Marc Pérez: "We will prepare thirteen traditional dishes from our cuisine for the Mobile World Congress opening luncheon."

BarcelonaI interview Marc Pérez (Barcelona, ​​1995) one afternoon as he prepares the stocks for the dishes he'll be cooking on Sunday, March 1st, for the Mobile World Congress opening luncheon. The dining room is packed until the following day, when they'll reopen for lunch service. Both Marc and his partner, head waitress Tània Doblas (Cádiz, 1988), are thrilled to have been tasked with catering for 400 people. The challenge is exciting and stimulating: they're going from preparing meals for 36-40 people, the capacity of La Sosenga (c. Amargós, 8, Barcelona), to multiplying that number tenfold. And all with meticulously crafted, thoughtful dishes, just as the restaurant's cuisine has defined it since its opening in 2023.

In any case, Marc and Tània have put Amargós Street on the map. A delightful street, between La Sosenga, which celebrated its third anniversary in July, and others, like Marionetas Travi, located opposite the restaurant, which sells traditional, handmade puppets.

What are your training schools?

— I studied cooking at San Ignacio, and then at Sant Pau with chef Carme Ruscalleda, where I started as an intern, and after four months she hired me. With Carme, we did the pop-up restaurant in Monte Carlo, specifically at the Odyssey, the restaurant in the Hotel Métropole. I also worked on the opening of the Almanac Hotel in Barcelona, ​​where I met Tània, who was the bar manager.

When you decide to open the restaurant, how do you end up in this location in Ciutat Vella?

— My parents have a shop on Argenteria Street, and they were the ones who told me about a place I might like. My love of cooking and eating well comes from home, from my parents, from whom I learned to go to the market and to guess the ingredients in dishes. But back to the story of the restaurant: when my father told me about this place, I had just signed an agreement with the Pulitzer Group to open three hotels, two in Barcelona and one in Paris.

And what did you do?

— I did everything at once, but there came a point when I couldn't do it anymore, because I wanted to focus on La Sosenga, so I gave the hotel three months' notice that I would be leaving. I kept my commitment to work on it for two years.

When it starts in July 2023, how many dishes will it prepare?

— We had a set lunch menu where you could choose three starters, three main courses, and three desserts. It cost 18 euros. We've always offered more than we charged for, because we started out, for example, by buying ingredients from stalls at the Mercat de la Concepció, always looking for the highest quality products.

In addition to the 18 euro set menu, they also offered à la carte options.

— We combined the menu with a menu that included twelve dishes, so that the customer could create their own experience.

And in December of that same year, 2023, he began to create the tasting menu.

— We offered a tasting menu and à la carte dishes for almost a year, but in November of the following year, 2024, we realized we couldn't do it all, so we eliminated the à la carte menu. Since then, we've only offered a tasting menu, which allows me to be creative and work well with the ingredients.

You've summarized the evolution over three years, which is like taking giant leaps. Tell me, what's the next challenge you're preparing for?

— When you came into the kitchen, I was preparing the stocks for a special order we're very excited about. We'll be cooking thirteen traditional dishes from our kitchen for the Mobile World Congress opening luncheon. We still don't know how the congress organizers found us, or why they came looking for us, but yesterday we did tastings with the executives, and they told us they really enjoyed the dishes they were eating.

What exactly will he do?

— These are all our recipes, traditional dishes from our kitchen. Here are a few: Catalan-style chicken croquettes; salt cod brandade tartlet; red prawn profiteroles; surf and turf rice with Duroc pork secreto and rockfish; roast beef cannelloni with béchamel sauce and truffle; peas with cod cheeks; creamed morels stuffed with pesto; artichoke fritters with Iberian pork jowl; zucchini skewer with garlic and parsley mayonnaise; and a beef tartare sandwich. It's a challenge we're really looking forward to, and we hope to have a great time next Sunday. It will be a standing meal, where we'll be bringing the dishes to everyone.

Changing the subject. The meaning of sosenga It's a sofrito, but the name goes beyond that, and why did you choose that name?

— We wanted to connect with the local clientele; we wanted to make a bold statement and show that you can find local recipes even in Barcelona's densely populated Gothic Quarter. It was a challenge. Besides, we also felt the name was very fitting because it encapsulates the approach we want to take: sofritos. We always start with a sofrito; we even make salads with it in the fall. In the Libro del Sent Soví, the sofrito serves as a dressing, a sweet and sour one. From that sofrito, we move on to a recipe, a sweet and sour stew made with game or cuttlefish. And if we go even further, we arrive at fricandó, which is the evolution of a chulga.

Since you're located in the heart of the Gothic Quarter, what kind of customers come to eat?

— Locals. We can know this exactly every year from the visa statements. 97% are from there. And we're very happy, because we've always ended up in this direction. So we're grateful for the warm welcome we've received, and also for what we've achieved, like the nominations for best restaurant at the Gastronomic Forum Barcelona and Madrid Fusion.

If you let me think about its future, I think the place might become too small.

— We haven't considered moving because our current location makes perfect sense. We feel a warm and welcoming atmosphere, a close connection with our customers, because the space is so inviting. We're not planning to relocate because we've just finished renovating the kitchen, which is completely new. We feel very comfortable here, secure, like we're at home, and because we want to show people that you can eat well in Barcelona for a good price, something you don't find in any other city in Europe or the world. In London, Paris, and even New York, you'll eat very well, but you'll spend a lot of money, whereas in Barcelona, ​​it's not like that.

Finally, apart from La Sosenga, where the good value for money is clearly achieved, tell me which restaurants you would recommend.

— I'll tell you about them in no particular order, because I like them all and I stand by them. I'd say the Direkto, he Sure, he Succulent, the Northwest Tavern and the TheoristWe have seen a lot of ourselves reflected in the Teórico, thanks to Oriol's spark of making Catalan cuisine at democratic prices.