Diary of a gourmet food hunter

It's a tough job but someone has to source out the artisan products that fill the shelves of boutique delicatessen Sabato. Owners Phil and Jacqui Dixon regularly travel the world to find the new and the delicious. Here Jacqui shares their food sourcing tour of Spain ...

HOLA. After what can only be called a hellish 37-hour journey, which ends with us being dumped at midnight at the wrong hotel, we are - at last - in Barcelona.

We awake on our first day to the view of a beautiful cathedral square from our window and head out to get a bocadillo and coffee at the stylish cafe opposite. For the equivalent of $14, you wonder at the affordability and service - but this is Spain.

After breakfast we head back to the airport to fly to Vigo, in Galicia - home of Conservas Albo, from whom we source delicious sardines in olive oil, octopus and chiperones (whole baby squid in their own ink). We wander around the marina and old town, then head into a style of restaurant often found in Spain - a bar on the side with whole hanging jamons, gaming machine in corner, lots of smoking tables (good for aiding the curing of the jamon?) and experienced-looking waiters.

We are recommended the sea bass - and add a salad as well as a bottle of the locally produced albarino white wine. A feast arrives and we are happy we refused the offer of langoustines first - tempting though they were - as the sea bass is a banquet in itself.

This is Spain, so the next occasion is dinner. At 8.40pm we poke our heads into a restaurant to be told they are not open till 9.30pm. Again, this is Spain - even on a Monday night. More walking and a visual tour of many full tapas bars leads us to wonder how anyone could even eat dinner - but we make it back to the restaurant just after 9.30pm to enjoy generous servings of local fish (this time turbot and monkfish) as well as octopus stewed in olive oil sprinkled with smoked paprika.

The next morning we are awoken to the delightful melody of chiming church bells - maybe they just charm the fish into the boats here. The hunt for breakfast consists of checking out local cafes until we find one where the cigarette smoke levels are tolerable and the offer includes bocadillos hunter rather than just cake, croissant or churros.

Conservas Albo is a fourth generation family-owned company and since they process the sardines fresh - and is was not the season - we are given the full tour of their tuna plant. They are proud of the quality of their seafood - careful selection, cleaning and cooking are key. They operate at the top of the game, and the contents of their tins outweigh many fresh offerings.

Our next destination is at the other end of the country, Ines Rosales in Seville, from whom we buy Ines Rosales tortas de Aceite. Arriving much later in the afternoon than scheduled, we reschedule our visit to the factory until the following morning, which is when the tortas are made - starting at 6am. We have a late lunch in the "old town" - croquetas, chorizo and jamon, accompanied by a bottle of rioja.

Dinner is a tour of some of the tapas bars of Seville and includes more good seafood, cured meats, cheese and orange liqueur.

The ingredients of the Ines Rosales tortas are simple: extra virgin olive oil, flour, aniseed and sugar. We watch the 16 women seated on either side of the large conveyor belt shape and flatten the tortas served to them at a phenomenal rate by the mixer. Six months' training is needed before you can approach the line - many are second- or third-generation workers.

Then a three-hour drive to Placencia, the home of La Chinata paprika. Cecilio and his sons show us the process of stone-grinding the three different pimientos and take us to the smokehouse on the farm where the peppers are grown and smoked with oak over a period of 10-14 days.

At a local restaurant we enjoy a meal of many courses, most of which include their precious product - the standout being small chunks of bread fried with the paprika, combined with jamon and topped with a poached egg. Others we taste included pork marinated in paprika, olive oil, oregano and vinegar.

Back to Barcelona the following day and dinner at Restaurant Gaig - a Michelin-starred restaurant in the Exiempe district, where dishes include a giant scallop and chargrilled artichoke, pork belly - with Iberico pork, perfectly cooked cod in a morel sauce and and scrambled eggs with black truffle.

The following day we arrive in good time for our flight to San Sebastian to see a large sign for a restaurant called PortaGaig at the end of the airport. Having plenty of time and being curious, we wander down to find an elegant restaurant by Carles Gaig which caters to the gourmet traveller who has time on his hands and seeks something a cut above the normal airport offering. There is a full restaurant offering or a quicker bar menu - small versions of many dishes - meat croquettes, salt cod fritters, warm vichyssoise with foie gras, meatballs and cuttlefish, baby cos salad hearts and marinated tuna.

And so to San Sebastian, home to some of the most highly regarded Spanish chefs. This time we head to Arzak, run by Juan Mari Arzak and his daughter Elena. This culinary star - recipient of three Michelin stars for more than 20 years - knows how to do his PR. He greets us from the bar of his restaurant, cigarette in hand, asks us where we are from, then tells us how much he likes New Zealanders.

We enjoy some interesting, flavoursome food (foie gras again - no protests there). Desserts weren't the highlight.

We inadvertently cause great consternation when, having waited for coffee for quite some time at the end of the meal, we wave it away when it finally arrives; it is 1am and our Kiwi heads need to hit the pillows.

San Sebastian is fun - the old town consists of streets full of ancient tapas bars, so the time until our flight out the next day is spent wandering around them. You see lots of Sabato products in use: piquillo pimientos stuffed full of fish, cured anchovies wrapped around guindillas, octopus sprinkled with smoked paprika, tuna on bread topped with mayo and egg, white asparagus. . .

A visit to Vilafranca just outside Barcelona and Bombons Cudie, home of "Catanie", is next.

Catanie are the highly regarded Marcona almonds, coated with a secret family praline recipe then dusted with cocoa.

All three grandsons are involved in the business, started in 1946 by their now 93-year-old grandfather, and the cute little cubes their sweetmeats are packaged in are designed by the granddaughter. The dreamy-looking Oriol, who has inherited his grandfather's talent as a chocolatier, showed us the process of making the Catanie. Two woman dip each nut individually on a custom-made, fork-like instrument into the liquid praline and when they are set, they are tumbled in a round mixer where they are coated with cocoa to the right thickness.

Still on the confectionery trail, we travel to Jijona in Alicante to see 1880 Turron. This is a fourth-generation family-owned nougat operation, the most famous "turron" maker in Spain. The nougat is 70 per cent full of the exquisite Marcona almonds - these have their own appellation in this area. They also grind them finely and use them to fill one of our favourite treats: almendras rellenas (almond delights), egg-shaped rice wafer confections.

We check out a few other potential suppliers in between exploring the Born area of Barcelona - home to Cal Pep and a plethora of other tapas bars, none quite so good as the master. At Cal Pep you wait, standing behind earlier incumbents who sit along the bar watching the kitchen action on high stools while they enjoy the results. We wait 45 minutes (but you can order a drink). The dishes that night include tiny, battered, fish including lots of shrimps; octopus and chickpeas; smoked paprika tortilla and artichokes.

On our final evening we go to Alkimia, the restaurant of a chef named Jordi Vila. Best described as modern Catalan cuisine, his food is approachable and delicious and the wine list is the same.

So it's back home - briefly - for some intense exercise before our next trip, to Italy. And yes, we have given up telling people that these trips are actually hard work ...

* To sample these Spanish delights and more, visit Sabato at 57 Normanby Rd, Mt Eden, ph (09) 630 8751 or buy online at sabato.co.nz.