A grocery store where only Catalan is spoken

Joan Múrria has been following the same ritual every day for over half a century: he's the first to arrive at the store to raise the blinds, turns on the lights, and then sweeps the street with his traditional sweeper. He's seventy-six years old, and he's spent most of his time behind the counter, satisfying customers seeking the best products in the city. He was a pioneer in offering cheeses from small producers in the Pyrenees and smoked salmon, and he was also one of the first to sell champagne in Barcelona. All of this brought him well-deserved fame and a resounding success that he has managed to manage and maintain over the years, until the lack of a generational successor to continue the business made him seriously reconsider the future. It was then that Ernest Pérez, current CEO of the telephone company Hablemos and a long-standing customer of the Colmado, appeared interested in giving him a boost. Joan agreed to hand over management of the premises to him to convert part of it into a restaurant, on the condition that he kept his store alive. And so was born what is now Colmado Pícara, a modernist temple dating back to 1898 where you can buy and taste the best products on the market. A traditional store offering the finest wines, cheeses, and cured meats, fused with a restaurant serving top-quality cuisine under the guidance of renowned chef Jordi Vilà.

The person in charge of managing the entire space is Toni Merino, who perfectly knows the ins and outs of one of the city's most emblematic restaurants. He also plays an important role in creating the menu and is the perfect person to advise us on our selection. We started the appetizer with a surf and turf marriage for each of us (made with smoked salmon and bacon). We added the bravas to the raclette with spicy sobrasada, the extraordinary (as the menu describes them, and rightly so) roast macaroni by Joan Múrria, the morels stuffed with squid and black pudding (a seasonal dish), and the beef tenderloin tartare with smoked eel. Danilo, a Chilean waiter who speaks perfect Catalan, has just served us the bottle of La Guinardera 2019, a magnificent Priorat 100% Garnacha from the Balaguer Winery and Cabré from Gratallops. We take advantage of the last sips to finish off the last dish we shared: the sirloin Wellington. freestyle With a croissant from the San José bakery, a true delight. With a selection of cheeses from the store and a tasting of digestives, we're ready to listen to Toni.

He categorically denies that Colmado Pícara is a place for tourists: "80% of our clientele is local and only 20% are tourists. Many older people from the neighborhood still come here for salchichón or sobrasada," he explains. He emphasizes the importance they place on our language: "Ernest demands that everyone who works here must speak Catalan, and we've achieved that in the kitchen as well," he says proudly. In fact, Joan Múrria was an example in this regard as well, when during the Franco regime he used the word "Catalan" to label his shop. groceries the window and got fed up with paying fines to the regime that banned it. One more reason to admire him, and Toni is clear about it: "It's a blessing to have him here every day. He's an encyclopedia of the product, we make a great team, and he's the image of Colmado: his mustache and blue apron." The Eixample mustache belongs to Joan Múrria, and he's hoping to see it in the store and restaurant for many more years.