October 7th, 2013
After a hard day of eating and then drinking on the beach, I went out to dinner with Nookie, she was particularly keen to take me to Bar Brutal in El Born.
The front of Bar Brutal on c/ Princesa is a wine merchant specialising in natural wine, Can Cisa and to enter the restaurant, one has to go round the back to a tiny little street called Barra de Ferro. The style of food here is influenced by Venetian Cuisine and the decor is simple, with little red formica tables and wooden chairs. It’s quite lively with a lot of people coming in for a quick drink and to say hello to the staff.
We sat at the bar (left in the top photo from outside) and ordered the house rosado, which is very dark and slightly fizzy. Initially it tasted odd, but on taking a second sip it was very good, tasting of the usual summer berries.
The food here looks amazing, but it isn’t cheap. We ordered two starters to share.
First: Burrata Artesana con Salmón Ahumado, Hueva de Trucha y Salsa de Eneledo – a traditionally produced Burrata (a fresh Italian cheese made with mozzarella and cream) with smoked salmon, trout eggs and dill sauce. As you can imagine this was salty, smokey, creamy and slightly sharp, all at the same time – heavenly!
Second: A plate of 6 Zamburiña al Estragón – baby scallops in tarragon sauce.
These were tiny, the size of a 1€ or £1 coin and amazingly sweet.
Nookie has quite a small appetite, but as you’ve probably gathered, I can normally eat a horse, so I needed a little more to fill myself up. I had a Tartar de Buey con Salsa Cipriani – Steak Tartare with Cipriani Sauce. I imagine the sauce was made somewhat like this recipe to accompany Cipriani’s Beef Carpaccio, created by Giuseppe Cipriani who founded the world famous Harry’s Bar in Venice.
Sadly I could only eat one horse today, otherwise I would have ordered this beautiful Ventresca Brutal de Atún – this is the belly or flank of a tuna fish, the part closest to the head. It has a high fat content, a delicate and intense flavour and is considerably more expensive than the rest of the fish. It looked delicious!
As we were finishing our last drops of wine, two guys pulled up next to the bar window on a classic Vespa. They stood the bike on its stand but stayed sitting. The bar tender served them a beer and what looked like Pastis or similar aniseed drink with ice and water. The one on the left reminded me a crazy young Donald Sutherland character (Oddball in Kelly’s Heroes) and the other, a young Francis Ford Coppola.
We reluctantly took our leave and headed for a Basque Bar near Nookie’s flat for a nightcap of Patxaran – the Basque liquor made of aniseed and sloes with coffee or cinnamon.
The food and atmosphere here are fantastic, but expect to pay about about 60€ for 3 courses and wine for two people (in the evening).
Can Cisa Bar Brutal is at: c/ de la Princesa 14 (also entry from Barra de Ferro 1), 08003 Barcelona
What a fabulous dinner! The salmon, burrata and trout roe looks and sounds amazing!
Thanks Tessa – it was brilliant. It has a very relaxed atmosphere and is obviously popular locally, but at the same time they are very serious about the food and wine 😉
Oh my: thought I had had a perfectly respectable lunch until I looked at your dinner and became totally green in the face 🙂 ! Both the burrata with smoked salmon and those scallops with tarragon looked to use the stupid saying ‘to die for’!! Even if one’s pocketbook groaned after . . . Actually I just noticed the 60 euro price tag for TWO people . . . sugar, you have to be joking . . . !!!
It definitely was to die for! The price is high in comparison to lunch time menus, but low in comparison to London 🙂
The Vespa guy at the back looks just like Donald Sutherland…insane! Brilliant restaurant again…the burrata dish is very clever…something I will definitely try to copy.
Those guys were hilarious. I loved the fact that they pulled up on a motorbike for a drink, then used the bike as a bar stool 😉
What a great meal in a fabulously atmospheric place by the looks of it – your culinary adventures are fab!
Thanks Andrea – Bar Brutal is definitely one to return to 😉
The burrata dish is a glorious idea…and of course scallops are my favorite thing. It is fantastic following you along to all these places!
Thanks Natalia – I know you’d love that place, they are really proud of how good their food and wine is, but at the same time it was great to see people just dropping in to say hello to the staff – it was quite pleasantly relaxed 😉
You clearly have a hard life. 😉
I try to put on a brave face 🙂
Loved the guys on the vespa (I’m looking for one for Big Man to keep in England!). Everything looks amazing – and sometimes it’s good ot have a pal with a small appetite as you get to eat their leftovers 🙂
Aren’t they brilliant!
England’s not great for buying second hand Vespas – they never were as popular here as in mainland Europe. This puts the price up. The older ones are better in some respects – they are made of metal and if you knock them or get bumped by a car you can beat them back into shape. The new plastic bodies crack and fall apart quite easily 😦
I can’t say with great certainty, but it might be cheaper/easier to buy one in France and bring it over 😉
Now that’s a thought! We definitely want an older one. My dad is nearly 80 and still rides a Vespa around London!
The older ones are definitely the best – I used to have one. I bet your dad is a real character – I’ll have to take a closer look at riders of classic Vespas in West London 😉
Keep an eye out for him!
Spent Christmas in Barcelona a few years ago and really regretted that we were not self catering as the Boqueria is so amazing! Planning to back at some point though…I have really enjoyed your posts and you have inspired me to make a dill sauce to serve with some Burrata, smoked salmon and roe…
Thanks Selma – it’s worth taking advantage of the exceptionally cheap lunchtime menus del dia too (around 10€ for 3 courses in almost all restaurants) 😉
A friend of mine said they were selling off huge lobsters on Christmas Eve for 6€!
I just love the food culture there – we had some truly amazing food which ranged from being reasonably priced to not. Always tried to find a good menu del dia for lunch and it never disappointed. I was in Borough Market on Christmas Eve and lobsters were £20!!
To be fair to Borough Market, the Boqueria closes at lunchtime on Christmas Eve and they were selling things off cheap, in order to go home.
If you are interested, there’s an annual Christmas sale at Smithfield Market which is ridiculously cheap. Some people go to buy meat for the whole year and take it home and freeze it. Others go to buy very cheap free range goose and turkey for Christmas Dinner 😉
Thanks for the tip – I had no idea and I am in the area all the time! Have made a note of it on the diary for next year – sad I know but with all the madness of the season, I will forget…
It’s a mad auction to match the season 😉
Clearing out my inbox and came across this post from one of my favourite non-foodie blogs – how did I miss it? I really hope that Smithfields is saved…
http://spitalfieldslife.com/2013/12/23/christmas-meat-auction-at-smithfield/
Thanks Selma – I agree with you. Smithfield is indispensable historically and culturally.