April 23rd, 2012
To celebrate the success of Saturday’s Expo and to spend time with a group of friends who’d come over from London for the show, we went to La Mar Salada for lunch en mass.
Anyone who’s a regular reader of the blog will notice that I’ve been here twice before, but the food is so good, not to mention beautiful, that it’s always worth a mention. The weekly lunchtime menu is available here and they even translate it into English! La Mar Salada is an award winning restaurant in Barceloneta, coming highly recommended by Time Out. In the evening the menu can be quite expensive, but at lunchtime they have a three course 15 € menu which includes a glass of wine.
Once again the menu looked quite amazing. I ordered Carxofes amb moll de l’os, caviar de salmó, ou poché de guatlla i salsa de rostit
(artichokes with bone marrow, salmon caviar, poached quail egg and gravy) for my starter. When it arrived I realise that almost the whole of our 15 person table had ordered the same. This was without a doubt the most amazing thing I’ve ever had here, or perhaps anywhere. The roasted baby artichokes contained a poached quail’s egg, topped with bone marrow and salmon roe. The combined flavour combination, was deliciously rich and creamy. In particular a fork full of poached egg yolk and bone marrow was exquisite!
As my main course I had Lluç de palangre a la planxa amb risotto d’Idiazabal, espàrrecs bladers i vinagreta de tinta (hake cooked on a griddle with idiazabal cheese risotto, wild asparagus and ink vinaigrette). A lovely piece of hake with crispy skin on a bed of delicious creamy risotto with little pieces of wild asparagus.
Then Groucho let me taste his Steak tartar de vedella amb patates palla, encortits i vinagreta de mostassa (veal steak tartare with straw potatoes, pickles and mustard vinaigrette) – it just melted in the mouth and I was torn between mine and his. Eight or nine hours later, at Iposa (which was far to dark to photograph), I had some steak tartare. I was compelled to have it after tasting this veal tartare at lunch. The normal steak tartare was very good, but not quite as good as the veal here.
For pudding I had Pa de pessic de taronja i cabell d’àngel (orange and candied spaghetti squash cake), which was sublime.
Matthew had an amazing Illa de merengue sobre crema anglesa de vainilla (meringue on vanilla custard) – a beautiful meringue floating on a sea of custard.
Groucho had Sopa de litxi i rosa amb sorbet de gerds (lychee and rose soup with raspberry sorbet). I got to taste this one too and it was quite extraordinary. I had a spoonful of the sorbet with some soup and initially tasted rose and lychee, followed by a separate taste of raspberry a few seconds later. I love that kind of subtlety!
Yet another excellent lunch! I highly recommend this restaurant.
La Mar Salada is at: Passeig Joan de Borbó, 58-59, 08003 Barcelona
An excellent lunch, indeed! What I find most amazing is the cost, MD. At 15 € for that quality, it’s a steal! Well, this fantastic meal aside, it sounds like you’re really enjoying yourself. That’s great!
I think it goes beyond excellent 😉
Completely amazing food. I’m dumbstruck, which is unusual for me:)
…and affordable, that’s the most amazing thing.
Just fantastic from start to finish. I’ll be there when I go to Barcelona!
I’m sure you’ll love it!
What a highly suspect bunch of characters on that table!
I think there was one suspect missing 😉
The baby artichokes! Wow!
Wow indeed – they were amazing. I would have been happy with just 3 plates of them 😉
That is incredible food – isn´t it wonderful when you have a new “taste experience” (sorry, that sounds a bit silly, but I hope you know what I mean) and at an affordable price too!
That makes perfect sense to me – yes 😉
Maravilloso! 😉 (I know I’m missing one exclamation point, but is to give it an English touch 😉 )
Thanks Giovanna – you’ve definitely got that English touch 😉
Excellent and beautiful, the presentation makes each dish look like a treasure. Whoever is in the kitchen loves the food they present.. And expensive restaurants with affordable lunches! Awesome.. c
Apparently the chef came out to chat and I missed him, or there’d be a picture! Thanks Cecilia 😉
You really do have a good life, I’m quite jealous!
Well, sometimes – thanks! I wish it was like this everyday 😉
I love meals like this! The artichokes (and I have been really into artichokes lately) are so well done! I have never seen anything like it!
The artichokes were quite amazing and the best thing I’ve had there so far…
Pingback: La Mar Salada (revisitado) | Mad Dog TV Dinners
Pingback: La Mar Salada | Mad Dog TV Dinners
Pingback: La Mar Salada (revisited) | Mad Dog TV Dinners
Pingback: La Mar Salada 27.11.15 | Mad Dog TV Dinners
Pingback: La Mar Salada December 2015 | Mad Dog TV Dinners
Pingback: La Mar Salada April 2017 | Mad Dog TV Dinners