Blau Barcelona: For fun and business

A fashionable venue is one that everyone wants to go to because it is a trendsetter – either presumably or actually. Fashion leads the way for many restaurant-goers, and this is one of the criteria we use when choosing them as well. We Miguelines try to be honest, although we’re not always successful; we aim to ignore fashion and to weigh the gastronomic quality and overall experience of places that deserve our attention.

Blau is now 8 years old, so gastronomically speaking it is fully mature. It purveys Catalan cuisine that is not avant-garde but instead product-based, always served in perfect proportions so it can fit your pocketbook. But the quantity is what is adapted for pocketbooks, not the quality. Here, what Marc Roca (great surname, gastronomically speaking, since it evokes the famous Can Roca, a mature chef who is a whiz both in the kitchen and in business, has set out to do is to share good, orderly, reasonable, affordable dishes, yet ones that also stir our emotions.

Blau’s décor is good for lunchtime, business lunches and executive menus for less than €25, yet it is also suitable for quiet evenings or romantic dinners. The restaurant has two entrances, one on Carrer Londres and the other on a pedestrian passage that joins Muntaner with Casanova, just near Diagonal. It is a hushed place with elegant tables covered in tablecloths, soft background music and sober décor which is lit in a way that conceals all flaws – its own and others’. The servers are informal, clearly more geared towards lunchtime than evening, and they don’t get bogged down in lengthy explanations, which is really appreciated when you want to engage in private, long or intense conversations.

So enough theory: let’s get down to practice. We sample 9 dishes, the most representative ones according to Marc Roca. Fun, cheap and successful “Burrata with cherry tomatoes” with the tomatoes peeled and a little surprise that makes the dish different. Delicate “Tuna belly and tuna tartare with wasabi mayonnaise”, perfectly executed. We end the appetisers with delightful “Iberian ham croquettes”, which are better inside than out.

Burrata with cherry tomatoes

Tuna belly and tuna tartare with wasabi mayonnaise

Iberian ham croquettes

A flavourful “Peas with jumbo scallops and pork cheek confit” and a subtle “Ravioli with prawn from Palamós” give way to the heavier hitters of the evening, heavy in flavour and in excitement, too. “Codfish with pil-pil and leek textures”, “Cannelloni with morels and truffle”, “Pig trotters with wild mushroom and rosemary sauce”, and to finish it off, a good “Oxtail with caramelised shallots”, lovingly minced with plenty of juice and placed atop an extraordinary parmentier bound with parmesan.

Peas with jumbo scallops and pork cheek confit

Ravioli with prawn from Palamós

Codfish with pil-pil and leek textures 

Cannelloni with morels and truffle

Pig trotters with wild mushroom and rosemary sauce 

Oxtail with caramelised shallots

Of all the desserts, which are on par with the best savoury dishes, we would highlight the “Cheesecake with berries, yoghurt and crumble”, which is reminiscent of the mythical dishes of the most widely hailed cuisine.

Cheesecake with berries, yoghurt and crumble

It is an intense, sincere, honest experience with two faces: the executive face at lunchtime and the intimate face at night. The dishes are designed for executive gourmands and romantic gourmands alike, and they’re ideal because diners with a refined palate and balanced diet can share the table with insane gourmands – like we Miguelines – in the quest for striking flavours and market-based dishes. Blau may not be fashionable yet… so how about we make it fashionable ourselves?

Where is el Blau?

Address: Carrer de Londres, 89, 08036 Barcelona

Telephone: 934 19 30 32

Timetable: Monday to Saturday 1 to 4 pm and 8 to 11:30 pm, closed Sunday

Website: http://blaubcn.com/carta/