The potato omelette is so ours that it generates debates that polarize the population: those who put onion in it, those who don't; those who make it creamy, those who don't. But there is another more intense debate in nutrition with the potato omelette: resting it in the fridge to make it tastier, less caloric, and more digestible.

"They looked like sales", one of the Parada Torres workers tells me. And indeed, we are visiting the new establishment of the Torres brothers, Sergio and Javier, just one day after it opened. The space, located within the Santa Caterina Market, is large and open-plan, measuring 440 m²and can accommodate 160 people. It is a place where a high turnover of diners is expected. The kitchen is located, framed by an immense bar that surrounds it. One side faces directly onto the market. In fact, the windows can be opened, and during the hours when the stalls are open, the bar becomes integrated into the life of the market. In the evening, when there is no longer activity at the stalls, it can be closed and operate independently. "Our parents sold the bar so that we could do fine dining, and we wanted Barcelona to have a bar with our vision," says Sergio Torres, who adds that the food has "a Torres touch." The quality-price ratio has been one of our obsessions from the start. And it's true that you can eat without spending too much. "It's the bar we owed to Barcelona," affirms the chef. With this establishment, the brothers have three restaurants: the crown jewel, Cuina Germans Torres, with three Michelin stars, the gastronomic Eldelmar, and now the popular Parada Torres. "A fun place where the food is good," summarizes the chef.

The inventor of the Slow Food movement, Carlo Petrini, died yesterday at the age of 76 in the Italian city of Bra. Petrini, who often visited Barcelona, assured that our food choices always have a social responsibility, that they help our neighboring producers and therefore strengthen the local economy. "There is still another factor linked to what we decide to eat: taste. Because good, clean, and fair food, the triad that drives Slow Food, is always a pleasure for the senses," he assured.

Toni Aira (Barcelona, 1977) is a journalist, doctor in communication and director of the master's degree in political communication at UPF Barcelona School of Management. One of the country's leading experts in political communication, and author of Mitólogos. El arte de seducir a las masas (Debate, 2025), Aira knows from personal experience why some politicians cover their glass on the second round.

Can Lluís, in the Raval neighbourhood of Barcelona, is a symbol of the changes the city is undergoing. So we visit it to see the state of the establishment, as this Friday the series Ravalejar, by Isaki Lacuesta and Pol Rodríguez on HBO Max, and in November it will arrive on 3Cat. It so happens that Can Lluís was the restaurant of Rodríguez's family, a historic venue from 1929 from where Peret spread Catalan rumba, where Vázquez Montalbán used to dine, or where Leo Messi stopped during his early years in Barcelona.

In 1989, Francisco Peñaranda made two bets. The first: to open a bar in a corner of La Sagrera. The second: to trust that, when the eternal works of the AVE were finished, the place would become a reference point. With the works, he was overly optimistic. With the restaurant, not so much. In the beginning, the place was a neighborhood bar, but in 1991 Francisco Peñaranda decided to change course and turn it into a seafood restaurant. All this is explained to us by Esther Peñaranda, his daughter, who has practically grown up within these walls. "As a child, I already ran around the tables. This place is my life," she recalls.Perhaps that's why she studied hospitality: because there are futures that are not chosen, they simply await you. She worked in the kitchens of the Majestic, the Ritz, or the Princesa Sofia, trying, or pretending to try, to escape the family business. But destiny has a very deft hand and little patience. For twenty-eight years, Esther has captained from the dining room Marisqueria Esthvan, in the Sagrera neighborhood. "I am the visible face, but my father is still here," she says, laughing. And he truly is. Francisco continues to be in charge between stoves and early mornings, selecting products at Mercabarna or at the fish market with the clinical eye of someone who has been speaking the language of fresh fish for decades and knows that, in a seafood restaurant, prestige begins long before the customer sits down at the table. Seeing the menu we have in front of us, we decide that it will be Terrers, a Recaredo Brut Nature, that sets the pace for the meal. And the pace is exactly this: direct cooking, honest product and little desire to impress with artifice. Here there are no foams or kilometer-long speeches about the concept of the dish. Here the seafood arrives, is cooked well and served without the need for disguises. Which, given the current situation, almost ends up seeming revolutionary. The festival begins with some dishes to share: fried whitebait, prawns in milk, fresh squid and some tender and well-executed baby squid. Everything comes out with that hard-to-explain touch that restaurants that have been doing the same thing for years have, and precisely because of this, they know exactly what to do and what not to touch.But Esther doesn't hesitate when it comes to choosing the main course. "You can't miss the seafood grill," she says with the certainty of someone who knows the answer perfectly before asking the question. And she's right. A generous, powerful, and very well-executed grill arrives: razor clams, scallops, langoustines, prawns, and crayfish grilled, accompanied by half a lobster per person. A dish that forces the table to fall silent for a few minutes. Sensational.The desserts, Santiago cake, cheesecake and honey with curd cheese, extend the after-meal conversation without haste. With the coffees already served, the gaze inevitably drifts towards the restaurant walls. They are full of photographs with clients, friends, and locals from the neighborhood. There are familiar faces and others that surely only they know, but all tell the same story: the history of a restaurant built more on loyalty than on fashion.The merit of the full table

“Filling this place is not easy, because there are neither shops nor theaters here that bring you passers-by,” explains Esther. And probably for that reason, every full table has even more merit. At Esthvan, customers don’t arrive by chance; they arrive because someone has spoken to them about it before.She is also the one who reveals the origin of the restaurant's name. "It's the mix of the names of Francisco's daughters: Esther and Vanessa". And perhaps here lies the key to everything. Esthvan is not just a seafood restaurant. It is an extension of this family.Esther summarizes it by talking about her father. “Whenever the family gets together, he cooks. And he always ends up doing what the grandchildren ask him to do.” Said like that, it seems like a small thing, but probably here lies the secret of many restaurants that survive over time: people who continue to take care of theirs as if it were still the first day.Who knows if in a few years it will be precisely these grandchildren who will take over. What is evident is that, while Barcelona continues to wait for the works of La Sagrera to be finished, Francisco Peñaranda completed his great work a long time ago.

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In Beirut, his hometown, Roger Nasr was the baker at the establishment Roger Le Boulanger. Under the same name, he created a small bakery-workshop in the Sants neighborhood of Barcelona when, in 2019, he and his wife, born in Figueres, decided to leave Lebanon and move to Catalonia to "ensure a better future" for their son, who was then 7 years old. Both in Beirut and Barcelona, at Roger's "bakeries", customers particularly appreciated the "nomad bread", rescued from an ancestral recipe and made with sourdough, flour from local producers, unrefined sea salt, and spring water.

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From June 1, the day of the gala in the Nordic countries, the Michelin Guide has decided to dispense with the Green Stars. It is an award given to restaurants that excelled in sustainable and environmentally responsible practices. In Catalonia, there are 15 restaurants that enjoy this distinction. While it is true that last year the French guide had already begun the withdrawal by eliminating the category filter on the website, it is now that, through a press release, it has finished making it disappear, as it considers that the distinction has already had its run and has already been "amortized", according to the guide's spokesperson in Spain.

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I’ve heard that the Massana restaurant in Girona is celebrating three pieces of good news and I want to go there to be able to explain it and, of course, to eat some of its classic dishes again. While I’m there, a woman comes in and says: “Hello, Pere! I’ve come to book a table.” And Pere Massana greets her by name and diligently notes down the customer’s request. This lady could have booked online or by phone. But she preferred to come in person and was served with a smile. This establishment demonstrates once again that the human factor is – and always will be – unbeatable.

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A year and a half after its forced closure, the Bar Boia is still a talking point in Cadaqués. Those who pass by see the number of people taking photos, stopping to contemplate the wreck it has become and to comment on the sadness of seeing it closed. Sadness and also indignation, because "right now it is very ugly for Cadaqués to see it like this," Mari Carme, a resident, tells me. She is not the only one who thinks so. The most photographed town in Catalonia, the most seafaring, cannot have a building that is falling to pieces. The former owner, the Vehí family, can do nothing because the last legal recourse to dismantle it is missing: the declassification as a cultural asset of local interest (BCIL), which will surely be approved by the full session of the Council of the Empordà at the end of this month."In December 2024, when we received the letter announcing that we had to close the Bar Boia, we proceeded to do everything they indicated," explains Pere Vehí. The last day it was open was January 4th. They didn't have time to do anything special, no closing party, because if they opened one more day after January 4th, they were threatened with a fine of 28,000 euros per day open. The letter they received at the end of December informed the Vehí family that they could not renew the concession because a coastal law regulation was coming into effect, according to which on an urban beach there cannot be two bars if they are not separated by one hundred and fifty meters or more. In the case of Marítim and Bar Boia, the distance is seventeen. This meant that Bar Boia could not continue, because it was the first to have its concession expire, but after Boia, no one else will be able to open in this same location."Thousands of euros to dismantle it

Thus, the day after January 4, the Vehí emptied its interior while the indignant voices of Cadaqués and everywhere were raised. "There were those who cried, who told us that it couldn't be that we were closing it." By the end of January, there was nothing left inside, only the clean structure, the glass, the walls, the two doors that held the shell. It was a soulless body. "Since March 2025, I have had a dismantling budget, which I have been updating as time has gone by," recounts Pere Vehí. The budget to remove the structure amounts to a large sum, because a shear rotator machine; two trailer trucks with pop and four operators are needed.But despite the budget, Bar Boia could not disappear because it was cataloged as a cultural asset of local interest. For this reason, it has remained there for a year and a half, because it could not be touched if it had this qualification. The novelty is that at the end of this month of May, a plenary session of the Alt Empordà Regional Council will vote on its declassification, and immediately afterwards a period of one month will be opened in which the resolution will be exposed to the public. After this month, we find ourselves at the beginning of July, the dismantling company, which is Femevi, from Vilamalla, will enter there with its trucks to eliminate forever more the structure that had contained so many summer nights, with cocktails from Pere's son, Manel Vehí; so many breakfasts and vermouths looking at Playa Llarga. The Vehí family opened the beach bar in 1946, and it was currently run by Manel Vehí, Pere Vehí's son, who had turned Boia into a gastronomic reference, by day, and a mixologist, by night. The sandwiches, the bikinis and all kinds of cocktails, like the famous Sex on the beach. The tables were always full, especially at night, when everyone was looking to watch the sea. Otherwise, there was always the side that touched Salvador Dalí's sculpture or those located on the Cadaqués promenade itself. Curiously, that sculpture by Salvador Dalí that the neighbors wanted to be demolished because the artist provoked with his blunders that the peasants did not receive aid for the frosts of a very harsh winter, that of 1956, still stands. Dalí's blunder was: “I have been fortunate enough to be the first person in my village to see the olive trees sprout, when no one expected such a thing, after the devastating frosts of the past winter.” Because of these phrases, the dictator Francisco Franco did not give the aid that would have greatly helped the peasants, who were then dedicated to the olive trees, with which they made one of the oils that is still highly sought after today.This summer, then, Bar Boia, which elevated the cultural and gastronomic life, the gateway to good food and drink in Cadaqués, will disappear forever more.

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The sonso is one of the most prized fish on the Costa Brava. Very small in size, around 10 centimeters long, it is usually served floured and fried. An excellent tapa to whet the appetite, the kind you just keep eating, present in many of the seafood restaurants and bars in Catalonia. In recent years, however, sonso catches have fallen significantly on the Catalan coast and, from the Generalitat, at the behest of the European Union, a management plan has been drawn up that regulates catch limits and long closed seasons during autumn and winter. 

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We interviewed the sommelier and communicator Meritxell Falgueras (Barcelona, 1981) in her native neighborhood, which she has called the Soho of Barcelona in her novels: the Sants neighborhood. We meet at Bodega Bartolí and afterwards we will go to the family shop, Celler de Gelida, where we will meet her brother Ferran and her father, Toni Falgueras. Meritxell has just published the book Women of Wine (Planeta Gastro), in which she has included studies, interviews, and surveys to which she has dedicated four years of her life.

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As we approach the best time of year to eat prawns (Aristeus antennatus), in June, it's time to explain that the parental authority over red prawns lies with the Mediterranean. Not the port of Vilanova, nor Palamós, nor Blanes, nor Tarragona. The decapod crustacean that is the prima donna of our gastronomy moves tirelessly from one end of the Mediterranean to the other, and no one can scientifically say that it has spent its life in any specific town. The red prawn has no place of residence because it is nomadic: one day it's from Blanes and another day it's from Cambrils, for example.In a few days, the prawns will have a lilac-colored head (actually the cephalothorax, where the stomach is). This will mean they are females and are about to expel their eggs, which will be fertilized in the sea, and this might happen in Dénia. When the eggs are released into the sea, they will become larvae, and then the sea currents may transport them to Tarragona. Moving from place to place, they may have formed their exoskeleton in Vilanova, and also increased in size. And, finally, they may arrive, adult, in Palamós, ready to reproduce. We could explain the cycle in reverse: the egg could have been released in Palamós; the larva, in Vilanova, and the adult stage, in Dénia. And whoever says Palamós, Vilanova, or Dénia, also means other coastal towns. Therefore, it's anecdotal to say that the best prawns are from a fishing port, because they are all the same. Furthermore, there is no scientific basis for saying that prawns from the Costa Brava have an orangey hue "because in reality the red prawn has a predominantly transparent or white hue when alive, and once caught, the intensity and extent of its color gradually increases over hours and days," states scientist Arnau Subías, who runs the @gastrobio Instagram account. The only thing that indicates an orangey or red color in the prawn is how long it has been caught.

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Berlin is a city that the more you visit it, the more it enchants you. It is diverse and open-minded. Full of nooks and crannies where it reveals its character, making it a kind of bubble in the middle of Germany. That is why it has been the chosen place for people who came from much more conservative regions to build a home there. This is explained to me by the cook René Frank, chef of the renowned restaurant Coda. A restaurant "that could only be in Berlin". Thanks to his knowledge of the city and that of the people who are part of the Coda team, we are about to visit places to subsequently make a list of the most recommendable ones. From cafes, cocktail bars, pastry shops, and, of course, where to eat a good René Frank, chef of the renowned restaurant Coda. A restaurant "that could only be in Berlin". Thanks to his knowledge of the city and that of the people who are part of the Coda team, we are about to visit places to subsequently make a list of the most recommendable ones. From cafes, cocktail bars, pastry shops, and, of course, where to eat a good currywurst or a kebab, two of the most representative and popular dishes.

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The Almarí restaurant, located within the Cala del Pi hotel, in the town of Platja d'Aro, wants to make lovers of pasta, vegetables, rice dishes, fish, and meat happy. For the former, rigatoni stuffed with oxtail under a langoustine topping. A memorable, indulgent dish, with a generous portion, one of those that makes a celebration just by arriving at the table. Pair it with varied starters, such as Roman-style squid, prawn carpaccio with extra virgin olive oil, or with lobster salad with red berries.

]]> In this chapter, there is not one wise woman. There are two. Two wise women who, like all the food lovers who stroll through Mengem, have set themselves the duty (a most delightful duty) of recovering and disseminating Catalan cuisine. Montse and Julia have an essential blog, Mengem, where they disseminate recipes, so it will be us, this time, who will disseminate the blog. Both of them, jokingly, say, because they have been cooking together for a long time, that they are "half a kilometer each."

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Alberto Gadel (Santa Cristina d'Aro, 2004) became known on TikTok for creating content in Catalan when almost nobody else was. With a provocative touch and a language that jumps from masculine to feminine and from Catalan to Spanish and English, Gadel presented 3Cat's Espai Eufòria with Aina da Silva, and presents the Loft with Gal·la Castellfort. Like many people of his generation, the beginnings of his relationship with wine have a clear name: Vinya del Mar.Let's start here.

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In Girona, they will soon change the idiom es ven com xurros to es ven com xuixos. All the pastry shops in the city, especially those in the center, have queues of people wanting to buy the fried sweets made with croissant dough. All means all. It's Flower Time, a top-notch tourist attraction for the city that shows that picturesque architecture can be even more beautiful if you decorate it with flowers. However, the surprise is that creativity or outlandish imagination has also reached xuixos, so you can find them filled with Oreo cookies, mango cream, pistachio cream (a suspicious fluorescent green), Maria cookies, Nocilla... It seems that with xuixos anything goes, but it is not so, because the Guild of Pastry Chefs, the Guild of Bakers, the Girona City Council and the promoter and inventor of the World Xuixo Contest, Salvador Garcia-Arbós, want to create the Xuixo de Girona guarantee mark so that only the one with pastry cream is the authentic one and with puff pastry, fermented and straight.

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Closing a restaurant is not just about lowering a shutter. It is putting an end to decades of life, of service, of silent sacrifice, and of a way of understanding cuisine. Guillem and his family did so after forty-five years at the helm of Can Castells, in Vidreres. With that gesture, they were not only closing a business: they were leaving behind a legacy built dish by dish, customer by customer, day by day.For two years, Guillem Gubau tried to distance himself from this world. He looked for new motivations, other paths, a life outside of gastronomy and hospitality. But there are professions that are not entirely chosen: they end up finding you. And he didn't find any other that suited him equally. It was then that he accepted the offer to become the maître of the restaurant at Mas Solà, in Santa Coloma de Farners. A space with history, located in a 16th-century Catalan farmhouse, which goes beyond the simple act of eating: it is also a hotel and sports center, a small universe where time seems to move at another pace.“Here what we do is market cuisine, seasonal. We look for the product that is best at each moment”, explains Guillem. This philosophy translates into a proposal that he himself defines as creative, but without ever losing clarity: dishes with a first and last name, recognizable, but worked with precision and with an elaboration that is noticeable in every bite.We attest to this from the very first moment. The croquettes arrive golden and crispy, with a creamy interior that speaks of patience and technique. The fritters, light but full of flavor, confirm that behind every apparent simplicity there is careful work. And it is in this balance, between tradition and intention, where Mas Solà finds its voice. We finish the first ones with some anchovies from L'Escala on focaccia with smoked butter and some artichoke hearts confited with Iberian bacon. “It’s one of the star dishes of the season, we clean the hearts well and chop them. A success!” says Guillem. For the second course, we have two meats and one fish: cod confit with tender garlic mousseline, tomato sofrito, and Santa Pau beans; crispy suckling pig cooked in two ways with red pepper chutney –“We add the sauce during the same cooking process, and that's why it turns out so good”, he says – and Girona veal entrecôte –“We always look for the meat to be from the area”, he recalls.The domain of the room

The desserts, egg flan with toffee, chocolate coulant and three-cheese cake. Today we accompany this meal with a cava from the Oliveda family, a young brut ideal for accompanying any dish. You can tell Guillem enjoys what he does. He commands the dining room and customer interaction with a naturalness that cannot be learned: it's in his blood. With infinite patience, he explains the history of the farmhouse to anyone who asks, almost as if he were part of it himself. “The patriarch of the Solà family is the one who creates everything many, many years ago. He first promotes the swimming pool, the fronton, and the tennis courts. It's not until 1971 that the restaurant is born. Now it is managed by a family that has nothing to do with the Solàs, but they have wanted to keep the name,” he explains. And perhaps it is here where everything fits. Because Mas Solà is not just a place to go to eat: it is a space where stories continue, where each stage adds without erasing the previous one. And in this invisible thread between past and present, Guillem has found his place again. Far from being a final point, his path confirms that, in gastronomy, as in life, there are vocations that never completely close, they only change scenery.

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What a great discovery. A bar for everyone: recognizable cuisine, popular prices, and a good atmosphere among regular patrons and newcomers alike. Take note because if you go to Tarragona, it's a must-stop for a hearty breakfast or lunch. Welcome to Bar Cortijo.

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