No more dust and noise: Pastry chef Christian Escribà reopens the modernist pastry shop on Barcelona's Rambla

Barcelona"It was a long five months," explains pastry chef Christian Escribà on the very day he raised the shutters of his pastry shop on La Rambla. It's Wednesday, December 3rd, and Escribà is happy because he'll be able to tackle the Christmas season for a few days. When the renovation work began on the main thoroughfare that connects the city to the sea, the pastry chef kept his shop open, but There came a moment when he realized that only "dust and noise" were getting in.So he closed until everything was finished. "And only part of it is finished, because on January 15th I'll have to close again because a new phase of the work will begin, the sidewalk work, which is linked to the water pipes," he says. However, the pastry chef is reopening with joy and with changes to the shop he acquired in 1986, when he was 25 years old.

And what has happened during all this time? The same metal, channel-style shutter of the pastry shop is different. "I contacted two graffiti artists from Sitges, named Roby and Berok, who did a beautiful drawing: 'Look how good it turned out; the way the shutters were covered in graffiti, it looked like the Bronx in New York,'" he says. Therefore, one of the first steps to reopen the pastry shop on La Ramba was to clean them, and the second was to create new graffiti, because the pastry chef has been assured that the strategy for keeping the shutters looking good is to have a graffiti mural. "They told me that graffiti artists don't interfere with each other, so if I have a mural that covers all the shutters, they won't paint over all that Bronx stuff I had before," the pastry chef comments, adding that he will see if the theory is true.

Inside the pastry shop, he has embellished the mosaics. The shop is listed and built in the Modernist style, one of the great gems of Barcelona's Rambla. Everything looks better than ever, so that both the passersby who come in, shop, and leave, and those who sit and eat, can admire it.

A chocolate ham with bread and olive oil

And now let's talk about the pastries, which are plentiful and excellent. "I've prepared a selection of pastries, including croissants, cream-filled pastries, the quemado [puff pastry filled with cream, folded and coated in sugar, which caramelizes in the oven], crema catalana, an assortment of four individual desserts, and hot chocolate," says Escribà. These sweets can be sampled at the pastry shop or purchased to take away, but Escribà has also put Christmas products on sale: nougat, marzipan, wafers, and panettone.

"In the end, I didn't make the panettone with crema catalana that I had planned, and that's because I focused on another dessert that has been very well received and that I'm very happy with." It's a chocolate ham—yes, a ham—which he sells wrapped like the real thing, and which comes with toast, olive oil, salt, and a grater. "With the grater, you make shavings of chocolate and place them on top of the toast with olive oil and salt." The idea is part of Christian Escribà's imaginative play, and it sells for 65 euros. "I see that it's being so popular that when Christmas is over, I'll continue making it so that it's available for sale all year round," he says.

Today, the first day of reopening, and every day this first week, the outdoor terrace won't be set up. "I've hired a new team and we're still getting up and running, so we need a few days of testing, but my plan is to have the tables and chairs ready next week," he says, adding that he knows it was a coveted spot, a place some stallholders from La Boqueria market, locals, and tourists used to choose for breakfast. Speaking of locals, the pastry chef recounts that he's met with the board members of La Boqueria and the Friends of La Rambla Association, who informed him that only fifty families are registered as residents on La Rambla. "The rest are tourist apartments, but I don't want to turn my back on these residents, because I want to take care of the neighborhood." The pastry chef is aware that his shop is the only one on this stretch of the market, so he feels he has to do a very good job, that he has to offer "a high-end selection." Escribà mentions that he also wants to resume relations with the Liceu opera house to offer sweets that can be eaten before or during performances. "These are all projects I'm focusing on, and above all, I'm hopeful because I know the City Council wants to invest in culture, and this is very positive because those who consume culture have a higher purchasing power, and therefore it will benefit us all," he concludes.