YOUR NEXT DESTINATION Barcelona gastronomy’s promised land

TEXT BY UNA MEISTERE, WWW.ANOTHERTRAVELGUIDE.COM | PHOTOS BY AINARS ERGLIS

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Barcelona is in some sense the ideal city. A city containing a little everything, it has beaches, hills, around 320 days of sun each year, its own variant of the Champs-Elysées – the Passageo Gracia – a charming medieval old town, the Barri Gotica, with its cosy taverns and small shops (and an enticing Mediterranean chaos). Then there’s the alternative district Raval with Pakistani immigrants, pickpockets and ladies of the evening, incongruously joined by art lovers flocking to MACBA, Barcelona’s museum of modern art. There’s Gaudì and there’s the latest symbol of the Catalonian capital – Torre Agbar, a steel and glass tower designed by the renowned French architect Jean Nouvel. This is an open- Bad luck, somebody has already minded, cosmopolitan, and intensely democratic taken the Anothertravelguide metropolis. It is also blessed with a human scale – brochure about Barcelona, but don’t worry, all the you can get almost everywhere on foot. Until last information is also available at March, you could even walk naked. Not long before ANOTHERTRAVELGUIDE.COM in cooperation with airBaltic. the last city council elections, however, competing with the socialists (who lost), the Catalan nationalists who won decided that some limitations were necessary – it’s no longer permissible to wander La Rambla, the principal tourist artery, naked, half- naked, or in a bathing suit. You are still allowed most any attire – meaning no full nudity – on the city’s beach, in nearby bars, and along the promenade. Even this minor insistence provoked protests, as if it were a major human rights violation. Though one can no longer strip down entirely, don’t worry – this is still a city open to most an idea, even if it’s crazy. One of the main fields for experimentation is that of gastronomy.

The alma mater of the culinary arts Though a couple of weeks have passed since I returned from Barcelona, I still see a moving scene in my mind’s eye – two elderly ladies elegantly seated at a table covered with a white tablecloth, visibly savouring the arrival of their meal. More precisely, I picture them as part of a performance, imagining them at El Bulli – the legendary restaurant, a star of the contemporary culinary stage, that closed its doors last July. Wholly in thrall of the mythic and iconic, the ladies I envision would sit and smile whilst one plate was exchanged for another, the contents becoming an endless stream of surprises. Their hands folded solemnly in their laps, they would watch other hands deliver what is now no longer available – this would only be a scene from the exhibit “Ferran Adria and El Bulli – Risk,

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The El Raval neighbourhood Santa Caterina Market (Mercat de Santa Caterina)

Freedom, and Creativity”, on view at Palau Robert until February textures and forms, providing a unique experience and tastes that of next year. This show, which will travel to New York and London, had hitherto been utterly unknown. One of the most remarkable begins here in Barcelona; the virtuoso of culinary arts and the aspects of Adria’s alchemy is that few things taste like what they luminary of late 20th and early 21st century restaurants began life in look like, giving the adventure unexpected turns. If, in the past, Catalonia, and Barcelona is above all the capital of Catalan cuisine. eating would at best involve the stimulation of all five senses, then El Bulli was recognized as the best restaurant on earth for five El Bulli stimulated a sixth, drawing it out of another world. The years in a row, receiving pretty much every imaginable award and otherworldly aspect included guessing exactly what it was that renowned the world over as the most unusual culinary adventure you were eating, the uncertainty of it calling forth metaphors, irony, one could possibly enjoy. In some sense it is among the few fresh analogies, and even traces of childhood memories. Technology legends the globe has had to offer in our postmodern chaos – and poetry, a striving for stylistic purity, and total freedom within a El Bulli not only led to a global explosion in extraordinary cuisine; creative process were the hallmarks of El Bulli. it changed the relations mankind has to food. Ferran Adria, the The restaurant had only 15 tables and 54 seats. It was open for conductor of this explosive music of taste, is a Spanish genius of only half the year, from April to December. Tables were reserved gastronomy and one of the most influential people in the world a year in advance. There was no menu – El Bulli served tapas, of cooking. The exhibit at Palau Robert offers insight into both the providing about 35 unpredictable appetizers over the course of history of the El Bulli phenomenon as well as a grand tour of the four or five hours to every diner. world of the senses. The tour begins with a thoroughly romantic The exhibit allows you to watch the innumerable foods invented story – the love of a German doctor and a young Czech girl against at El Bulli in a seemingly endless series of small TV screens. You’d the background of the ruins of the Second World War. They met in need at least half a day to see all of the inventions come into being war-torn Berlin in a brief, intense romance. When he was captured in miniature. Adria was always famous for his perfectionism, and by the Soviets, she saved him. Then they were married. In the 1950s, most of the creations require absolute attention to the tiniest details they bought land on the Costa Brava for 10 000 marks, on a cliff of proportion in their ingredients and arrangement. One of the above Vala Montjoi, and opened a small beachfront bar, naming it most unusual things on exhibit is a glass table bearing countless after the local bulldog. The locals called it Hacienda El Bulli. Hans ceramic replicas of what went into the food, some composed upon was a gourmet, and in the 1960s he invited French chefs down to plates so that you can decipher every part of the composition. Spain – the small bar soon obtained its first Michelin star. When the Only the most stellar creations ever reached the diners’ tables. Adria marriage broke up, he moved back to Germany. Meanhilw, young gave lectures at Harvard and received a slew of honorary degrees, Ferran Adria had heard of the place from a ship’s cook whilst serving including a doctorate from the University of Barcelona. In 2007, in the military. At the time, he didn’t know the value of a Michelin Richard Hamilton – a loyal client of El Bulli – invited Adria to stage a star – though El Bulli would earn three once he came to run it. solo exhibition at the 12th Kassel dOCUMENTA. Adria took over El Bulli at age 25, in 1987. His goal was as simple The El Bulli exhibit’s adventure ends with a waltz – the farewell then as it is now – conjuring up culinary creations that are neither dance of the chefs at El Bulli. One can’t really call it the end, variations nor interpretations but something completely new, not however – in 2014, El Bulli will be reborn in another form, as a copied from old recipes or created ever before. In 1994, Adria came centre for culinary research and innovation. up with a concept that turned received ideas about cuisine on their heads – the priority was not particular dishes but techniques El Bulli for mere mortals and visions that would turn eating into a bright adventure. The In reality, El Bullihasn’t actually disappeared – it has simply taken fundamentals of Adria’s art involved intricate play with the physical on another life. The Adria brothers (Ferran’s brother Albert being and chemical properties of foods. Complicated manipulations, a genius in the realm of pastries) opening a new tapas bar in barely to be believed, resulted in a cuisine with unutterably different Barcelona last year. It’s called Tickets, and there’s also a cocktail

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The W Hotel’s glass tower resembles a sail and has become a new symbol of Barcelona

City panorama from the rooftop of the Hotel 1898 bar called 41, next to it. Once again they were pioneers – this is cultivated as carefully as that of El Bulli. Arriving is part of the time not only in gastronomy, but also in transforming an entire adventure – a crowd teems at the entrance before Tickets opens, neighbourhood. The Poble Sec district where Tickets is located is and while waiting you get a show through the windows, the team known for its proletarian past, stretching back into the 19th century. of twenty receiving its last instructions before the hour strikes. The The factory chimneys of La Canadenca still stand, and the area still interior and the waiters’ uniforms are in homage to the “Broadway” retains part of its industrial aura – but as with any such quarter, past of the neighbourhood. It’s like a carnival. The entryway is like once a place is affected by the alternative scene in a certain degree, that of a circus, with the maître d’hôtel, wearing a top hat, checking total transformation cannot be far behind. In the 1940s, the main reservations under a sign that says TICKETS in lights. Hams and artery in Poble Sec, Paral-lel Avenue, was known for its nightlife, strings of onions hand nearby, as they do in any classic tapas bar. lined with cabarets and bars. The shine came off – but current There are also TV screens showing scenes from El Bulli’s vanished plans call for restoring Paral-lel to its former glory as the Broadway kitchen, and kitschy golden Chinese cats wave hello. The lamps of Barcelona. After fifteen years of silence, once of the iconic look like they’ve been taken from a Christmas tree. The crazy decor cabarets opened its doors – El Molino, Barcelona’s take on Paris’s lets you know that this is definitely not El Bulli – you can relax, famous Moulin Rouge. Tickets is only about twenty metres beyond and the place is far bigger, with 123 seats. This is not a place that it, on the other side of the street. It opens precisely at seven, but accentuates status. You can consider it a kind of El Bulli taken off there is no chance at all of wandering in – you definitely need a its pedestal and made available to a broader public. In terms of reservation, which can only be obtained via the Internet (exactly what’s on offer, however, nothing is different – the challenging, at midnight), at the restaurant’s homepage. In theory, 80 places extraordinary cuisine hasn’t changed one bit. are up for grabs. The waiter later tells us that the reservations are It may be that the Adria brothers simply needed to cut loose snatched in a few seconds – the mythical character of the place from the formality of their famous restaurant. Instead of offering the YOUR NEXT DESTINATION

Tickets – a new tapas bar opened by the Adrià Brothers summits of the culinary arts to a select few, and the experience another. What happens any snobbishness has been abandoned in to your senses is impossible to describe. order to get rid of the myth that fabulous You think you’re eating one thing – but it gastronomy is only meant for the elect. turns out to be somehow exactly opposite. Just as great music isn’t confined to opera The play of texture and various intricate, houses – neither is unbelievably creative clever pranks make you feel as though cooking. Both brothers were in attendance each dish is an entire symphony. You are when we were there – Albert in a white sometimes warmly caressed and refreshed chef’s uniform, Ferran in an everyday suit; simultaneously. Even supposedly simple unlike at El Bulli, his constant presence isn’t things like lamb ribs melt in your mouth. necessary. They chat with the customers Though each dish follows the other as and seem completely at ease in the carnival though in an endless succession of acts in atmosphere. a theatre, they are perfectly balanced in Though Tickets does have a menu, taste and in quantity, so that you are never, unlike El Bulli, it is best to surrender to the ever bored and are actually drawn deeper, surprise, as it is called – that way you will as if by the intrigue of a thriller. You can savour about three hours’ worth of marvels, endlessly distract yourself, too, staring at about half of them reincarnations of hits the cotton candy tree, for instance, where from the legendary cliffside restaurant. The cotton candy floats like clouds in the surprise starts with green olives – which branches decorated with fruits. turn out not to be olives at all, though the Then there is the performance taking jar they are taken from does indeed look place at the tables all around you. I don’t exactly like an olive jar. “You have to eat think I’ve ever experienced a space so these in one bite,” the waitress says – such charged with such positive emotions for suggestions accompany most of the dishes, such a length of time. Diners are as thrilled including advice on which instruments to as joyful children by every marvel that use when eating each food. Though the arrives – and doubly thrilled when they slightly quivering olives that aren’t olives taste it. You can dine here for hours, but the taste like olives, they have the consistency intensity of the flavours does not diminish. of quail eggs – it’s like eating a liquid olive The textures and tastes come in waves. encased in a thin membrane, and strangely When the evening is over, it is as when thrilling. Then there are slices of tuna belly the curtain falls on a perfect performance. painted with Iberian cured ham fat, with You can soar above the earth, it seems – bread sticks – the waitress warned us to eat and afterwards you will never doubt that the bread sticks separately, not mixing the gastronomy is a true art. It is – and here it is tastes. There are cod skin chips and oranges a great art indeed. in olive sauce, razor clams with ginger oil, cayenne pepper and lemon air, miniature A gourmet universe and the “airbags” stuffed with Manchego cheese and secret restaurant Iberian bacon... but the names are one thing To be hungry in Barcelona is as impossible The Adrià Brothers – Ferran and Albert

as being thirsty while standing under a cooks. You get a number. You find a table waterfall. There is probably no dining scene and wait for your number to be called. in any city to equal this one. Moreover, There’s a whirlwind of activity all around, as fine food is available in every budget though you are in a busy port. Everything is category. Not far from Tickets, there’s one quite simple – and simply delicious. of Barcelona’s best tapas bars, Quimet & Barcelona has not been immune to Quimet. Small as a pocket, it’s been in the the rage in secret restaurants spreading same family for four generations. Wine across Europe. Pop-ups and supposedly bottles and artefacts line the walls, all the secret addresses that really aren’t secrets way to the ceiling. The culinary procedures are in fashion. It’s kind of like hide and take place standing up, shoulder to seek for grownups. Finding such a place shoulder. Some come to chat, whilst others can give you a feeling of accomplishment. savour glasses of house cava. All of the What the pop-ups have in common is tapas are on display behind the bar – tuna, their unusualness in location and their anchovies... every imaginable seafood. individuality. The harder they are to find, Ham, marinated vegetables, cheese, bread... the greater your sense of accomplishment everything you ought to find in a true, when you do will be! The harder it is to get traditional tapas bar. Everything is delicious, in – the more enticing the place. and wine is served in small glasses carelessly Urban Secrets began this trend in pushed across the bar. No matter how Barcelona, and Tintoreria Dontell is one hungry and thirsty you might be, you’re of the most popular addresses. From unlikely to spend more than 15 euro here. the outside, it seems to by a dowdy dry If, however, you want to eat seafood with cleaners’. There are a couple of jackets and such seriousness that you may not want to an ironing board in the window. There’s see the sea after dining, there’s La Paradeta. doorbell that’s difficult to find, and no Kind of a cross between a market and a one will hurry to let you in. Someone classic cafeteria, it is unique to Barcelona eventually responds... but won’t hurry then, but has three locations. At astoundingly either. You’ll get a door code at last, and low prices, you can eat until you drop. La suddenly you’ll be in a trendy restaurant Paradeta is also an adventure – one location with something of a nightclub’s ambience. is behind the Santa Caterina market. You’ll The menu is limited and the cooks are easily find it because there will be a queue obviously fond of experimentation. There outside. There are no waiters and there is no are terrific appetizers like tuna tartare interior design to speak of – just a massive and there is a good wine list... but it’s not counter packed with pretty much anything exactly a place you come to for great that moves underwater. You stand in line cuisine. You come for the adventure, and it’s and point, as you would in a market. Most rather like a game of not knowing what’s of the clientele consists of locals. What you behind different curtains. Just don’t get sad order can be fried in oil or grilled. Then it is if you do encounter other tourists – after all, bagged and weighed, and handed to the it’s hard to keep a good secret... especially if YOUR NEXT DESTINATION

someone says “don’t tell anyone”! who flock here in droves. Stylish bars In 2009, the culinary stage got a new and restaurants have sprouted along arena in the form of the gigantic W Hotel, the promenade. Their atmosphere with 473 rooms. Another neighbourhood and location has made them instantly was reborn. 26 storeys high, it was designed popular. One is called Gallito, and it’s by Ricardo Bofill, who also designed the hard to imagine a nicer place for lunch. airport. The glass tower resembles a sail and The beach is only a few steps away, and has become a new symbol of Barcelona. the architect Frank Gehry’s “fish”—part of uncompromising golfwear The locals call it vela – the sail. It’s located the 1992 Olympics complex – shimmers at the southern end of Barceloneta beach, across the cove. There plenty of sun, in a former industrial zone. It’s also the plenty of good food, no formality at all first hotel in the city with direct access to and receptivity to anyone and anything. the Mediterranean. The vast plaza tiled The only care you have, or should have, with white stone has become a favoured is to keep an eye on your possessions. place to gaze at the sea... or at the skaters, Pickpockets in Barcelona are artists, too. Insider’s view A city in which to find yourself has always wanted to do, not what others have tried to force upon him. “Before I came to Barcelona, I did what everybody expected of me – I had to be a businessman, head a company, drive a certain car and live in a certain neighborhood. I came here to get a master’s degree in marketing... and I became a jewelry designer. This is a city without limits – Nicolas Estrada is a jewelry designer. you can do what you want to do. In my Although he was born in Columbia, Estrada opinion, Barcelona is a wonderful place has called Barcelona home for the last for people to find themselves. Because twelve years now. His book, “New Rings: it has everything – artists, businessmen, 500 Designs from Around the World”, came rich people and very poor people – all out last year and features 591 rings created of the colors. A rapper next to a yuppie. by almost 300 of today’s best jewelry Naked people and people dressed very designers. Radical, innovative, gorgeous, expensively – nobody judges you, nor do challenging, conceptual, abstract – are they pay you undue attention. And they just a few words that describe this visually also don’t worry themselves about why colorful story about the ring: as both a work you’ve come here. www.kjus.com of art, and as a symbolic object that reveals Barcelona is very small, but at the same something about its wearer. Estrada’s time, you can meet people from all over works have been exhibited in galleries in the world here. Colors, languages, almost Europe and America, and just last year he always sunny... It’s really easy to get around, happened to participate in the exhibition and Barcelona itself is in a very strategic uncompromising performance “Conceptual Jewelry”, held by the Riga location: in 45 minutes, you’re already in jewelry gallery “Putti”. the mountains; a bit less, and you’re at the In speaking about Barcelona, the seaside. It’s also a very convenient place to designer says that he loves the city most of live. Housing rental rates, for instance, are all for having allowed him to do what he much better than in Paris, London, New Tallinas iela 32, Rïga ™ www.ski-box.lv

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York or Tokyo. You can find anything to Barcelona, go to the Old Town and just let Nicolas admits that he is most in love with suit any budget. If you come here with the yourself get lost. For me, it is still the most the Barcelona that is a little bit anarchistic, wish to experience the best seafood in all beautiful part of the city, in spite of all of the a little bit underground, and definitely – not of Spain, you’ll get it – but of course, at a tourists; I’ve lived in this city for twelve years expensive. These are a few of his favorite corresponding price. But if your wish is to already, and I always discover something spots: have a great lunch for seven euros, you can new: a street that I didn’t know about; a Some of the best tapas: Quimet & Quimet also get that in Barcelona. building that I’ve never seen before. It’s a very Poeta Cabanyes 25, 08004 Traffic jams in Barcelona never last more magical and very beautiful part of the city. Best pizza: Bella Napoli than half an hour. But the most fantastic The best time to go to Barcelona is at the Margarit 12, 08004 thing is that the city is in a constant end of May, beginning of June. It’s already Great restaurants with a lunch menu: El Sortidor – Placa del Sortidor; www.sortidor.com state of renewing itself. Right now, for warm (the swimming season officially starts En Ville Barcelona - Carrier Doctor Dou, 14; example, there’s an active war on cars – on May 15), there aren’t that many people www.envillebarcelona.es and a campaign to popularize public around, and the prices are still relatively A great restaurant by the beach: transportation, bicycles and motorcycles. low. Or, come at the very end of summer – Gallito – Passeig del Mare Nostrum, 19; There’s a really good public bicycle in September. August is extremely hot, www.gallito.es network – Bicing (www.bicing.cat) – the but at the same time, a really good month A good bar for drinks and hamburgers: bicycle stands are adjacent to metro as well: the city is practically empty; the Apolo Diner – Vila i Vila, 60 – 62; stations and bus stops. So, all you have to locals have all gone on holiday. Only the www.apolodiner.com do is get out at your metro stop, take a bike, tourist spots are operating, it’s easier to A loud and lively nightlife can be found at and continue on with your daily errands. get around, and the city has a completely Carrer de Blai: “this street is in Poble Sec, the neighborhood in which I live. It’s always loud If you have just 24 hours to spend in different – un-rushed – rhythm.” BO here, there are always people about, and Fly to Barcelona with everyone is always in a great mood. It’s kind of a meeting place – with mostly just locals; Direct flights from Riga starting from EUR 95 tourist rarely wander in. The most fascinating thing is watching the interactions – between From Scandinavia and Eastern Europe via Riga starting from EUR 135 those that have lived here for generations, and Earn 5 BalticMiles Points per each Euro spent on flight tickets those who have moved here just recently.” BalticMiles partners in Barcelona: airBaltic, Avis, Sixt, Worldhotels, airBalticcard Mobile, Language Direct