[Pigging by Wilfrid: September 29, 2008]
Over the last few weeks, I've given you Hisop, Cinc Sentits, Rias de Galicia, Bar Mut, Paco Meralgo, Tapaç24, and a clutch of Granada restaurants. Is that all?
No: I ate between meals too. And who could resist?
And so here's a final shuffle through the in-tray; restaurants, bars and snacks which, if I reviewed them in detail, would keep me writing about Spain all the way to January. Summer, sadly, has to come to an end.
Neri Restaurante deserved more attention. In a peaceful, truly gothic dining room attached to the Neri hotel in an ancient building close to the Cathedral, Jordi Ruiz prepares a delicate, upscale version of Catalan cooking without the experimental edges of a Hisop or Cinc Sentits.
Foie is seared and served with slices of pear.
A risotto is dramatically presented table-side in a large, hollowed-out manchego. A vigorous stir of the steaming mass imbues it with strands of cheese and a rich, cheesy aroma.
Tender duck with a peat sauce was a take on a classic Catalan dish.
Suckling pig, also stroked with a sweet garnish. Not much messing with vegetables.
Banana-topped dessert of some architectural ambition, or if you preferred...
An intense, chocolatey mess.
Moo is an odd name for a restaurant, but then so is Omm an odd name for a hotel, and they share the same premises - cool, dark, and swanky, in the Eixample. Moo consists, I suppose, of a scatter of tables, a dining counter, and a large bar in the rear of Omm's spacious lobby. Young men in very expensive designer tee-shirts, and young women convincingly impersonating models, drift in and out. The bar is an option for well-made cocktails.
The kitchen sends out nothing but small plates, designed by chef Joan Roca.
The foie says a lot about the basic quality of Barcelona eating. First-rate quality, served in generous slices on a crisp flatbread, drizzled - not swamped - with a fig sauce and topped with fresh figs. And it won't break the bank. Luxurious but tasteful.
Rigatoni and mushrooms with a shaving of cheese had a mild truffle flavor.
Duck salad was light on the duck - but Moo makes a big fuss about serving a light, healthy cuisine.
Not that the hamburger isn't huge, meaty, and rare in the middle. But it comes without a bun; and with a mushroom sauce. This is a sparkling little joint which, again, deserved more time and attention.
And then a quick run around town.
Step into a crowded, old working bar on the Ramblas, Restaurante Nuria, and eat a veal empanada for breakfast.
Bar Irati was the best of the pincho places which are now so popular. It's in the shopping area of the Barri Gòtic, which made it a good place for quick refuelling.
Reach out and grab pieces of bread with elaborate tapas toppings.
Save the sticks on your plate; that's how they calculate your check when you're done. You can eat fast, and more than you intended, this way.
Bar Celta, the popular old Galician tapas haunt down by La Mercè church is still going strong. Step off the street and down a couple of steps into a brightly lit, always busy room with an endless tapas bar. Order white wine with the excellent, paprika-sprinkled octopus (or crab claws, fried squid, fried fish, and - for a change of pace - pig's ears).
I whined earlierabout the profusion of fake Irish bars around the old town. Thales has the look, and offers draught Guinness, but it's been there a long time, and the owner serves well-chosen hams and sausages, including a huge butifarra with a dollop of aioli.
Xaloc too, for all that it looks new, was in business when I last passed through Barcelona years ago. It's a charcuterie specialist on two floors in the old city, and very popular too. Try the skinny cured fuet sausage, a local specialty, famously funky with the good kind of bacteria. Foie on toast again; patatas bravas.
One of my long-standing Barcelona favorites is El Portalón on c. Banys Nous, a hard-to-find old bar, dark and almost dank, which gives the impression you just stepped inside a barrel. The walls are lined with barrels tool, some decorative, most filled with the cheap wine they serve.
I've been ordering pretty much the same dishes here since the 1980s. The garlicky snails are always good.
They were out of tiny squid, chipirrones, so I substituted the cuttlefish, sepia, also rich with garlic and parsley.
Deep-fried artichoke, alcachofa, is another specialty. For larger appetites, there are rice dishes, but they are pre-cooked and heated up.
Fideu, the Catalan take on paella which substitutes short, skinny noodles for rice, is popular here, although the meat ingredient tasted a bit like spam.
And here's another interesting one. Origen - we had dinner at the branch down by Santa Maria del Mar. Origen is a chainlet of restaurants and stores which celebrate - indeed, emphasize to the point of saturation - the produce, cooking and wines of the regions surrounding the city. You don't get a menu - you get a substantial, and well-illustrated glossy magazine packed with information about local sources and local gastronomic traditions. Food and wine prices are hidden therein.
Ironically, despite the "slow food" feel of the restaurant's theme, the place was buzzing. We grabbed the last table, early evening, and a line quickly formed outside. Orders were taken fast - and to my dismay, as soon as I'd outlined a plan involving appetizers and entrées, our server muttered that the food would all come at once - and disappeared. Very annoying. And so I ended up eating the delicious, garlicky patés pictured above as my second course; well, they weren't going to get cold.
I'd come across rabbit with snails in Catalan cooking before, but Origen offers pig's feet (on the bone) garnished with the tangy little gastropods.
Duck with peaches made an enjoayble change to the standard pato con peras.
There was a plate of beans tossed with blood sausage too, and a bottle of cava, and to finish, a plate of nuts with shots of apple liqueur - a sort of clear calvados - apparently a traditional snack of local musicians.
I provide the web-site because the whole Origen concept is intriguing.
Speaking of traditional snacks, have some more butifarra, served this time in chunks over sweet onions and peppers. This was in a casual restaurant in the Born district, the name of which didn't even make it into my notes.
Some crudely cut ham to go with the butifarra and - why not...?
...some more duck. This time, pieces of apricot tossed in with the beans.
Several times, we paused late at night somewhere near the bottom of c. de Montcada at a place called - unpromisingly - Cheese Me. This seems to be another small chainlet. The location we found overlooked a square humming with nightlife (more local than tourist), and the terrace tables were a good place to sit and watch the passing scene. There's a full menu, but the obvious way to go is with a selection of cheese (Spanish regional or international) and a bottle from the serious wine list.
I blame the 2004 Emilio Moro for this horrible photograph:
How - I hear you ask - can even a pig of your calibre eat so many restaurant meals on one trip? Hey, not fair. I cooked in too, and have a photo to prove it. Fresh shrimp from the Boqueria market, and my version of judías - tossed with black and white butifarra.
So long summer - and Barcelona...when will I see you again?
I haven't attempted to provide full details, let alone web addresses, for all these places. Let alone the ones I almost forgot (mussels at Can Ramonet in Barceloneta); but feel free to e-mail me with questions ([email protected]) or come and chat in the MouthfulsFood Spain forum.
