Llamber

llamber

I’ve wanted to visit Llamber ever since I tried their fantastic crab ball with beans at the Vi Nouvelle wine festival back in November. The restaurant is in the same square as Mercat del Borne, handily close to La Ribera, where we’d just been shopping. Llamber has been open for  just over 3 years and is a partnership of Eva Arbonés Tomás (interior design, front of the house and cellar manager) and Francisco Heras (Asturian head chef who previously worked in many top restaurants including the legendary, El Bulli). The food here is perhaps a mixture or Asturian and Catalan cuisine fused with the magic of Ferran Adria.  To quote from their website, Llamber is a gastronomic tavern focusing on fresh seasonal products as well as friendly and attentive service.

menú de medio día

For €15.50 one gets everything on the Menú de Medio Dia (above). That’s 5 courses with water, bread, wine or beer and coffee!

canelon de calabacin

The first dish was canelon de calabacin – little cannelloni made from shaved courgette, stuffed with chopped tomato.

papas arrugadas

The second course of papas arrugadas con mojo picon is a dish from the Canary Isles, where their tiny new potatoes are very early in comparison to Northern Europe. These potatoes are cooked so their skins wrinkle and are served in a spicy garlic sauce.

arroz con bacalao

Third came arroz con bacalao, a savoury fish risotto dish with a perfectly cooked piece of bacalao (salt cod) on top. Traditionally a small amount of salt cod is shredded into arroz con bacalao to make an economical family meal.

butifarra “esparracada”

Fourth was a dish of butifarra “esparracada” – ragged butifarra, a typical Catalan sausage, cut into pieces and cooked in an unctuous stew.

pa

Even the bread here, which I assume is baked in the kitchen, is excellent!

momento dulce

Our pudding was aptly called momento dulce – sweet moment, a rice pudding with caramelised sugar on top – it almost took me back to childhood and my grandmother’s house on a Sunday afternoon.

rosado

The included glass of wine wasn’t quite enough, so we ordered a bottle of the excellent Quatro Pasos rosado, from Bierzo.

carajillo

…and of course, I finished with a carajillo.

The addition of a bottle of wine cost €15 on top of the €15.50 each for the menú. The food was exceptional here and the waiters were attentive without being intrusive. We even had a little light entertainment from two heavily tattooed punk buskers singing about the joy of death! They were very funny and much better than the average street musician.

Llamber is at: Carrer de la Fusina 5, 08003, Barcelona.