The restaurant that serves traditional Catalan cuisine for 3.5 euros

Unaffected by culinary trends, the rise of creative avant-garde cuisine, the sophistication and foreign influences that have dominated the world of gastronomy in recent decades, the Can Guix restaurant in Olot has always remained faithful to its way of cooking. As if stuck in the past, nothing has changed in the last 45 years at this humble restaurant located in the heart of the capital of La Garrotxa, a few meters from the municipal market, where diners can enjoy a generous plate of capipota for just 4.50 euros, beans with torn butifarra for 4 euros, meatballs, rice in a casserole, or even noodles or stewed lentils for 3.50 euros. These were "previous" prices for a cuisine that, "unfortunately, is no longer found in almost any restaurant today," says Can Guix's owner and cook, Mercè Colomer. "We've never done anything to learn new culinary techniques, to modernize, or to adapt to trends because the people who come here want what we've done since day one: traditional Catalan dishes made the way we've always been, without innovation or sophistication," explains Mercè. "As long as I'm here, we won't do anything to change. If we changed, it wouldn't be Can Guix anymore," she concludes.

Forkful breakfasts for early risers

If the dishes Mercè cooks haven't been "modernized" over the years, neither has the restaurant, with its decor reminiscent of the humble inns of decades past. The tables, which touch each other, encourage conversation among the regulars, especially the early risers, those who enjoy the breakfast. Often, when the restaurant opens at eight in the morning, Mercè finds them already waiting outside the establishment to start the day with a meal more suited to lunch than breakfast: beans with bacon, a plate of capipota, steak with potatoes... At ten in the morning, when I meet Mercè to chat about the Mercè breakfasts. She's been there since early in the morning and has already had time to cook some half-cooked squid (a dish created at Can Guix "for those who can't decide between grilled and coated squid, so they can eat it both ways"), a beef stew with lots of mushrooms, and a commanding recipe: "minced beef, garlic and parsley, breadcrumbs, egg, and a sautéed onion and tomato. Cooking like this doesn't need preservatives or any sophistication." The job doesn't scare her. "I'm 67 years old and I'm not planning on retiring right now. And if one day we're forced to move, I'll be working and I'll want to make sure it remains as Can Guix has always been. If not, a unique place would be lost," warns Mercè.

Like the dining room at home

With a capacity for around 60 diners, Can Guix has been the daily dining hall for many of the city's students and workers. It was also the place for journalists from all over Spain who stayed in the city for weeks to cover the kidnapping of pharmacist Maria Àngels Feliu. "Those who come here want to eat like they would at home," says Mercè. In addition to the cuisine served, Can Guix's prices are also attractive, and although they have risen in recent years, they have done so almost imperceptibly. "We want everyone to be welcome here, so that prices aren't a way of selecting customers," explains the restaurant's owner.

The prodigious memory of La Merced

Can Guix transmits culinary memory in every dish. It is also known for its host's prodigious memory, capable of remembering the dishes ordered by diners at each and every table in the establishment. This virtue of La Mercè became famous when, in 2013, she participated in the program What who how TV3 as an example of a person with an unusual memory. It's surely because of Mercè's ability that computerization has passed Can Guix by. She doesn't need tablets to place orders, or calculators to add up, or credit card terminals to collect payments, since customers are required to pay in cash. When diners at a table ask for the bill, she approaches with a pen in her pocket, recites aloud everything they've consumed, without ever making a mistake, and adds it up on the paper tablecloth, leaving customers speechless if they're visiting the establishment for the first time. "No one has ever forced us to computerize, and I don't intend to because I'm too old to change our way of doing things," she assures.

The uncertainty of the relief

Despite the success of Can Guix, Mercè assures that after the COVID pandemic, nothing has ever been the same. She is aware that when she folds, she may not find support either in her daughter, who is 36 years old and has not yet shown any interest in continuing the business, or outside the family circle. Forty-five years of almost full-time dedication at Can Guix, daughter of La Pinya, a small town in the Vall d'en Bas, Mercè left her job in an office at a textile factory in Olot to take over the kitchens at Can Guix when the former owners of Mercè took over from Jaume Pararols. The business was a grocery store and bar, and also hosted "dispersers."