America’s Cup spy: food and wine tips (the best cappuccino is Alinghi’s…)

If you want to know all about the America’s Cup in Barcelona and what’s going on at sea, don’t miss our Trial of the Cup and all the news in our “The Cup Newspaper” section.
But if you want to know what goes on behind the scenes of the America’s Cup circus, in the hidden corners of the bases, envies and friendships among sailors, good deeds and snubs, gossip, here you are in the right place.

America’s Cup Spy

Our Barcelona correspondent Ida Castiglioni tells you everything no one else is telling you.
Here is “Spy America’s Cup,” follow it every day!

• Spy America’s Cup, the first installment (a 100-foot Alinghi)
• Spy America’s Cup, the second installment (adieu fromage!).
• Spy America’s Cup, the third installment (Soldini in the Cup?).
• Spy America’s Cup, the fourth installment (Mr. INEOS’s megayacht)

The best cappuccino in Barcelona is in the base of Alinghi

Last Saturday morning, for some journalists were invited at nine o’clock for breakfast at the Swiss team’s base.
The Italian journalists peppered Silvio Arrivabene, who manages the team and is CO-General Manager of Alinghi Red Bull Racing, with questions.
They were more interested in the sailing peculiarities of the boat than in the well-stocked 5-star hotel bar overseen by Italian Ezio, who makes a perfect cappuccino, better than Cova’s in Milan’s Via Montenapoleone. The ambiance is internally luxurious, designer tables and comfortable sofas, indirect lighting.
The buffet is grand, the same as the many guests find each day.
For those who want savory, eggs few perfect, freshly made omelets with your choice of filling, Serrano ham and cheese.
For those who prefer sweet: brioche of all kinds, different breads for toasting, honey, jams, muesli, yoghurt, fresh juices and fruit already peeled.
Unfortunately, none of the crew was present that day (because they had a day off) except for my friend cyclor Franco Noti.

Eat and drink together with America’s Cup sailors

Every Thursday night starting at 6:30 p.m., the men of the teams (but also a few girls) meet at Vraba, a bar/restaurant at the Moll d’Espanya in Ciutat Vela, on the side of the America’s Cup Experience, near some of the bases.
Bottled Estrella beer for 2€ and all kinds of tapas fairly priced and served at the table. The guys arrive with their bikes, which are piled on top of each other to make a mountain so tangled that those who arrived among the first cannot leave the bar.
It is the place where mostly the design team and shore team men meet, those who organize, work the shore or are on reserve.
Instead, one sees the men who raced that day pedaling swiftly home.
It is the time when team members, who on the race course have faced each other harshly, exchange comments, jokes, predictions like old friends, as they really are.

Very fresh fish “take away”

Those like me who are here for two months have rented with others an apartment with a kitchen, partly because holding out for local (tourist) restaurants would be really challenging.
Barceloneta, where I live, is a working-class neighborhood (it used to be where fishermen lived).
The covered market is in the center of the neighborhood, opening at 7:30 a.m. and closing at 3 p.m., weekdays only.
Inside, several fish stalls, a few delicatessens, a few vegetable growers (the vegetables here are huge and bad).

I enchant myself watching how they sell you fish.
I haven’t seen anyone walk away with a snapper or bream all whole, but not even a hake or sardines.
Solid women, armed with knives, clearly razor sharp, take hold of the fish the customer has chosen and, after listening to his quick directions in Catalan, with a work of great skill remove the innards, scale, skin, fillet, turn the logs or into morsels, free of any trace of waste: a marvel!
You go home, open the foil and in 5 minutes of frying pan, the dish is ready without having soiled anything or touched with your hands.
To buy, I’ve seen women living around there who look unkempt but have very clear ideas: they love the freshest fish but don’t want to wear themselves out preparing it, cooking it and then putting the whole ambaradan back.
Just like in Milan.

Spy America’s Cup, all bets

Follow us for more tidbits, trivia and indiscretions from Barcelona in the next installment of Spy America’s Cup.

• Spy America’s Cup, the first installment (a 100-foot Alinghi)
• Spy America’s Cup, the second installment (adieu fromage!).
• Spy America’s Cup, the third installment (Soldini in the Cup?).
• Spy America’s Cup, the fourth installment (Mr. INEOS’s megayacht)