Roof terrace Forus Barceló
Barcelo street is very short, but gives name to one of the most interesting and changing areas of Madrid. In addition, being a frontier, it brings together the best of the worlds that surround it. Barceló has touches of malasañeros , something of the bourgeoisie of Chamberí and the self - conscious air of Salesas .
Since the 19th century, Barceló has been a passage area without the glare of other . It is neither particularly beautiful nor monumental, although it houses one of the best buildings in Madrid: the one built in 1930 Luis Gutierrez Soto . we still call it Pacha although today it hosts the ** Teatro Barceló and the Sala But ** (where some of the best concerts in Madrid are heard). The construction of the ** New Barceló Market **, by Nieto Sobejano, in 2014, changed the silhouette of the area. In the middle of the remodeling process, someone came up with a difficult access to the parking lot. But not even that urban disaster, sad and without love , has been able to with the force of this place. Also, Barceló has a school from times of the Republic and a Public Library , the Vargas Llosa . There are no better charms for a neighborhood.
The 1930 building by Luis Gutiérrez Soto
The renovation of Barceló began with the Market , which was joined by fantastic places such as the Hotel & Spa Urso, Corta Cabeza or Pajarita , one of the city's open gastrosecrets. Nearby were Macera and the Museum of Romanticism, two of those two places that we always take those who deserve it. All this coexisted with The Old Churrería , a myth, the appetizers of the Petisqueira , another one.
The last year has increased the traction of this area. Let's review the new neighbors of Barceló. We will start on the street itself to finish in Mejía Lequerica and Santa Bárbara . Let's go for a royal ride. And drop the mobile: you have to look up and down.
One of the representative facades of Barceló
We love to say that Spanish restaurants are poorly lit. Rare Rare it is well lit. Sounds like a good reason to go. Also, if the environment is cared for and the food is interesting, the attraction increases. This place belongs to Cookie group by Carlos Moreno Fontaneda and makes the strange (understood as strange) and I rare (understood as underdone), its reason for being. Crossing these two terms we have a menu with raw and semi-raw foods and an environment that at times looks like a tea room, another a cabinet of curiosities and another a retro pharmacy.
Perfect tables to share
Continuing along the same sidewalk we find Return. The name, reminiscent of Gardel and Almodóvar, can mislead. There is little Latino here. Is he Magali Meier Project, a Swiss that she wanted to bring the design of northern Europe to the center of Madrid . She opened on December 1, 2016 “to stay”, as she tells us. In ** Back ** we find **a lot of furniture and objects like Housedoctor** (a Danish brand whose main representative is in Spain) but also **cosmetics from Meraki or gastro products from Nicolas Vahé**. Back occupies two floors in a fabulous and huge space. So much so that the ground floor is dedicated to giving yoga classes open to anyone who wants to attend.
This mixture of decoration store and yoga studio It is stimulating and, above all, it does not seem like a forced exercise to fit in a supposedly modern neighborhood, but something natural, very close to the Nordic lifestyle . Also, Magali is a yoga teacher. Faced with the question 'why Barceló for this ambitious project?' The answer is that it is a "modern, central neighborhood, with design shops, boutique hotels, and we thought that Volver could fit in very well here." This shop is his handyman's “dream of life”, so he had to be careful where he opened it. One does not carry out his dream every day.
Back, the Barceló 5 design store
We will return to Return, but now we cross to Mejia Lequerica to find the most extravagant place in Barceló. Is named Cereal Hunters Coffee and at its door there are queues to enter. Let's repeat this sentence: there are queues to get into a place that only sells cereal. It is not muesli or oatmeal: they are cereals in colored boxes, cereal pop . Here you come to have bowls of milk with cereals. And there are queues. The tables are full of very young people who take photos of their colored cereals (the most viewed) and their blue shakes. There is something fascinating about the show. The minds of people, especially young people, are inscrutable.
Hunters Cereal Bar
Let's cross back to the market, the neuralgic fence of Barceló . It invades everything and does not stop growing. If last year you opened your terrace, Roof terrace Forus Barceló , this year it has been gourmet zone , newly opened, call Food Gourmet Barceló and told here. But the most interesting thing, with apologies to both, are still some of the stalls and places to eat and shop in the market itself. An example is the 306 , which we find on the top floor. Here it is Martin Tuner which features a small but spectacular selection of cheeses. The best thing is to let you advise and listen well to the history of each cheese. If we look closely, we will see the refining cellar and we will dream of changing our profession, whatever it is that we have, and dedicating ourselves to refining cheese. Another job suggestion 224, Marco Fresh Pasta . To happiness for Italian hydrates.
We went down the stairs of the market and out into the street. There is another one of the last to arrive in the neighborhood. At the very bottom of the market we find Tarantino in the form of... Damn Bastard: It is not a retro barbershop, but a masculine and rocker one. It's usually full of guys who look pretty tough and come out pretty handsome.
We continue to leave aside what may be the most soulless (but always full) terraces in Madrid. We cross the street again, heading for the Hotel & Spa Urso . On one side we find another newcomer: Half Ration by Cuenllas . Until now, this hotel did not have its own restaurant, although it hosted The Table project. It has taken time to find the right partner. It has been Cuenllas . Media Ración, as it is called, starts with the pedigree of its mother house but with a different proposal. It is not a long or narrow tasting menu place, but a place to share and taste traditional cuisine . To understand each other: croquettes, salad, vegetable stew, artichokes, beef and marrow are eaten here. It sounds simple. It is, but working simplicity well is complicated. Half rations has found a midpoint between the informal and the gastronomic, the hotel and the street, yesterday and tomorrow.
Half Ration by Cuenllas
We are already reaching the end. In the last block, occupying an entire frontage, is BATAVIA , another of the catalysts for the new Barceló. He had been in the neighborhood for 20 years until a year ago he reformed with the Ábaton studio. In the (spectacular) space that BATAVIA now houses, you will find furniture and design with a pedigree (Paola Navone, Miguel Milá, Jacobsen…), Nordic vintage and decoration pieces brought from travels around the world. Your owner, Carlos Alonso , has seen the neighborhood evolve and has witnessed its sophistication. Today, he affirms “no one restless who travels to Madrid will stop going through it”. This representative of the new Barceló sums it up very well: “It has a fun mix between the exclusive, the experimental and the local; and all this without losing the life of the neighborhood, the market, the haberdashery and the churros bar” . Nordic design + churros: that's Barceló.
Nordic design + churros, that's Barceló