Ramon Freixa, Barcelona – Tradition, tradition, tradition!

This is a quick note on my visit to Ramon Freixa’s restaurant in Barcelona, El Raco d’en Freixa.

I wanted to taste the traditional Catalan cuisine, so I got the “Menu Tradicion” and hoped for the best. In what follows I will present the dishes, their photos and the impressions that have stayed with me after this visit.

It is absolutely wonderful to walk into a two-Michelin star restaurant (according to some Spanich critics Freixa should have three stars) and see normal people, enjoying themselves, having a wonderful time at very reasonable prices! But this is Barcelona, this is Cataluna! I would have expected nothing less!

Every little bite of the amuse bouche  was delicious, while the sweet potato chips were superb. The little drink is now erased from my memory.

Bread and butter that by themselves can feed  you in the best way! The quality of the butter combined with the crispy delicious bread, put everything at risk, as the stomach can easily be filled.

The incredible Catalan delicacy that unites the rich and the poor: bread with tomato!

Long, thin dry-cured Catalan sausage. Please note that this is the first dish of the menu!

Potato Ravioli  stuffed with blood sausage  and white soft beans of the ganxet variety. Amazing combination of tastes, the soft succulent beans break into the intensity of the blood sausage while the crispy potato ravioli skin provides the variety in texture that entertains even the most demanding palate.

Fishermen’s soup, with hake and bacalao, served with delicious garlic toast fingers. It is a soft, smooth, low key dish, that prepares you for the upcoming storm of flavours.

The caneloni that came next were made with three different roasted meats, and were divine! Full flavour, smooth texture, soft and juicy skin!

This dish was the absolute masterpiece of the menu. A juicy and fleshy chunk of bacalo served with snails and pig’s trotters! Unbelievable subtlety and softness in a dish that combines the sea and the earth.

It if were not for the “bacalao con pies de cerdo y caracoles” (the previous dish) I would happily declare this beef stew as the champion! Wonderful flesh, superbly cooked slowly until it becomes soft and delicious, with the tasty mountain mushrooms “moixernons”. It was served with garlic cloves (like candy) and the green stuff that was absolutely amazing: bitter, crunchy, full of flavour!  This dish is like a volcano of flavours!

I could easily eat ten of these, they were divine, light, puffy, while the smell of butter emerging from the leaves has not left me to date! At this stage the chef, Ramon Freixa started going around the tables. A low key polite man, made an excellent impression on me.

As expected, the restaurant offerred a superb “armonia de vinos” with the menu, so that the guest can enjoy a different wine with each dish, without having to order 5 bottles!  Just for the record, the price of this “degustacion” per person is lower than the price of an average bottle of wine! This is what I call civilization!