Ca L’Estevet

I used to think happiness was a steaming bowl of soup, a luscious, rich ice cream or chicken slowly barbecued with lots of spices. I was wrong. Happiness is having a fully functioning, just like new laptop. So after weeks of clumsy messaging and browsing on my phone my fingers can grace the keyboard and scratch that blogging itch.

With the technological breakdown it’s time to play catch up, and several weeks have now passed since I treated my good friend Sarah to a birthday menu del día lunch at Ca L’Estevet.

Photo courtesy of Ca L’Estevet website

This hidden treasure of the Raval has been around for more than 120 years and was a popular hang out for the Barcelona left wing intellectuals and artists, not to mention other celebrities that have graced its tables during its lifetime. At 18€ a head the menu del día is at the pricier end of the city’s lunchtime offerings but the quality of the ingredients shone through and for me justified the charge. What follows is some of the most uncomplicated yet satisfying food I’ve eaten in Barcelona.

Chunks of tunneled sourdough dipped in Borges oil satiated our hunger until our steaming plates of mejillones arrived, naked and unadorned except for a wedge of lemon. It never occurs to me to eat this marine favourite of mine without a bath of wine, parsley, garlic or tomatoes, but these were simply heavenly, fresh, juicy and a wonderful hint of seawater.

Steamed mussels mejillones al vapor

The simplicity rolled on with grilled hake steaks, again naked except for a drizzle of olive oil and that wedge of lemon. I would’ve preferred some spears of seasonal asparagus or other more complimentary partner as an accompaniment rather than the uncomfortable marriage of half a tomato, but nonetheless the fish was beautiful and just flaked from the bone. Hake is such a pleasure to eat, no fiddly bones holding you back from just tucking in. The beans to botifarra ratio was probably slight skewed on Sarah’s plate and a slightly heavier handed addition of parsley probably wouldn’t have gone a miss either. However, this was a no nonsense honest plate of good ingredients again.

Tocino de cielo was something new for me. Informed by the waiter that this was not flan, we both reacted with a ”but it is” when it arrived at the table. But, appearances can be deceptive. Like non-identical twins there is a slight but noticeable difference. Tocino de cielo is made with just egg yolks, whites and sugar and not with the addtion of cream as in flan. This gave it a distinctive taste, much like the filling of our native egg custard tart and with the light caramel syrup the slurps, mmms and ahhs kept flowing.

Tocino de cielo Egg custard tart

It’s common when having a menu del día for the bottle of wine to be left on the table and you pour your own included glass. This is dangerous turf. We polished off the lot. Yet we still only got charged for the menu price. Birthday bonus.

C’al Estevet, Valdonzella 46, Raval

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Picnic

Grey November skies and what seems to have been almost a fortnight of a constant deluge of rain (I can almost hear the non-sympathy vote coming from those reading this in the UK) mean the opportunities for a picnic are now put on the back burner until the spring. Thankfully, there is an alternative Picnic waiting to shield us from the autumnal gloom. As with so many of the newer openings in the city, Picnic is filled with pastel shades, faux vintage nic-nacs and bold, bright flowers, all of which are cosy and inviting but for me, nothing more than the latest bandwagon that lacks a little originality. However, they have also jumped on the trend for brunch and this is never a bad thing in a city that lacks midday, weekend options.

Decor is one thing, what’s on my plate is another. Lunch is the best value time to eat in Spain, the menu del dia is a welcome hangover from the Franco days. Basically this is a 2 or 3 course meal, usually including wine or soft drink and a coffee for a set price. Here it was 10.50€ for a main course + dessert or 12.50€ for starter, main course and dessert. As someone who prefers to have starter and main but skip the dessert I would’ve welcomed another third option for 10.50€.

A small basket of wonderfully chewy, fennel laced foccacia entertained us whilst we waited for our orders. We got through almost three of these by the end of the meal. I think that says it all and thanks to the very friendly waiter who kept them coming.

Fennel foccacia

Sharp yet sweet pomegranate seeds topped the satisfying brown lentil salad with walnuts and green beans which left me feeling healthily smug and the flakes of sea salt sprinkled through it set it alive.

Lentil salad with walnuts, green beans and pomegranate

The ‘market fish’ of the day was that Iberian favourite hake, a beautiful generous piece of which sat atop some neat squares of hash brown and accompanied by a slightly wilted, ‘too long in the dressing before being served’ salad. The hash browns will be excused of their sogginess as they were tasty nonetheless and a dash of lime in the crème fraîche would’ve given the plate a zing. The hake was wonderful and I adore crispy fish skin.

Hake with hash browns and salad

Given that I hadn’t really wanted dessert I chose the simple yet refreshing fruit salad, known here in Spain as macedonia, though quite how a bowl of mixed fruit should come to be named after a Balkan country is beyond me.

Macedonia fruit salad

My friends went for the other dessert option of mouthwatering mini pancakes which came with a spoonful of maple syrup and fresh berries, the perfect size portion for a lunchtime meal. This isn’t the cheapest menu del dia to be found, but the general quality of the food and coffee, the full bodied glass of wine and the welcoming waiter meant it was money well spent. Now back to the street, where did I leave my umbrella?

Picnic, C/Comerç 1, Born

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