I interviewed the head of the room, Santi Amigó Castellví (Sant Pau d'Ordal, 1962), on the last day of service in 2025, December 29. The Cal Xim restaurant It will be closed for vacation until January 7th, when it will reopen as usual. His brother, Fidel, will be grilling; Santi will be in the dining room. This very month of January 2026 marks the restaurant's fifty-second anniversary, and Santi tells me they have plenty of life left in them. Their parents started the restaurant Xim is needed The family was founded by her grandfather, nicknamed Ximet, who had married her grandmother, Cinta. "They were both widowed during the Civil War and came together; Ximet owned this place, where we are now, and her grandmother, Cinta, got married," says Santi. As we talk, in one of the restaurant's three rooms, diners head towards her to say goodbye. No one leaves without saying farewell. That's what happens when you've become a benchmark for good food and drink in the heart of the Penedès region. Meanwhile, at the back of the room, her brother, Fidel Amigó, has started clearing the embers. In the kitchen, her sister-in-law, head chef Tona Travé, is also putting the finishing touches on today's meal.

It's a hot, very hot summer Saturday, and in Subirats Square in Sant Pau de Ordal, there's a crowd of people carrying crates of vineyard and red peaches. Some are carrying carts, with exposed iron frames, on which they place a few crates, one on top of the other. The murmur of voices from vendors and buyers mingles with the summer songs playing from the loudspeakers of the local swimming pool, located next door, which bears the name "La Casa de los Niños" (The House of the Kings). MacarelletaWe're not in Menorca, but we are in a self-managed market run by farmers that France would love for its markets. The Sant Pau de Ordal peach market has been held for twenty years from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday from June to September. These peaches don't have any Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) seal, but "we don't need much, because we've made our name, the Ordal seal, which has spread everywhere," say the farmers.