Mercat Municipal de Calella

mercat municipal

Callella has a small indoor market – Mercado de San Jaime, designed by architect Jeroni Martorell and  built in 1927. In contrast with Barcelona’s big city markets (La Boqueria, Mercat Galvany, etc.) this one is quite tiny.

david i cristina

Inside the front door, there are two fruit and vegetables stalls, David i Christina on the left

cal xoi

and Cal Xoi on the right – both selling top quality local fare.

fem salat

Next to David i Christina is Fem Salat, selling olives, salt cod and many prepared bacalao dishes, such as bacallà amb xamfaina (salt cod with ratatouille), bacallà a la llauna, bacallà gratinat amb all i oli (salt cod au gratin with allioli), bunyols de bacallà (salt cod fish balls), etc.

cento sonia

Suitably, the stall along side Fem Salat, is a fresh fish stall – Peixateria Cento i Sonia.

peixateria

The fish here is sourced daily from the local port of Arenys de Mar.

el nou bar del mercat

At the back of the market, there’s a fantastic bar – El Nou Bar del Mercat: La Tasca de la Vasca.

mercat a l’aire lliure

On Saturday mornings, Calella has a weekly market in the car park next to the market house, which you can see in the background.

taronges mandarines

There were oranges everywhere.

naranjas

Unsurprising, since Spain is a big orange growing country.

oranges

I noticed, last week, in the neighbouring town of Pineda de Mar, that the high street is lined with little orange trees, each containing at least two dozen mandarins.

taronges

Note the price here – 5 kilos for €3!

parets

Walnuts were also in abundance,

magranes

along with pomegranates – only €0.35 per Kg!

kakis

Kakis were similarly cheap.

verdures

All types of vegetable are available – most being locally grown, including what would be considered late spring and summer varieties in the UK.

pebrots

Most vegetables like peppers

tomàquets

and tomatoes are imported from Spain by British supermarkets during the winter.

tomàquets verds

I saw tomatoes and peppers growing on an allotment last week, so even Cataluña in the north has enough sun for two vegetable growing seasons.

calçots

Calçots are a particular Catalan delicacy – they are a forced spring onion, created in Valls, and cooked by blackening over a fire of vine branches. Calçots should be served with Romesco Sauce or Salbitxada.

coliflor

Here the vendor obligingly held up two green cauliflowers for a customer just as I raised my camera – note the fantastic large garlic next to the lemons.

carxofes

These baby artichokes looked perfect for deep frying in batter

setas

and there were still some saffron milk caps on sale – these are a very popular mushroom in Catalan cuisine. The sign next to them indicates that they are from the local Penedès wine region.

pernil

Vegetables are not the only thing on offer here – this charcuterie stall had all sorts of cured meat, sausages, bacalao, cheese, olives and hand cut jamón iberico.

formatge

The cheeses look to be a complete bargain at about a third less than deli and supermarket prices.

olles i paelles

The market isn’t solely for food – I came across quite a large stall selling pots and pans.

moda íntima

There were also a few people selling clothes and in particular red knickers! Calella’s wealth comes from textiles and there are many shops in town selling moda íntima (intimate fashion).

boticario

This apothecary stall sells cures for everything,

guareix

including diabetes and cholesterol!

packing up

As I mentioned before, the outdoor market is Saturday mornings only, at 2pm they start to pack up and by 2.30 it’s all gone.

Calella’s Mercat Municipal is at: Carrer de Sant Jaume, 130, 08370 Calella, Barcelona.

The indoor market is open Tuesday to Friday 07.00 – 14.00 and 16.30 – 20.00. Saturdays 06.00 – 16.00.