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Catalan food and dishes
Traditional Catalan food places heavy emphasis on meat, olive oil, garlic, fruit and
salad. The cuisine is typified by a willingness to mix flavours, so savoury dishes cooked
with nuts or fruit are common, as are salads using both cooked and raw ingredients.
Meat
is usually grilled and served with a few fried potatoes or salad, though
Catalan sausage served with a pool of haricot beans is a classic menu item. Stewed
veal and other casseroles are common, while poultry is sometimes mixed with
seafood (chicken and prawns) or fruit (chicken or duck with prunes or pears) for
tastes very definitely out of the Spanish mainstream. In season,
game
is also
available, especially partridge, hare, rabbit and boar.
As for
fish and seafood
, you’ll be offered hake, tuna, squid or cuttlefish even in
cheap restaurants, and the local anchovies are superb. Cod is often salted and turns
up in
esquiexada
, a summer salad of salt cod, tomatoes, onions and olives. Fish
stews are a local speciality, though the mainstays of seafood restaurants are the rice-
and noodle-based dishes.
Paella
comes originally from Valencia, but as that region
was historically part of Catalunya, the dish has been enthusiastically adopted as
Catalunya’s own. More certainly Catalan is
fideuà
, thin noodles served with seafood
– you stir in the fiery
all i olli
(garlic mayonnaise) provided.
Arròs negre
(black rice,
cooked with squid ink) is another local delicacy.
Vegetables
rarely amount to more than a few French fries or boiled potatoes,
though there are some authentic Catalan vegetable dishes, like spinach tossed with
raisins and pine nuts, or
samfaina
, a ratatouille-like stew. Spring is the season for
calçots
, huge spring onions, which are roasted whole and eaten with a spicy
romesco
dipping sauce. Autumn sees the arrival of
wild mushrooms
, mixed with rice,
omelettes, salads or scrambled eggs. In winter, a dish of
stewed beans or lentils
is
also a popular starter, almost certainly flavoured with bits of sausage, meat and fat.
For dessert, apart from fresh
fruit
, there’s always
crème caramel
(
flan
in Catalan) –
fantastic when home-made – though
crema Catalana
is the local choice, more like a
crème brûlée, with a caramelized sugar coating. Or you might be offered
músic,
nuts
and dried fruit served with a glass of sweet
moscatel
wine.
to Thai curries – with daily specials rolling
along an airport-style departure board above
the open kitchen. Portions aren’t enormous,
but they’re not expensive either (most things
cost €9–12) – or you can just drink and
munch superior tapas at the horseshoe bar.
Bar daily 8am–midnight; restaurant 1–4pm &
8–11.30pm, Thurs–Sat until 12.30am.
Pla de la Garsa
c/Assaonadors 13
T
933 152
413;
M
Jaume I
. Seventeenth-century stone-
and-beam house that’s a relaxing place to
sip wine, and eat pâté, cheese, sliced
meats and other refined fare. Dishes run
from €5 to €10, or there are various tasting
menus available. Daily 8pm–2am.
Expensive
Espai Sucre
c/de la Princesa 53
T
932 681 630,
W
www.espaisucre.com;
M
Jaume I.
The
“Sugar Space” takes the current fad for
food deconstruction off at a tangent by
serving pretty much just dessert – these are
inspired creations by Jordi Butrón, who
assembles flavours and textures with the
skill of a magician. There’s a three-course or
five-course seasonally changing pudding
menu, with a small selection of savoury
“mains” to pad out the experience. And
check the website for a schedule of dessert
demos and hands-on courses. Tues–Thurs
9–11.30pm, Fri & Sat sittings at 8.30pm &
11pm; closed Aug.
Very expensive
Comerç 24
c/Comerc 24
T
933 192 102,
W
www.carlesabellan.com;
M
Jaume I.
Chef
Carles Abellan presents “glocal” cooking (ie,
global + local): dishes from around the world,
interpreted locally by a master of invention. In
an oh-so-cool stripped-down warehouse
interior the meal comes tapas-style, mixing
flavours and textures with seeming abandon
but to calculated effect (such as
foie gras
and truffle hamburger, shot glasses of frothy
CAFÉS, TAPAS BARS AND RESTAURANTS
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Restaurants