"When you grow up going tomato picking with your grandfather, you also develop certain values ​​and a culinary identity." Martí Mestre Domènech is a young chef trained at the Università di Scienze Gastronomiche di Pollenzo in Italy, who has been fortunate enough to have his culinary training at home in the Priorat region. "The fact that my other grandfather and mother ran the Hotel Hostal Sport definitely sparked my curiosity for gastronomy." Today, he works alongside his colleague Andrea Picchione, whom he met at the university. slow foodThey act as nomadic chefs; they travel to the place, read about it, understand it, and then cook it in the most honest and sincere way, with "powerful minimalism," he clarifies. At university, he learned that "gastronomy is everything because we have evolved through food." And he adds: "Cooking is becoming aware of the world we live in; it's a process of food transformation that begins with a tuber."

They are not served drinksbut drinks. It does not have kitchenbut of food. Customers will be able to enjoy good music, not of musicand they'll find good vibes instead of vibesWith this declaration of intent, the new Soul is being announced on social media. This establishment, which opened its doors last Saturday near Girona's Barri Vell (Old Quarter), aims to differentiate itself from the numerous Anglophile establishments catering to the city's cycling community that have recently sprung up, despite its name and the fact that it's run by an Irishman, Steve Rigney. And it's precisely these local customers that Soul hopes to attract. The establishment is full of nods to these customers: a large lithograph of Saint George slaying the dragon on the wall, figurines of caganers (traditional Catalan defecators) hanging above the restroom door, locally sourced craft beers, sandwiches made with products bought from the butcher shop across the street, and a sign in Catalan inviting customers in: "Come on in."

It all started with a small café opened in the midst of the pandemic in Platja d'Aro for cycling enthusiasts. The first meeting point for professional and amateur athletes on the Costa Brava. And in just five years, it has taken the leap to open a new location in Catalonia's great cycling mecca and also become the first specialty coffee roaster on the Girona coast. This, added to the big step forward in 2026: opening a new warehouse and reaching customers' homes with online sales (ecommerceMaglia Coffee & Co offers subscriptions to whole bean coffee. With a small team of 14 people (20 in peak season), it has just surpassed one million euros in revenue. At the helm of the project is Marc Guinó, the son of a family of restaurateurs from Maçanet de la Selva, who grew up surrounded by the sounds of coffee machines and cups in the family business. "I've always been a big coffee lover, and tasting specialty coffee was the spark that ignited my idea," he explains about the inspiration behind La Maglia. "I saw specialty coffee shops and cyclists growing in Girona, but there wasn't that kind of offering on the Costa Brava, so we created it." That's how Guinó opened his first shop on Juli Garreta street in Platja d'Aro, opposite Plaça del Mil·lenari, taking advantage of the fact that he lived in S'Agaró, and as a cyclist, he named it after the pink jersey worn by the leaders of the Giro d'Italia.

At Cafés Roure on Comte Borrell street in Barcelona, ​​in the heart of Sant Antoni, coffee is a way of life. Always has been. Unpretentious, unfazed by trends, without boasting about that now-fashionable label of "specialty coffee" or "the coffee experience." Today, everything is about "experiences." Daniel Marín, the current owner, downplays the hype and champions the essence—literally—of good coffee.

The restaurant's first customers were the workers and laborers who made it possible to open it in just over three months; the premises had neither a roof nor windows. "We all shared a long table with them on Sant Esteve to celebrate the milestone," recalls chef Sergi Palacín, who heads the kitchen at Hiu Restaurant in Cambrils. The gesture speaks volumes about him and his willingness to welcome, shared with his sister Judit, a cook and now also a sommelier.

April 23rd is one of the most beautiful days in Barcelona, ​​but it was a tragic day for the owners of the Molino de Pez restaurant, located at 346 Còrsega Street in Barcelona. Their kitchen caught fire, forcing them to close and undergoing a major renovation and refurbishment of the kitchen and the space. Today, they reopen, and to celebrate, they've taken the initiative to offer 500 free servings of lentils to anyone who comes.

Enric Llorens Grau was one of the most prominent industrialists in Barcelona a century ago. Linked to the world of cocoa, Llorens left his mark on the city of Barcelona with his home, a stately home on the corner of Còrsega and Enric Granados streets. The Enric Llorens House was designed by the Extremaduran-born master builder José Pérez Terraza, and the result was so extraordinary that the City Council recognized it in 1907 with an honorable mention in the annual competition for artistic buildings.

The mobility catering company Areas has closed the purchase of the airport division of the US-based Travel Hospitality Services (THS) through the investment fund Delaware North. This will mean that the Catalan company will assume management of 237 new points of sale in the United States spread across 22 airports, with a workforce of 4,000 employees and a turnover of more than $500 million (€428 million). The multinational, based in Esplugues de Llobregat (Baix Llobregat), expects the transaction to be profitable, according to the same statement.

Gemma López Gramunt (Barcelona, ​​1995) is the head waiter, pastry chef, and co-owner of the Suru restaurant in Barcelona. Located opposite the Ninot Market, it appears enigmatic if you're visiting for the first time. There's no sign on the door, so it goes unnoticed because the door doesn't open directly onto the street. The interior might suggest a private club rather than a restaurant open to the public. However, in the two and a half years since its opening, Suru has become a benchmark in gastronomy for its well-prepared product offerings and a thoughtful wine list that conveys a passion for the world of wine. The restaurant is scheduled for a minor makeover in January of next year, when it will be closed for renovations to redistribute space. Gemma is an attentive head waiter, speaks five languages, and knows how to handle the rudeness sometimes encountered by customers who dine at Suru. She says the key is empathy, but there's a red line she won't tolerate: disrespect. The head waiter speaks out strongly against signs of rudeness in a restaurant because she's an intelligent, friendly professional, and deeply committed to her job, which she does to dignify front-of-house service. So much so that her ultimate goal would be to attract more young people to the profession of head waiter, which Gemma believes chose her, and that she's always enjoyed doing it because she enjoys talking to people.

After the most severe lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and once the borders were lifted and movement was restored, Spanish families didn't hesitate to pack their bags and travel. Health restrictions not only caused some households to accumulate a significant savings pool Not only did the recovery of mobility boost tourism, but in Spain, and also in Europe, tourism has always been one of the driving forces of the economy. The post-COVID boom in tourist spending among Spanish families, and therefore the change in their consumer habits, was seen as a temporary issue. However, some organizations now see it differently.

That in our big cities a normal salad has become a chimera is abnormal. Celery, peeled if necessary, radish, perhaps cut into a flower shape, tomato, with gusto, of course, and "peasant" lettuce. Today, if they gave me radish and celery in a restaurant, I'd burst into tears. Or, at most, it's a handful of sprouts. Restaurants, too. Without overwhelming them. Salad is refreshing and allows you to eat more fat. One who wants to diet. No part of our diet has been as savagely perverted as that of vegetables. Frozen, inside. When it was time to set the table, the child or teenager carrying the salad would be told: "Carry it singing!" bland, plastic-wrapped spinach, a canned carrot?

For many years, hotel breakfast has been a service that establishments would provide, but it didn't receive the same attention as other services they offered. Frozen croissants, poor-quality coffee, and a lot of food waste at the end of the service. This particular area has been the focus of many establishments, who have decided to improve it, even if only to reduce costs. Some have even brought breakfast to the culinary level of a gourmet restaurant. We analyze the changes that have occurred in recent years and which ones will take longer to arrive. In fact, according to food critic Daniel Salas in his presentation, The boundaries of the best hotel breakfast At the HIP conference held in Madrid, hotels are getting their act together, "just like when they saw that people were going out to eat at the restaurant across the street and not staying at theirs."

"I don't want to be a wine restaurant or work here every day." It couldn't be more frank. Sommelier Quintín Quinsac and chef Ana Ruiz have been running the AQ restaurant in Tarragona for over twenty years. They've created comfort for the workers, but also an ecosystem that will soon allow them to spend more time traveling. It's a gastronomic temple where you drink the best you eat. Consistency. "The menu is a page long, but it holds up to a hundred items. We change it frequently. There are wines we like, from Tarragona, Galicia, and many Garnachas," Quinsac summarizes. On the day of the interview, he included unique wines from Mas Vicenç, Pallerades, and De Muller. Sherry is not missing. "We always have haunt", he warns. In fact, the character of southern wines is the link with the project he now has in hand: "Rancio wine had passed me by. It's a silent revolution. No one has paid attention to it." He is writing a book following the oral memory of a generation that has guarded it without boasting. At the AQ he also collects liquid testimonies from different parts of Tarragona. More than twenty samples of rancio wine full of age and expression. From the casks of Noemí Poquet in Vinebre, from the wisdom of August Vicent in Gratallops, from the heritage treasured in the Cooperativa del Masroig and from the empire of Elies Gil in Viñas del Convento, in Horta de Sant Joan. Writing the history of a unique, forgotten heritage. "Haute cuisine must bring these wines closer and remove them from the romanticism of dessert," he warns. "Rancio wine has an outlet in a tasting menu, like sherry. It reaches where still wine cannot. At the restaurant, we'll serve a gelled artichoke puree, asparagus, and anchovies, which would go very well; the pairings are wide-ranging, also with stewed oxtail," he confirms. "I grew up in an eighth-floor apartment in Valencia without a wineskin or a corner, but now I've seen the epic. Rancio is a reflection on time," he comments. These are wines marked by oxidation, aged in the sun and sunshine, and sometimes by the system of criaderas and soleras, with a very old first wineskin, the godmother.

La Cuina de l'Empordanet presented its new restaurant guide at an event held at the La Sala de Isaac restaurant in Llofriu, Palafrugell. The event was attended by chefs and dining room managers from the 16 restaurants that make up the Empordanet gastronomic collective; its president, Vicenç Fajardo; and various dignitaries. The event also commemorated the collective's 30th anniversary. "It was a visionary collective, the first of its kind in Catalonia," said Vanessa Peiró, deputy delegate for Girona Excellent and Markets at the Girona Provincial Council. Fajardo, for her part, predicted they would have "a good season" and expressed satisfaction with seeing that "a good generational change is guaranteed."

In Plaça de la Vila de Gràcia there is a bar run by a very angry man who looks like something out of a Coen brothers movie: "We haven't asked to see a covid certificate nor will we", he exclaims, masked in blue and red-faced, when he hears that this Friday is the first day that the covid pass is a requirement to access bars, restaurants, gyms and nursing homes. Next door, the owner of a family cafeteria is less irritated, but does not hide a certain helplessness: "I'm alone in the bar and either I serve customers or man the door, but I can't do all at once," he says. "Anyway," he adds, "I know the customers here, in general. And if I don't know them, I serve them first and then ask them": sometimes the order you do things in does make a difference.

Showing a covid pass will no longer be compulsory to enter bars, restaurants, gyms and visit nursing homes. Only a few hours after it came into force, the Health Department has decided to temporarily suspend the new requirement due to technical issues that prevented users from downloading the document on the La Meva Salut website. In an urgent statement, the department has put the decision on hold until the trouble with the website is solved. Tens of thousands of citizens joined the virtual queue for the website, leading to long waiting times. The covid pass thus remains a requirement to access to nightclubs (it already was since October) and to travel within the EU. A new assessment of the situation will be made on Friday and a new date for the measure to come into force will be set.

"We always had large groups. In one edition we even had Mark Zuckerberg and his wife for dinner". In the dining room of the Michelin-starred Caelis restaurant in Barcelona, the arrival of Mobile congress participants was not appreciated this week. Chef Romain Fornell has not noticed "that joy and opulence" in the bookings that the fair brought to many tables in the city's haute cuisine restaurants. The congress attendees' drop in attendance has been reflected in the impact of their nightlife plans, which are much more discreet than in previous years. In the 7 Portes restaurant, next to the port, they have counted more last-minute bookings and lower figures than in 2019. MWC has meant, however, to recover corporate clients, and they are "very happy" for their return.

Change of plans for covid restrictions: Catalonia's High Court has accepted an appeal by the Hospitality Guild and has brought forward some of the new measures that the Catalan Government wanted to apply from Monday. Between today and tomorrow, once the judges' decision has been notified, bars and restaurants will be able to open until midnight - now it is until 11pm - and maximum capacity will be increased to 50%, instead of 30%.

The restrictive measures in force in Catalonia against covid-19 will be relaxed from this Monday onwards. This is the summary of the main sectors where restrictions are relaxed:

Passeig de Gràcia, 38-40, in the middle of the most luxurious street of Barcelona. Few things explain the iconic strength of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in the Catalan capital as well as its address. Hence the symbolic impact on the real estate and tourism sector of the news that the five-star establishment, owned by the Andorran group Reig Capital, is experiencing difficulties. Several sources consulted by ARA suggest that the establishment is for sale. It has a market price of about 220 million, but in the current context would be sold for 180.