Around the world through eleven restaurants on the border between Girona and Salt

Jump / GironaGirona has experienced a first-class gastronomic metamorphosis in the Barri Vell since the pandemic. Anyone who has not visited the city in five years will be surprised by the number of new restaurants in the old part of town. But it is not the only focus where new projects have been born. The neighbourhoods with a greater presence of migrants are also experiencing their own transformation when it comes to restaurants. With more than 40% of the population of foreign origin, Salt is a municipality that is characterised by its cultural diversity. But the Girona neighbourhood that borders it has a higher migratory weight, almost 45%. It is Santa Eugenia de Ter, where in recent years the offer of restaurants with cuisines from all over the world has exploded. While a few months ago the first restaurant with Gambian and Senegalese cuisine opened in Salt, right on the border between the two municipalities a good part of the Latin American gastronomy offer is concentrated.

The common thread of this gastronomic route is the road that connects Girona with Salt: Santa Eugenia street. Coming out of Girona train station and heading up the street towards Salt, we first find a Venezuelan restaurant that was opened a year ago (Punt Criollo). Just five minutes away on foot, there are two Mexican restaurants run by Honduran families (Leda's and La Garnacha Tex Mex) in the Rodona neighbourhood. Seven minutes further down the same street and very close by, you can choose between a Colombian restaurant (Racó Colombià) that has just opened and a Honduran restaurant that is a reference for the community where the old La Columna restaurant was (La Baleada). And then there are only ten minutes left to find La Familia, a Moroccan restaurant with excellent couscous that has just opened right on the border between the two municipalities. This is just one example of this trip that we propose, which goes around the world through eleven restaurants in Salt and Santa Eugenia.

Calle Obispo Sivilla, 8, Girona

It all started during the pandemic, like most Latin American restaurants that have sprung up in the last five years in the Santa Eugenia neighborhood. Both Daniel, who was a barber, and Rosi, who worked as a waitress, were left without work and decided to start selling empanadas and arepas through a WhatsApp group with a Latin American community in Gerona. They had emigrated from Caracas in 2017 and it was at the end of 2023 when they decided to take the plunge and start in the hospitality market as a couple. "We had the opportunity to open a place in the Central Park and at the moment it is working," explains Daniel, who details that the main hit of the restaurant are still the arepas Venezuelan, completely homemade.

Rosi cooks them, as she did during the pandemic, and combines typical Venezuelan dishes to snack on, such as tequeños –a very typical appetizer made with a base of wheat flour and cheese–, with a daily menu of 14.50 euros adapted to Mediterranean cuisine. Lunch costs around 18-20 euros with a starter and main course, but you should also take into account the varied juice menu. One of the specialties is the Venezuelan lemon biscuit, a kind of lemonade with panela (cane sugar) dissolved in it.

Santa Eugenia Street, 65 | Riu Güell Street, 101, Girona

Less than a minute away, two Mexican family restaurants with Honduran owners have put the Güell area on the gastronomic map by offering homemade and authentic food. The latest to open after the pandemic has been the La Garnacha Tex Mex restaurant, where there had previously been another reference restaurant for Honduran cuisine, Blessing (now on Calle Barcelona, ​​​​48) and before that the first Peruvian restaurant in Girona: Sabor Perú (now located on Calle Barcelona, ​​​​18). "The founders of the restaurant, sisters Carolina and Gabriela Velásquez, were told that they were crazy to open a restaurant after Covid, but in the end it has worked out well. Here on weekends if you don't make a reservation it is difficult to get a table," explains Samuel Cálix, one of the waiters.

They have thus managed to find a symbiosis between native and Latin American public. The same goes for Leda's, which in addition to being a restaurant has a specific space for making all kinds of cakes to order. The other thing in common, in addition to the homemade food – all the tortillas They make them - they are the drinks: the margaritas frozen and, in the case of La Garnacha, classic drinks like the mescalite or the little songbird, which is a mix of tequila with grapefruit juice and hops. "In Catalonia, garnacha is a type of grape, but in Mexico it's a word to say: shall we go for tapas?" Are we going to have a drink? The idea is that people come to have a snack and enjoy authentic Mexican food," adds Cálix.

Santa Eugenia Street, 158, Girona

To feel at home despite being outside their country, which they had to leave seven years ago fleeing "from insecurity and the few possibilities of economic prosperity", the Martínez Ospino couple and their two daughters decided to open El Rincón Colombiano in Girona and offer a wide sample of typical healthy Latin American cuisine, a healthy cuisine with healthy flavours, a typical Latin American cuisine. For an average price of 25-30 euros you can taste dishes such as Paisa safata, a combination of rice, beans, egg, patacon (fried plantain) and various types of meat, among other ingredients. The menu also includes crackling with yuca, chicken broaster with honey, the nachos with meat, empanadas filled with minced beef or cheese and, for dessert, the typical fruit salad, with papaya, mango, strawberry and banana, among others. "We opened the restaurant with some fear, but in just a few months we have already gained a regular clientele, many Latin Americans but also Catalans and foreigners," says Stephanie, 26, one of the daughters of the Martínez Ospino couple, who says that the restaurant has helped the family "integrate into Catalonia." The restaurant also offers takeaway dishes.

Baix Street, 40, Girona

"I became known in four days," Ramón Álvarez explains, laughing, from the bar of the La Baleada restaurant. The opening of his first restaurant, in a small premises in Plaza Santa Eugenia (better known as Plaza del Barco), was just four days before the order of confinement due to covid for all hospitality. But far from ruining their business, Álvarez is convinced that this crisis helped them to make the business work. "When we reopened, we had an incredible boom: people came from everywhere and there were spectacular queues to take the food," he exclaims.

That's how in 2022 they dared, together with his entire family, who works with him, to take the leap to a larger, well-known premises in the neighbourhood: where there had been an emblematic Santa Eugenia brasserie, La Columna. They open the kitchen from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. (you can eat from the menu at any time) and they have specialized in making baleadas, nails tortillas typical wheat from northern Honduras stuffed with bean red and cheese. A great attraction for what has been the largest foreign community in Girona since 2012, which with more than 7,500 Hondurans has become a small Honduras with even a vice-consulate. Another of the reference restaurants is Blessing, a large establishment on Calle Barcelona, ​​​​48.

Olot Promenade, 43, Girona

Moul'Dhen is a bright and airy tea shop with succulent pastries and nutritious brunch in the multicultural transition zone between Girona and Salt. The name is a play on words that means "butter lord." It is probably the only Moroccan establishment with a female majority. Amin Boudhen, who is the manager, and his brothers Anuar and Yaser opened it two years ago in the Urbis building as a tribute to the grandfather who raised them for a few years. "Moroccan women feel comfortable here and are not judged as in other establishments," he explains in perfect Catalan. Amin started out as a mechanical engineer at the Polytechnic but lacked "budget and concentration." It sounds like Moroccan octopus. They have 40% of Moroccan clients (clients!), 20% Catalans and the rest of other nationalities. The star dish for breakfast is the complete (orange juice, tea, olives, yogurt with muesli and other pastries), but the msemen, a kind of Moroccan crepe. Mint tea is also served, but they also make milkshakes, natural juices and coffees. They have their own pastry workshop.

Sant Dionís Street, 45, Salt

On October 1, a special day for Catalans, Isatou Samura opened Senegambia Fast Food on Sant Dionís street in Salt. A 37-year-old Gambian, she has lived in Salt for a decade. She is the mother of three children aged 13, 8 and 3, her husband takes care of the children and she has decided to open what will probably be the only African cuisine bar-restaurant in Salt –now, in the past there was another one–, where there is a significant percentage of the community from Gambia, Senegal and Cameroon. "For now I am satisfied with how it is going. People like it and I don't only have sub-Saharan clients, but more and more Catalans and Moroccans are also coming," explains Samura. She opens at 10 in the morning and is open until 11:30 at night, although she closes for a few hours during the day. All the food she serves is halal and she cooks it on the premises, where she sometimes has a couple of girls who lend her a hand. It offers dishes such as lamb with shrimp and chips, chicken with fried rice and fried sea bream with rice and vegetables. It does not serve alcohol and meals cost from 3 to 10 euros. It also serves a ginger-based drink.

Torres y Bages Street, 3, Salt

Mustafa El Bakriouldira opened the first halal butcher shop in Girona in 1992 and, after a few years in this trade, at the beginning of this century he decided to move into the restaurant business. First with a small premises and for the last fourteen years in the Rif Land Star restaurant-cafeteria. "In Morocco this concept is not common, in the restaurant you go to eat and in the cafeteria to have tea, coffee or whatever, but it is not like here," says El Bakriouldira. The premises are spacious, 400 square metres, and the cleanliness invites you to sit down and have a bite. Rif cuisine is not very different from Moroccan cuisine, so on the menu there are chicken, lamb and beef tagines, couscous, harira and roast chicken, which, according to customer reviews on the internet, are very tasty and well-seasoned. The clientele is all kinds: Catalans, sub-Saharan Africans and, of course, Maghrebians. "The Mossos d'Esquadra and the Local Police of Salt are regular customers," adds El Bakriouldira. The cost is between 10 and 15 euros, and the bill is divided almost equally between what is served in the restaurant and what is delivered to the home.

Moreneta Street, 45, Salt

Salt has four large neighbourhoods: Vell, the area between Calle Mayor and Plaça Catalunya, Veïnat and La Massana. It is in this last recently built area that one of the most successful Indian restaurants in the area is located. The Royal Indian Restaurant consists of a large premises with a terrace of the same dimensions, ideal for eating with children, as there is a playground nearby and the sun does not shine in summer. Although it was initially born as a restaurant that combined Indian and Mexican cuisine, it has now specialised only in Asian cuisine, at a competitive price, under 20 euros, and with a very extensive menu.

Espai Gironès Shopping Center, Salt

The few Chinese restaurants in Salt closed years ago, but there is one that has been open for twenty years and is very busy. Obviously, being located in the Espai Gironès shopping centre helps – it opened in conjunction with the centre – and the all-you-can-eat buffet concept probably does too. At Palau Dong Xing 2, the cuisine is not only Chinese, because it also offers Japanese delicacies, such as sushi, and other cuisines. The restaurant is large, with capacity for more than two hundred people, and is designed for families, with entertainment for children. Prices for adults range from 14.25 to 16.85, and for children, from 7.75 to 8.75. At the entrance, a sign warns of the maximum height for children to be charged one price or another. There is a mix of customers, mainly visitors to the shopping centre, and there are Chinese customers, but they are few. The establishment does not belong to any chain or group, it belongs to a Chinese resident in Salt, according to Renzhe, the manager who has been there since day one.

Barcelona Street, 81, Girona | Figuerola Street, 39, Girona

If Carmen had been told thirteen years ago that Peruvian cuisine would become one of the most sought-after cuisines of the moment, she would have laughed. Convinced of the powers of the ceviche and seafood rice dishes, more than a decade ago this Trujillo native – from the "spring capital", as she says – opened a small takeaway restaurant on Carme Street. As a result of the pandemic, she made the leap to the Güell area, where La Garnacha Tex Mex is now located, and for three years she has had a large restaurant opposite El Corte Inglés, on Barcelona Street, ​​where they also offer live music on the eve.

It is a completely family project. Her family is also in the kitchen, where they work hand in hand, renewing the dishes and ceviche is still the star. It is also the star of Misky Wasi, which Carolina and Eladio opened six years ago and which has been very well received. They are the only two Peruvian restaurants in Girona and offer a daily menu for around 16 euros, while dinner at night is around 20 euros. All drinks, water and desserts are homemade.

Walk of the Catalan Countries, 147, Salt

The Palmira bakery in Salt opened four years ago, when there had already been another one in the Barri Vell in Girona for five years – which is owned by the same three partners, one of themAhmad Basal, who arrived as a Syrian refugee in 2015 and has been a Spanish citizen for two years. It offers Syrian sweets, but it is more than that. It also offers savoury meals, such as halal sandwiches, breakfasts of fried eggs, olives and Moroccan bread, small pizzas to eat on the go and pastilles. The pastilla is a puff pastry delicacy filled with chicken or fish mixed with onion, parsley and almonds, a mix of sweet and savoury with hints of spices. "We offer Mediterranean flavours, and in particular from the East. We are ambassadors of our culture and from the beginning we have opted for quality ingredients," explains Ayman Tatari, another partner at La Palmira. "The best way to unite cultures is through food, and Catalans are very open-minded when it comes to food. The bakery has a very diverse clientele. Maghreb, of course, but also Catalans and Latins. "Latins really like what we offer," says Tatari. The sweets are sweetened with honey and the price depends on what you order.