupy. The hardest thing to find some paella absorbing the sweetness of seafood in rice, but at the same time mixed (or just garnished) by decent fish with flavour!

Well. Cheriff is right place to go. But the warning, this place is seriously pricy.

The bread they serve was nice and fresh. They charge 1-2 euros per person for the bread even if you don't touch it.

In Cheriff, they mainly serve everything from the sea. I guess being located at Barceloneta, the sea is right next door. What's better than getting freshest ingredients from there?

For starter, I personally would recommand the mussels here. For 10 euros, the portion is definitely huge enough for sharing. The mussels here were indeed really juicy, fresh and lucious. The garlic oil at the bottom of the dish is perfect for bread dipping as there was left the goodness of the mussels. YUM.

The Calamaris was pricy though. I mean. Yes. For 18 euors, the portion was also huge. But I would say the Calamaris in Cheriff were slightly dry and over fried. The texture of the squid ring was still nice and soft, but I swear there are much better ones available in the seafood kiosks in Mercat de la Boqueria or Tapa Tapa. Mind you they will not give you any sauces to go with the Calamaris. You can ask for some, an they will give them to you too, but without telling you that the sauces will cost you 3 euros each. Watch out!

Anyhow, the Paella here is a must try! There are many different kinds of paella being served here, with some depending  the daily price of the seafod eg. the different kinds of Lobster Paella. As a poor student, I only order the least expensive option - "Cheriff" Paella (16 euros per person, 2 people minimum) and shared it with 2 friends, while two others ordered the Canadian Lobster Paella (20 euros per person, 2 people minimum).

The house paella was honestly so good! It was the paella I had in Barcelona that I appreciate most! (I guess it might be because I have never been to Valencia which is like the birth place of Paella.) The slightly chewy right was soaked in the flavourful seafood sauce, and there were tremendous amount of fresh, decent seafood inside. I mean... there were more seafood than rice! And the portion was so huge that I believe a 2 people portion can be shared between 3 comfortably! There was no sign of Saffron, and it might not be the most traditional Paella, but it was a true beauty!

The Canadian Lobster Paella was also highly impressive. The sauce used to cook the rice was even sweeter. The lobster was fresh from the water. Like how they do it in the seafood restaurants in Sai Kung, they pick a live lobster out of the water and show their customers before it being cooked. It looked absolutely humongous and according to my friends opinions they lobster meat was fleshy, fresh and really tasty.

In general, seafood, drinks, basically everything served in this place were pricy so be prepared. But its quality and its portion size definitely justify the price! Another MUST-TRY in Barcelona!

Address: Ginebra, 15 - 17, 08003 Barcelona, Spain