Pleasant pre-concert wine and tapas stop at the Adriá's...
OK, I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of Ferran Adriá and his 'deconstructivist' gastronomy. For me, quality ingredients remain and a bit of skill are all you need to prepare good food, you don't need the weird techniques, dehydrators, nitrogen, etc. But I must say I was curious to try some of it, obviously without spending lots of €€€ so, the perfect compromise seemed to come to
Bodega 1900 on our last visit to Barcelona for a drink before the (amazing) U2 concert.
Bodega 1900 is Albert Adriá's (Ferran's little brother and partner in his group of restaurants) fourth bar in this area of Barcelona (near Plaza de España) after Tickets, Niño Viejo, Hoja Santa and Pakta. It has been defined by himself as a ‘neovermutería’a place with tapas at affordable prices, creative dishes, flavors that can be understood by clients (thank you!), fun and relaxed.
The atmosphere is surely relaxed, this "quarter's haute cuisine spot" has very nice decor touches, like the shabby outdoor area where we ate, thanks to the amazing weather, but the inside is much more pintoresque, resembling a 'bodega' or a local kitchen, Joselito hams hanging and an open kitchen.
We had to have the famous spherified olives created by Ferran Adriá at ElBulli. Spherification means taking the liquid of the olives through a gelling reaction between calcium chloride and sodium alginate and reshaping it into a sphere. The liquid is barely solidified on the outside, and left to be itself on the inside... sounds horrible, doesn't it? I was very perplexed but it actually tasted very good (it, because you get one olive per order, you want more? pay more, you want a dish of olives to nibble? go somewhere else...) and it was something completely different from what I've tasted, but would I order it again? did it become my favorite dish? did it change my view of this kind of gastronomy? NO.
The other three small (really small) tapas dishes we had to go with our wines - an Albarinho and a Verdejo, both good - were much nicer (and normal): the mussels in red escabeche sauce in the first photo, the fried eggplant with gazpacho and the Joselito ham croquette. As you can see, presentation is perfect, flavors and quality of ingredients are definitely there.
My problem is always the size of the portions, I know it's tapas but still they seemed pretty small, luckily we were there only for a drink and something to nibble. I guess I'm not a 'quarter's haute cuisine spot' kind of person and I'm more a 'grandma's hearty dishes' person, however it was nice to try Bodega 1900, I can cross off my list those olives, we had a nice time there, the wines were good and the food as well, the prices were surprisingly affordable; off to the concert we went and had the night of our lives, thank you Barcelona, see you soon!
Bodega 1900C/ Tamarit nº 91
08015 Barcelona
Tel +34 933 252 659 - Calling hours from 10:30h until 20h
reservas@bodega1900.cominfo@bodega1900.comhttp://en.bodega1900.com/
OPENING HOURS
From Tuesday to Saturday from 13h until 22:30h
Sunday and Monday closed
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