Xibarri (Carrer de Trafalgar, 30; Barcelona)
“I have disappointed everyone, starting with myself”
It's a -wonderful- verse from I deny everything, the song that advances the next album by el flaco: the most traditional Madrilenian born beyond the M-30 (and look what's there), and what's the point of this nonsense in an article? about the fast-paced gastronomic scene of Barcelona?
Live Barcelona a curious moment : It has never had more complexes, and it is that never before have I seen how many friends (from there) come to me with that “this has become a theme park”. But also, at the same time (paradox!) a wonderful, enlightened and free Barcelona survives ; that of Milena, Miguel Milá, Miqui Otero, Miquel Alzueta or Isaac Reina. A Barcelona absolutely dedicated to beauty, culture and the sense of everyday life (I see it, you just have to know how to look). And let's not mention the gastronomic...
Michelin opted for Barcelona and in Barcelona some of my best experiences around a table have been consummated throughout the last season: Alkimia, Enjoy, Succulent, Espai Kru, Gresca or Enigma. Is Barcelona in a better moment than Madrid? What else will it give? But come to what we are going: there is not only a place for great restaurants - a city also (in fact, essentially is) its taverns, bars and novelties. The run run of the new, the fascinating brilliance of what is yet to be discovered : these are the most interesting novelties of the Catalan capital.
Oyster with cherry gazpacho and drops of merlot and much more in Bellavista del Jardín del Norte
XIBARRI AT THE YURBBAN HOTEL
A restaurant is not only a menu and a handful of dishes to gobble up, it is also a place to live; where to be. And Xibarri (grandmother's recipes and the roots of Catalan gastronomy, I especially liked the 'before' chicken croquettes) has all the elements to become a classic: music (funky, soul and boogaloo) live, Carles Bonnin cocktails , certain environment decontracted and communal tables: long live.
Xibarri, pure balance
GOUTHIER
To the point: the first oyster bar (oyster bar, as the cheesy say) in Barcelona is ten years old, the work of the interior designer Estrella Salietti. Already we knew the bivalve molluscs of Gouthier in some of the best restaurants in the Catalan capital; Well, now they have re-opened (and expanded) the bar in the Sarrià neighborhood with more casual dishes in the center: ceviches, snacks and smoked . And oysters, of course.
Hedgehogs in Gouthier
ALVART
Or rather, the Alvart reform. Delibes wrote that " I am convinced that one of the most obvious symptoms of the decline of the West lies in the progressive disdain for cooking ”. How not to agree in this today so given to preserves and. We want chefs to cook! And cooking is precisely what he does Alvar Ayuso (chosen Best Young Chef by the Catalan Academy of Gastronomy in 2016) through his character menu: turbot with sage gnocchi, roe deer tartare with pickled pumpkin or (eye) sheep's milk cream, razor clams and plankton . Statement of intents? “In the Character Menu I will make my kitchen, it will be there where I really explain who I am”.
Alvart (Aribau, 141; Barcelona)
THE SEDITION
We love the pizzas. I correct: we are obsessed (but very) with pizzas ; so we couldn't be more happy about the arrival in the heart of Gracia (she's only a couple of months old) of this organic pizzeria that the pizzero Luciano Passeri - triple world champion of classic pizza and director of the Accademia Piazzoli in Italy. Why La Sedici? Because of its size: 16 centimeters in diameter (sedici in Italian means "sixteen"). Save your jokes. Or not.
The Sedici (Plaça del Sol, 9-10; Barcelona)
STOLEN
We said it (we said it!) this will be the year of the embers and it is partly the fault of the stolen , the Josper grill that we see every day in more places where coal is the protagonist . We have seen Robatas in Nómada by Begoña Rodrigo, in Yakitoro in Chicote, in Sudestada by Estanis Carenzo, in Tickets, in the Yakitori Bar of the Nozomi family and, of course, in this Robata Sush i& Grill by Fabiola Lairet (in Enric Granados) where the “Japanese” skewers are the absolute protagonists of the party: we are left with the bull and the shishito peppers, padron peppers!
Robata (and long live the grill!)
BEAUTIFUL VIEW
Specifically: the drinks at Bellavista, which are launching a night bar with the healthy intention of revitalizing the punch (aha, the punch). The Bellavista del Jardín del Norte project has been associated, from the very beginning, with Leo Messi: what hi farem , journalists are (we are) so original; Nothing could be further from the truth: after Bellavista walks the family of the little boy from Rosario but also the Iglesias Group -partners of elBarri de Adrià and owners of that Macondo that is so mine that is Espai Kru. And that translates into a solid gastronomic proposal based on the product and professionals without nonsense: the cocktail menu is advised by Marc Alvarez of Tickets and by the bartender Marcio Triverio . In other words, we will drink well. Ok, it will never have a Michelin star… so?
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Bellavista from the North Garden (Carrer d'Enric Granados, 86-88; Barcelona)