The happiness of simple things: product, price, and time to share

Carpanta is an iconic comic strip character created in 1947 by Josep Escobar to depict the essential deprivations suffered by a large part of the population in post-war Spain. Carpanta was starving, and his comics humorously and satirically narrated his attempts to find food. He almost never succeeded, but his vitality allows us to glimpse a very particular kind of happiness that enabled him to survive the misery of his own world. Escobar presents us with a famished character, but never a miserable one. He harshly criticizes a period of hardship and inequality in a space designed primarily to elicit a smile. Happiness involves a very personal perception, and Carpanta's is no exception. Therefore, with the character still present in the collective memory, we will pay tribute to him by indulging in a feast at the restaurant that bears his name.

We're next to Plaça Artós, where Guillem and Adrián are determined to make sure we have a great time and offer us food at a very reasonable price. We start our meal with a gilda (a skewer of anchovy, olive, and pepper skewer), a plate of Russian salad, Catalan-style roast chicken croquettes with raisins and pine nuts, and cod fritters with honey aioli, accompanied by an Estrella Damm beer. The more substantial dishes begin with an open-faced tripe omelet, macaroni and cheese, a cannelloni filled with chicken and apple, and a tender, braised pork cheek. We pair it with a bottle of Matraketa red wine, from the Ficaria winery in La Figuera. To finish the meal, we order a truly remarkable flan and a sip of Indomable ratafia from Casa Palanca. This liqueur from Tor pays homage to transhumance and to Palanca, one of the protagonists of the famous and tragic mountain in Pallars Sobirà.

The ratafia helps us pass the time until Adrián, somewhat relieved of work, sits down with us to explain a project created by two friends from Sants. "We've known each other since we were three years old, and we always knew we'd do something together. We talked every day, over every coffee and every beer, but we didn't have the money to do it. And then one day we said, now we're really going to do it, we're both turning thirty; so it's now or never," he tells us, remaining calm and collected. Initially, the restaurant was basically a takeaway shop that quickly became a fixture in the neighborhood.

Dishes for dipping bread

Roast chicken was their first hit, but dishes perfect for dipping bread soon followed. Now, with the expansion of the premises, inaugurated last October, the restaurant is more comfortable and offers a wider selection of food and drinks. The clientele is mostly from the neighborhood, although, as in our case, more and more people are deciding to venture up into Barcelona to enjoy honest, home-style cooking at a very reasonable price. "Our average bill doesn't exceed twenty-three euros, and we want it to stay that way. Our regular customers are the ones who have helped us grow, and we want to keep them," says Adrián, who is grateful to the customers who have allowed them to realize the dream that two friends from Sants started building many years ago.

The hungry character Escobar created would be perfectly happy gorging himself at Colmado Carpanta. Happiness is having your state of mind completely satisfied. We don't know if money always brings ultimate happiness, but we are convinced that good food comes closest. Go see Guillem and Adrián from time to time if you want to ease your hunger pangs. Carpanta would do it.