Restaurante MyKasa

At this time of year when the purse strings are as tight as the waist band it’s time to head away from the centre of town and towards those neighbourhood bars that might not bring you fine dining but will feed you well without straining the wallet.

‘MyKasa’ feels more a communal dining room than a restaurant, packed to the rafters with the vecinos of the surrounding barrio and an integral part of this part of the city, catering for a local school going back decades.

Not everything at MyKasa is worth the journey down there, the patatas bravas and pan con tomate were serviceable (although the oil on the bread was in a league above what it was drizzled on).

The pig’s cheek however, was worth jumping on the metro for. Unctuous and falling off the bone, hugely improved by slow roasting in that broth than on the grill as I’ve had it previously elsewhere. Oh, I should mention it was only 3.30€ on the menu too.  The ridiculously low priced entrecot steak with its mountain of fries and the budget, savoury, spiced pork pinchos morunos were also worthy of a using a T-10 journey.

The albondigas exceeded many I’ve eaten before, I love to cut one in half and swirl it in that tomatoey sauce before it finds its way to my mouth. Sometimes calamaris and chiprones (baby squids) leave me feeling ill with their soggy, cool and often over thick batter. I didn’t need to worry about that here. With the splash of lemon I devoured the best part of the plate of chiprones without help.

Now an Irish coffee is not how I’d usually finish a leisurely tapas lunch, and certainly not with one as monstrously, magnificently wrong-but-oh-so-right as this. Warning, give it a good stir before going in for the sip.

The first payday of 2013 might still feel a long way off, but MyKasa can certainly make sure that December pay cheque stretches just that little bit further.

MyKasa, C/Espronceda, 367, Navas

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Can Eusebio

No matter how grown up you are, there’s nothing like a good sign or notice with a rude word in it to make you go all puerile and giggly. Such is the case with the name of the bar next to Can Eusebio. If I hadn’t have chortled to myself I might never have noticed the wonderfully rough, ready and cheap neighbour in its midst. Patatas bravas for 1 euro? In central Barcelona? Let’s give them a whirl.

Though you’re offered a menu it’s really not necessary here as the walls are lined with yellow, laminated cards stating the dishes and rock-bottom prices and as always there is the omnipresent TV providing background entertainment. And for once, many of the customers crammed into the packed out bar had one eye on the screen showing the re-run of the pre-season El Classico ‘friendly’.  To quote a friend who recently visited “Spain could wipe out its economic deficit in a flash if they just turned off all the unwatched TVs in bars.”

The waiters here are slightly surly but are dashing out decent standard tapas at a furious rate. Those cut price patatas bravas hit the mark, crisp on the outside, fluffy in the middle and as I like them with the bravas sauce on the side.

Patatas bravas

The winning dish was the pinchos morunos, succulent, tender pieces of marinated pork that hinted of paprika, lemon and other spices. Some toasted bread and a dollop of alioli made this a moreish combination and was on the bill for a measly 3.30€.

Pinchos morunos

The generous portion of boquerones vinagre, anchovy fillets marinated in vinegar were as good as any I’ve had elsewhere and again were only 3.50€ per plate.

Boquerones vinagre

The potato bombas lacked the finesse and perfect sphericalness of those I ate at Lolita Taperia and were a little too soft, but had a comforting flavour of home in the sense they reminded us of stuffing. Once again, only another 3.50€.

Bombas

And finally pulpitos. If you’ve never eaten baby octopus then you really should try them. Cooked in garlic and parsley they are wonderful, especially if they have a little crispyness on the outside from being fried. Here they were marinera style so I was slightly disappointed when they arrived in a tomato and red pepper sauce, served only lukewarm. My fault for not being up on the different permutations of sauces, these were passable but I wouldn’t order them again.

Pulpitos a la marinera

The full bill for the food including two Cokes was only 18€, a bargain for a fair amount of grub. The laid back yet buzzing atmosphere make this a great place for a midweek get-together or pre-night out refuel. I might even make a habit of a plate and a euro beer on my way home from work and amuse myself once again with the neghbouring bar name. I’ll leave you to discover that one for yourself.

Can Eusebio, Vilá i Vilá 84, Poble Sec

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Bar Cañete

Dinner at Bar Cañete was going to be followed by some cubatas and dancing so, because of the constant Barcelona worry of being robbed, I prefer not to take my camera out with me on a night out. Therefore, in the spirit of the Sunday newspaper supplements I hope my words alone will convey my experience at Bar Cañete.

Bar Cañete is a shiny gem on a shabby looking street which links the Rambla with the lower end of Rambla de Raval, its royal blue canopy struts out to mark the entrance. Inside, the brightly lit, almost fluorescent tinged bar opens out, lined either side with bar stools and the open kitchen to the left at the rear half of the premises.

Catching up with friends’ post-Christmas visits home required my concentration as I was distracted watching the preparation in the kitchen which is encircled by diners seated on the stools. The fact they were packed out with clientele didn’t manifest itself in any stress in the kitchen, the team of chefs and serving staff, reminiscent of waiters from an ocean liner, worked calmly and quietly, only the chatter of customers and clanging of plates filled the atmosphere.

No meal in Barcelona is complete without Pa amb tomàquet, in this case the crusty bread was rubbed with Penjar tomatoes, a variety from near Valencia, they are tied together and hung after harvest and last longer than most other varieities. I have to admit I couldn’t really taste a huge difference but then again this is the tomato rubbed on the bread not pieces of the whole fruit which would make it much easier to compare the flavour.

Alcachofas del Prat fritas were wafer thin slices of artichokes from El Prat, piled high on the plate, it was almost a Jenga game to pull some out without the tower tumbling down. El Prat is the area outside of Barcelona in the region of the airport, it is one of the most famous areas in Spain for artichoke cultivation as the soil is supposedly perfectly suited to this crop. The artichokes were delicious but perhaps the most enjoyable part were the thin slices of lemon that had been fried in and amongst the vegetable. These were a revelation and absolutely beautiful, I found myself hunting them out in the pile, the frying having softened the sharpness of the citrus, I could happily eat just a plate of those again.

The Carpaccio de magret de pato, thin slices of duck breast drizzled with a mustard dressing filled our mouths with rich ducky flavour and the grains of mustard burst andperfectly partnered the meat. Shared between three the eight slivers were tortuously too few though.

Always the one to want to order all the fish options, the Pescado día con verduras, fish of the day with vegetables, was squid with baby spinach. Soft, fanned out strips of fried calamars sat alongside small bunches of baby spinach, neatly tied together in bouquets which had a superbly fresh, earthy, iodine taste but were sadly let down with a small smount of grit in one of them.

Huevo estrellado con chorizo ahumado gallego a ‘Paradanta’, eggs fried with potatoes and smoked chorizo from the Galicia region of Paradanta was good but obviously nothing memorable as it escapes me what to write about it here.

The crowning glory of our meal, however, was the Filete ‘Rossiñi’ con foie, a piece of soft, melt in the mouth beef fillet sat on two thin slices of toasted bread, topped with a generous slice of foie gras and a small pool of rich, unctuous jus that was just calling out to be dived into with another piece of bread when the fillet had vanished. Our plate had a neat puddle, others being served up seemed to be more of a lake.  At 15.50€ this was an indulgent dish but a regal moment of eating.

The moral dilemma of eating foie gras doesn’t escape me and it’s something I often ponder. It is only since being in Barcelona that I have tasted this delicacy and it has an utterly marvellous flavour, one that’s very difficult to not sample more of. For the time being I justify my eating it because in the grand scheme of food crimes (see Hugh’s Fish Fight that I’ve been evangelising about on Facebook this week as just one example) its production is small scale and limited compared to the broad spectrum of animal, ethical, human and environmental cost our food production system causes on a daily basis. If you are interested in learning more about what I referring to here then a good place to start would be Felicity Lawrence’s book ‘Not on the label’.

Anyway, I digress. Bar Cañete was an enjoyable Friday night experience, though still not reaching the dizzy heights of Lolita Tapería which has set the benchmark for me in terms of high quality tapas in the city, as their menus are of similar price I  feel it’s fair to make a comparison of the two. I brushed off the flecks of artichoke from my dress (I really must learn to sit and eat elegantly on a bar stool, no mean feat in my opinion) and we took our dancing shoes off into the night.

Bar Cañete, C/ de le unió 17, Raval

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Inopia becomes Lolita Tapería

So back to Barcelona and what could be a better welcome than being invited to a free dinner at Inopia the minute you return? And as if that wasn’t good enough, there was also the stipulation that my friend and I HAD to spend a certain amount per head, a target which wasn’t going to be achieved easily. Any pangs of homesickness and leaving my family and friends were quickly going to be eaten away.

I was instantly struck by the fact that something had changed. I didn’t instantly put my finger on it, but the polaroids and comments that had adorned the tiled walls were gone and something just felt a bit different. Then everything came into focus, we were no longer in Inopia, we were now in Lolita Tapería.

How I didn't notice the change on the way in I don't know!

I’ve since checked the former Inopia website which has this message:

‘The 30^th July was the last day of service for Inopia. After 5 years of exploring the world of classic tapas, Albert Adrià is handing over the bar to his partner Joan Martinez, the bar is set on a new course with a change of concept and under the new name ‘Lolita’, the girl who enjoys tapas and mini-sandwiches. We are grateful for all the affection we have received from our customers over during these years and we hope you will be filled with the same excitement for our new concept on the 1^st September. As always we hope to provide you with small portions of happiness. Forever, Inopia.’ See the message on their site here.

As it happens, this week’s copy of Barcelona ‘Time Out‘ has an interview with Joan Martinez, whose comments I will shamelessly (Disclaimer: maybe not 100% accurately) translate and post here, especially as the magazine is only published in Catalan. The article states that Inopia has “died of success” and Joan says that “with Albert we sought to create a neighbourhood bar but it turned into a monster. It wasn’t normal that a bar with a capacity for 40 people should mean having to queue for two hours. We had to kill it and start again”. “I want to make it more canalla (I think this means lively), at midnight we will change the lighting, serve drinks and we intend to make some cocktails”. Inopia used to close at around 11pm. He ends the article by saying “Now everything is easier, the pressure with Inopia was excessive”.

I suppose anywhere associated with the Adrià name was always going to attract more than just a neighbourhood crowd, it certainly pulled me there not long after arriving here and those polaroids and messages showed that people were visiting from all corners of the globe. Was it possibly naive to think that a bar with the Adrià connection could just be a local haunt and not suffer from food tourism? However, it seems from the Time Out article that Albert has still had some slight involvement with the new venture, giving a hand designing the menu for the new bar and as we found some of the items from Inopia’s menu are still here.

So how is the new bar? Apart from the cosmetic changes, mainly the signage, it doesn’t feel a whole lot different. Which is a good thing. The bull’s head still looms over the bar area, the staff’s faces were familiar and the food was equally as good as last time.

What I love about this place is the light, airy feel, the white tiles and smoke free environment lift it into a different realm from the thousands of dark, slightly grubby looking tapas bars around the city.

So, what did we eat? Well, more than I have pictures for seeing as soon as each plate arrived we couldn’t wait to taste it and then realised that, erm, I was supposed to be trying to photograph it first. However, it would be a shame to ruin every eating out adventure with constant snapping so here’s some of the delights.

We started with some of the pan amb tomaquet, a staple for every tapas session, this was light and crisp with lovely ripe tomatoes and drizzled with lots of fruity olive oil and some thin slices of cured Wagyu beef, which reminded me slightly in texture of South African biltong which is slightly chewy and was a welcome change from the usualy sliced chorizo, salchichon or fuet.

 

Pan amb tomaquet

Cecina de Wagyu

 

Next came cubes of aubergine, lightly crisped on the outside, soft in the middle and drizzled with a sauce of honey and molasses, which worked really well together and was gone before the flash could go on the camera. Then in no particular order, the Pintxo charrua above, a fatty, melt in the mouth ham lightly sprinkled with crystals of salt and La Plantxada, slices of chorizo cooked on the grill and drizzled with a herby (sorry to not be more specific, I need to start making notes instead of relying on my memory) dressing.

Pintxo charrua

La Plantxada

One of my favourite dishes, which has been carried over from the Inopia menu is la Bomba d’Eixample, a sphere of ultra-smooth mashed potato surrounding minced beef and a buttery centre and sitting on their divine spicy sauce with a dollop of mayonnaise on top. I spotted a huge tub of Hellman’s sitting on one of the fridges in the kitchen, I was very surprised to see they don’t make their own, but then again they’re probably concentrating more time on getting that bomba into an exact sphere, how do they do that?

La Bomba d'Eixample

My photo of the calamare doesn’t do them justice, the batter was much crunchier, tastier and sweet squid tasting than my pale, insipid picture would have you believe and I really liked the cute paper cone presentation .

Calamars a la romana

Then probably the highlight of the savoury dishes was the burrata Lolita, a ball of that Italian cheese which is made from mozzarella and cream, when you break into it a creamy liquid oozes out of the centre, paired with the rocket, really ripe tomatoes, olive tapenade and drizzled with more of that fruity olive oil it was fantastic and the creamiest, milky cheese I’ve ever eaten.

La Burrata Lolita

The Gos d’Atura, hot dog to you and me, was yet another example of how Lolita and Inopia before it are doing tapas that you would find in thousands of other tapas bars around the city, but with good ingredients or slight twists, again here the bread surrounding the salchitxa was light and crispy and spread with the ubiquitous ripe tomato that comes on every sandwich you eat here.

El Gos d'Atura

In all honesty I didn’t really have space for dessert, but I’d been thinking about that amazing sorbet de mandarin I’d had last time all day and was pretty gutted to not see it on the menu. However, as always it pays to ask and they had some in the chiller, whether this is something they are continuing off menu or a remnant of the Inopia days I don’t know, but I snapped up the chance to have one of those little tubs. This sorbet is silky smooth, like it’s almost never had any water in it, not an ice crystal in sight and the tangy yet sweet mandarin flavour is perfect to end the meal.

Sorbet de mandarin

But, the figs were also looking very appealing so we made space to have those as well. Sweet, ripe, white figs with a dollop of creamy yogurt, sprinkled with grated orange zest and cinnamon, heavenly.

Figues amb iogurt

With coffees on order we were persuaded to have a txupito (shot) each of Lolita’s patxaran, a drink that is typically from the Navarre region of Spain but also drunk in the Basque country and other areas, it is usually made from sloe berries and contains aniseed, coffee and vanilla. This one, called Sang de Drac (dragon’s blood) was made from strawberries, peach and anisette. It was delicious and curious to drink, first you taste the strawberries, then the peach, followed by the anisette and finally all the flavours together. Magic.

Lolita Tapería, C/Tamarit 104 (corner of C/Tamarit with C/Rocafort), Eixample – non smoking

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Inopia

Being slightly obsessed with the creations of the Adria brothers at El Bulli, having a tapas bar owned by Albert only a short walk from my flat is a real treat. I had lunch there one Saturday just before Christmas and keen to not have to queue or be disappointed at there not being a seat for me I turned up  almost as soon as it had opened, a move which proved canny as the place filled very quickly and as I left there was a line outside.

Inopia is a tapas bar; light, airy and a rarity in Barcelona, smoke free. The welcome was warm, friendly and very relaxed, I initially mistook the host seating me as a customer as he was dressed so casually in jeans, T-shirt and cap. There is even a wall mounted TV on low volume, a common tapas bar feature but not intrusive here.

When I was seated my initial excitement was with the polaroid photos on the white tiled walls above my stool, a veritable ‘who’s who’ of the culinary world who have visited the bar, including the guys from The Fat Duck and Harold McGee amongst many others.

I was also green with envy at the person who had written the following message on the tiles;

Mounted on the wall near the entrance to the bar is a copy of the bull’s head from the kitchen of El Bulli with the statement written underneath ‘Cualquier parecido con la realidad es puro coincidencia’ (‘Any similarity with the original is pure coincidence’), a nod to El Bulli or just a joke about the similarity to a real bull? Either way, amusing.

And so to the food, the delicious, well presented lunch I enjoyed. I started with the mini harburguesa, soft beef topped with a dash of mustard and rocket leaves. I then sampled the patatas bravas which were sliced quite thinly, crisp yet soft inside and topped in a devine spicy sauce, so good I used the potatoes to wipe up every last drop. I then had the Bomba d’Eixample, a spherical croqueta of soft, creamy potato with a minced beef centre which also oozed butter when I broke into it, this was topped with more of the spicy sauce and a small dollop of mayonnaise. La Bomba was so good I stopped the waiter to ask her for a second one when she was passing.

For a sweet hit I had the Sorbete de mandarina which surprised me when it arrived pre-packaged in a small plastic tub, although on closer inspection it thankful had the Inopia logo and not that of one of the ubiquitous Spanish ice cream brands. The sorbete was my favourite part of lunch, completely smooth and free of crystals and pure, fresh mandarin flavour, so good I might even ask for one to para llevar next time I’m passing.

The 4 dishes, sorbet and a glass of the house red set me back only 20 euros, well worth it for the quality of the food and surroundings and I look forward to returning to sample more of their menu.

Inopia, C/Tamarit 104 (corner of C/Tamarit with C/Rocafort), Eixample – non smoking

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