Toni Romero: "Hotels tell tourists not to go to Raval, and yet they come to Suculent."

BarcelonaThe story of Succulent dates back to 2012, when chef Carles Abellan And his partner Javier Coto opened it at number 43 on the Rambla del Raval, bringing on board chef Toni Romero (Nules, Castellón de la Plana, 1986) in the kitchen. El Suculent was such a success that it soon had two other restaurants attached: Taverna del Suculent (specializing in small plates) and 4 con 5 Mujades (vegetarian cuisine). Three restaurants, side by side, of which only El Suculent remains today, with Toni Romero as its sole owner. He has been at the helm for seven years and has managed to become a benchmark for good Catalan cuisine, with nods to dishes and preparations from other cuisines that the chef likes and that he learned from his experience in restaurants like El Bulli, where he was a chef de partie. Toni Romero reaffirms the difficulties of owning a licensed restaurant in Barcelona, ​​which are not only financial. We interviewed him on a Monday at midday, which the chef had expected to be quiet, but which, suddenly, was full. Suculent is open Monday to Friday. And anyone who's never been should know that it's located in the middle of a busy promenade, full of all kinds of shops, and that it has a double door: the one that leads to the restaurant's first room opens after pressing a button. "The double door allows us to isolate ourselves from the noise and, in winter, from the cold," says the chef.

I ate the ceviche. If you called it prawns cooked in two stages, it would be a dish of new Catalan cuisine.

— I know. The critic Philippe Regol often tells me the same thing, but I like to call him cevicheI have few internationally inspired dishes on the menu, and this is one of them, a liberty I take. However, if you look at the menus and the dishes For snacks, I look for Mediterranean identity in 80% of cases.

Mediterranean identity.

— EITHER new Catalan cuisine, which we can also call traditional dishes that we relieve So they're not so rustic. A restaurant menu contains the recipes the chef has learned and champions. In my case, it's traditional flavors from our collective memory, using Catalan products. From there, we can label it however we like, but I have one word for everything I do every day: good food, quality cuisine.

I'm focusing on the cannelloni you've invented, with hare in royale sauce, which we could say is a classic from Suculent.

— I don't think I'll ever be able to take it off the menu, no. Besides, there are always people who've never tried it before. This week, I don't have it because my supply of hare, which Higinio Gómez brings me from Madrid, has been interrupted. Cannelloni is a very Barcelonan dish, and one day I thought about making it with hare meat, cooked in a royale sauce. Inside is the hare cooked in the royale sauce, which makes it tender and succulent, and on the outside I use the juices from the same hare, cooked like a civet. With hare civet, I need time, because I marinate the hare with herbs and vegetables for twenty-four hours. These are laborious dishes, in which I use the hare's blood, which has to go inside because it wasn't bled before slaughter. I make the sauce with this blood, mixed with wine, and all of this is what gives the cannelloni its color and texture. Finally, the elongated cannelloni is coated on one side with this sauce, and on the other with foie gras, salt, pepper, duck jus, and Armagnac liqueur. I've been preparing this dish for five years.

You summarized the recipe quickly, but it has countless steps.

— The written recipe takes up four pages. I forgot to mention that I add a little codium seaweed, which provides a final touch of freshness.

How did you come up with the idea for the cannelloni stuffed with hare?

— I arrived after having made meatballs, farcellets, hare terrines... In the end I thought that hare meat would go well with pasta, and from there to cannelloni was a step.

I think the Via Veneto restaurant has made ravioli filled with hare.

— I didn't know that. Pasta goes well with this meat, which isn't tender to begin with; it needs to be cooked properly.

A few days ago I was interviewing The French chef Yannick Frances, who assured me that he registered names and recipesHave you ever found one of your recipes on the menu of another restaurant?

— Yes, I started making steak tartare with bone marrow in 2013. Some restaurants have even called me to ask for the recipe. It's fine, because it's good for a dish to be replicated. I just feel bad if someone thinks I copied it from someone else. I must say, this dish isn't one of my favorites to make.

The cabbage both pleased and surprised me.

— It's cooked several times: confit in butter, grilled, glazed with rib juice, and flambéed with brandy. Add green peppercorns and pickled onions. It's visually simple, and that's a way of celebrating it.

What dish are you testing for your seasonal menu?

— Raw squid ravioli with cured foie gras and a duck escabeche sauce. It's a dish that's served warm.

I'll ask you a question that I'm sure you've been asked many times: you don't have any rice dishes or frying pans.

— No, because I eat paella at home. It's true that I've had good rice dishes in Barcelona, ​​and I cook it myself on Fridays for lunch with my family and staff, but I don't cook it in the restaurant because paellas take up too much space. Creamy rice dishes don't need as much space, but I don't believe in creamy rice dishes.

You've been in Raval since 2012.

— And I've seen it get worse. I can say that because I work and live in the Raval. However, we've been here so long that I'm not considering moving. I do well at night; not so much at lunchtime, and sometimes I think that if I were in the Eixample, I'd be working lunchtimes too, but people know me and they still come to eat, and we're very grateful. Even tourists come, even though the hotels tell them not to go to the Raval, and they still come to Suculent. At night, when they come, especially if they're elderly, we help them get a taxi.

Finally, how do you envision your professional future?

— I'd like to open a bar with a fun and carefully crafted menu. We almost opened Romería with chef Albert Adrià, but it didn't work out in the end. But the idea of opening a bar excites me. However, I often wonder how I would manage it.

Do you miss your hometown?

— Family and friends, yes; gastronomically speaking, it's a bit weak, it doesn't have the level and variety of Barcelona, ​​which is the world's gastronomic capital. I have a great time here going to restaurants. Look, I'll show you the list I have of restaurants I go to: Fracas, Alapar, Direkto, Marín Groceries, Jiribilla, Glugo, Bravo, Montbar, Elena's Farm,Kresala, Alkandmine, Alkostat, Enjoy and TheaterAnd it goes on. It's extensive. I've marked in yellow the ones I've gone with my partner.