Restaurant Franca: skip the Instagram photos and just go

BarcelonaFranca restaurant is one of the year's most exciting new openings in Barcelona. This unassuming restaurant, located on a corner in the Eixample district and run by three young chefs, has an ingredient many would envy: personality. Perhaps because they're doing their own thing, they've attracted a lot of attention and spread like wildfire through the most effective age-old method: word of mouth.

There you'll find Francesca Baixas from Catalonia, Gianmarco Greci from Venezuela, and Joshua McCarty from California. They like to say they create invented traditional cuisine. What does this mean? You won't find croquettes, Russian salad, or steak tartare. In fact, when you read the menu, there are dishes you won't quite know what they'll be like until you see them in front of you. They like to maintain a touch of mystery. But they're not about flashy displays or setting off fireworks. They create more subtle, "intimate" surprises, says Baixas. Like with textures or temperatures. A clear example is their olives. They serve them hot, and they're pure indulgence, pit and all. The squid bikini is also intriguing, with a texture not what you'd expect. It's probably the most popular dish.

"We don't want you to be able to order everything. These restaurants where you can order everything are like a disguised tasting menu," says Baixas. And it's true that the menu isn't long, but it doesn't allow you to try everything in a single meal. "We like people to be able to come back." Of course, if they do. With other friends or with their partner. In fact, there are dishes designed for sharing. Those that fall under the "La Fiesta" category. It's a meat dish that comes with small side dishes. Depending on the season, there's also fish that they call "La bondad" (Goodness). An example of goodness? Monkfish, accompanied by romanesco, rice with duck fat oil, carrots, roasted parsnips, and an aromatic salad. If doing goodness were always like this, right?

There are revived recipes, like turrón. Words they like to repeat, like aniseed. And they want people to eat like they used to. "We're not huge fans of social media. We try not to post photos of the finished dish. We've become a society that eats with its eyes and not with its mouth. We want people to go back to eating with their mouths. We don't try to put effort into taking photos of the dishes to make them look incredible; we want people to come here for what we do, not for the food."

A single bite for the sting

The establishment, which has an average check of around 55 euros per dinner and a 28-euro lunch menu (excluding drinks), is the restaurant "that makes sense in Barcelona," they say, with traditional Catalan cuisine as its foundation. One example is their love for picadillo, which they twist and turn. On the menu, you'll find long noodles that they use to create recipes with picadillo as the central ingredient. "Pasta with picadillo has endless variations. Right now, we're making it with almonds, roasted garlic, and saffron. We've also done hazelnuts, chicken livers, and aged wine. Monkfish livers, pine nuts, and parsley. Or one with carquiñoles (almond biscuits)," explains Baixas, who adds how important picadillo is in Catalan cuisine. "You never see it. It's like the prompter in a film, and we've decided to give it a moment in the spotlight."

The green salad with fennel seems to have missed out on the spotlight. No one ever ordered it. Well, just one person, and she was a foreigner. "We Catalans don't eat vegetables. And if we do, they have bacon," Baixas's partners pointed out to her. How awful, I'd order it.

They share an invisible thread: the Basque restaurant Mugaritz. In fact, Greci and Baixas met there. The nougat desserts might remind you of it a little. One customer said, "It's still surprising on the third spoonful." Well, Franca is something like that. The art of small discoveries. It's no wonder they're one of the nominees for best chefs of the year. Baixas's father is also a renowned chef: Jó Baixas, of the Follia restaurant in Sant Joan Despí. He really liked his daughter's restaurant. And he suggested some improvements. "Otherwise, he wouldn't be my father," Fran Baixas says, laughing. Frankly, it's a place you need to experience for yourself. I recommend it.