Òscar Álvarez: "After six months I left the successful restaurant I had opened, and now I'm opening Barra Oso with dishes that I make from start to finish."

BarcelonaI interviewed chef Óscar Álvarez Moreno (Barcelona, ​​1991) in the last days of December 2025 at his newly opened restaurant, Barra Oso (Muntaner, 248). It's curious because I also interviewed him at the beginning of the year, but at a different restaurant. Mesa Lobo, from which he resigned after six months despite being a partner and it being one of the great successful openingsHe calmly tells me what happened, but above all, he talks about his great passion: the restaurant he just opened with the help of partners, where he's created a menu of seemingly simple dishes that are actually quite complex. He prepares all the dishes right there in the restaurant, Barra Oso, which has a large central bar for sitting and eating. There are also platters. In just a few days, Barra Oso will become the restaurant everyone's talking about: good food, prices designed to make you want to come back the next day, wines served by the glass, and a relaxed atmosphere. Next door is one of the long-established trendy spots, Luz de Gas, which will help it become well-known quickly.

I heard you closed Mesa Lobo in the summer and opened Trozo de Oso in Begur, where I went to see you. I was impressed by the dishes you prepared in such a small space, at a tiny bar with just a few tables.

— In the summer, we wanted to open a window, a preview, of what would become Barra Oso. It was an informal space, with a bar and stools. In Barcelona, it's very difficult to find places, so we thought we could start by testing it out in Begur during the summer. In three months, we had eight thousand diners. We hadn't expected such a warm reception. Keep in mind that we had a space that could fit a total of thirty people, twenty-five of whom sat on the terrace.

The dishes were very good.

— I'm bringing some back, but I'll have more resources here because I'll be able to work with more suppliers. I'm aiming to make simple dishes, so people understand we're not making overly complicated preparations.

Define for me what "complicated" means to you, because none of the dishes I ate in the summer seemed simple to me.

— I mean, the appearance isn't complicated, the concept is clear, but there's a lot of work behind it, yes. It's complicated for us, but not for the diner. Also, I've designed the dishes to be shared, like at Trozo de Oso, because we'll be changing them frequently. The average meal will cost 35-40 euros, because I'd like people to come back, to come often for lunch. And when that happens, we'll make room for a few more.

I remember you speaking to me the first time I interviewed you. What do you mean?

— Dohigh It means that when a dish is finished, it's finished. And that's fantastic when it happens, because the diner will understand that the dish is gone because everything is fresh, because we prepare everything that day, and we'll serve it again the next day. I won't have any frozen dishes, because we prepare everything fresh daily. That's why, when it's finished, we take a break.

You have a bowl in the letter.

— We serve it with the broth, and alongside it is a small terrine, which we prepare by wrapping the chicken meat inside a leaf of Chinese cabbage. Chinese cabbage has longer leaves, so we roll it up, let it chill for twelve hours, and then cut it into small terrines. Once cut, we brush it with a little butter and serve it with the soup.

Do you use all parts of the chicken?

— No, I only keep the tender parts, like the thighs. I save the rest for the staff. It's a stew.

I'm asking you about another dish, the katsu-sando de capipota. Why don't you call it a sandwich?

— It's a large Japanese sandwich, packed with protein—good protein—and thin bread that we grill. Inside is the capipota (a type of stew). I didn't want to call it a sandwich because it's double-sized and large.

She served it [amberjack [in Spanish], how do you cook it?

— It's served raw, but first I aged it for seven days in a chamber, then we dried it with salt and sugar for seven minutes. We serve it with oil, so it absorbs the fat, and with pickled seasonal vegetables.

Smoked butter will be the star ingredient, just like you did at Mesa Lobo.

— No, no. If I ever want to make it, I will, but it won't be a complimentary appetizer. There won't be any complimentary appetizers. Everything you order is on the menu, including the olives. Oh, and we'll make the gildas ourselves, too. We don't have tablecloths either.

It's not because the bar occupies a central space. It's very wide.

— And I'll be cooking in the background. There are also small boards. Since the idea is for the dishes to be shared, we came up with this format.

I'm asking you about a dish that surprised me: partridges.

— I pickle them with Galician lettuce, which is crisp and is brought to us from Gavà. It's called Galician lettuce because it's oak leaf lettuce. It has more body, so we can grill the leaves. It goes well with the partridge.

I liked seeing that you have pig's hands in the letter.

— They're hard to find, because you often see more pig's trotters. I open up the trotters, flatten them, add spices, and then the skin gets crispy. I also add apple and caramelized onion. I serve them like a terrine.

What happened at Mesa Lobo? Why did you give up after six months?

— Because my partner and I had different paths in life and business, which is what separated us in just a few months. Let me put it that way. For me, it was a very difficult decision because I had invested years' worth of savings. Imagine, I decided to leave when everyone was telling us we were one of the biggest openings of the year. The place was packed, the business was thriving, the numbers were adding up. I made a tough decision, but I had to, otherwise I would have gone crazy. So, after six months, I left the successful restaurant I had opened, and now I'm opening Barra Oso, with dishes I make from scratch.

Back to the menu. You might be able to order them while respecting working hours regulations.

— No, but I also don't think we have to work twelve or fourteen hours, as has been the tradition. At Barra Oso, the head chef, Neri Comino, and I will work longer, of course; that's normal, but not the rest of us. Jaime Derqui is our head waiter.

I maintain that your menu is very different and reminds me of the originality of restaurant menus that also focus on dishes that aren't the usual fare. I'm thinking of the Glugo, the Pomp, Cork.

— Restaurants that use ready-made croquettes, buying them pre-cooked and frying them, should inform diners. I believe that if we eat out, everything should have been prepared beforehand.

This regulation exists in France. It's posted on the doors of restaurants. Let me ask you another question: is there a profit margin in a restaurant that prepares everything from start to finish?

— Yes, if you turn things around. Also, since we'll have an affordable mid-range price, we think people will come back often. On the other hand, if you have a mid-to-high price range, they might buy a table one day, but they won't return for a long time, because it's not always a special occasion when you want to spend a lot of money on lunch or dinner.

I still need to ask you about the wine list and the dessert.

— We've had some great advice on the wine list. We'll start with 114 selections, and I plan to make 30% of them available by the glass. I like offering wine by the glass because I think it gives people the chance to try different wines. And look, I have a very special glass, which is smaller than the usual ones.

What's on the dessert menu?

— I don't want a written dessert menu; instead, I'd like the chefs to recite and discuss it. I've been thinking about caramelized profiteroles; chocolate and cream cake; a whole lemon filled with cream; a cannelloni with white almond ice cream, inspired by Albert Adrià and Alfredo Machado; an olive oil flan... And I want to collaborate with Christian Meier from The Coffee Roaster, who makes excellent cookies.

One last question. I see you also have wine bottles with traces of wax, from having used them to light candles.

— We will have them, yes. You tell me because I also had Mesa Lobo. I like them a lot.