The unique atmosphere of Arume Restaurant hits you as soon as you enter. And this continues after consulting the menu on tablet and increases with the arrival of the dishes, in which a good product of Galician roots is mixed in equal parts with transgressive techniques and mixtures that achieve strong flavors and contrasts. Equally resounding is the deep Raval where the establishment is located, at number 11 Botella Street, the same building where the writer Manuel Vázquez Montalbán was bornwhich evokes the image of the dinner of the Galician inspector Pepe Carvalho sitting at any table in some of the three rooms of the establishment connected by corridors and stairs in a labyrinth, like the plot of a detective novel .
Arume evokes the gastronomic passion of Carvalho and his assistant Biscuter, which was also that of its creator, so that passionate culinary descriptions of the most diverse dishes are not lacking in the novels of the late writer. He The restaurant’s owner, Rubén Bermúdez, is from the Muros region of A Coruña.located in the far north of the Rías Bajas, where a good part of the products come from, such as Cambados scallops (7.50 euros each) which are served with corn cream, hand-grated homemade panco and a truffle glaze, or the crispy octopus with yuzu parmentier, lime and garlic mayonnaise (15.90 euros), a restaurant classic with which he won the prize of Catalan tapa of the year and which remains on the menu for its success.
Equally Galician are the hearty village bread, served with a tube of oil, the sea bass with caldeirada sauce, spinach, candied cherries and chopped hazelnuts and saffron (24 euros), the turbot with piparra and the menier truffle, tahini with herbs and roasted potatoes (24h50) or the classic rice with seafood from the Galician estuaries. Special mention deserves the dazzling crumbled duck breast, rice with mushrooms in a beef reduction and oyster sauce, presented with Padrón peppers and aioli served with siphon in a confit garlic mousse. Of intense flavors, the two rice dishes which cost 18.50 euros are perfect for a dinner because they are not difficult to digest..
The croquettes (3 euros each), which are usually the thermometer of any restaurant, exceed the excellent in its form of white pudding for its right dose of béchamel. In the meat section, the marinated Iberian pork with Galician potato millefeuille and bacon (22.50) or the low-temperature lamb ingot, celery puree, heart, piparra and chives (21 euros) are the favorites of its customers.
And while Galicia isn’t exactly a great place for vegetarians, Arume has some good options, like roasted pumpkin with burrata and seed sauce (15.50)or the roasted eggplant cannelloni with basil pesto, San Simón béchamel sauce and garlic panko (15.50). Also note its famous Betanzos-style omelette (10 euros), very lightly curdled and garnished with smoked bacon, a dish that invites you to savor the bread from one of the best bakeries in Galicia.
Of their desserts made daily in their workshop, the Torrija, made from brioche soaked in custardor its San Simón cheesecake, which gives it an exquisite smoky touch. The kitchen is managed by Pedro Mendonça, formerly of Xavier Pellicer and Sergi Arola and former chef of the Batea restaurant, who continues the proposal of contemporary Atlantic cuisine designed at the time by Manu Nüñez. In the wine department, its estate has more than 80 references, but you can also accompany dinners and lunches on Fridays and weekends with a cocktail to highlight the
If the guest sits overlooking Botella Street, in addition to contemplating the various compatriots of global origin who inhabit the neighborhood, You can admire the facade of the Alabau Factory House opposite, a magnificent 18th century building classified as a cultural property of local interest. which belonged to a rich silk weaver who had his weaving factory and house there. Currently, the building is about to complete its complete rehabilitation, promoted by the Municipal Housing Institute, since the Barcelona City Council owns it to dedicate it to social rental. But the careful restoration of its facade deserves to be highlighted for contemplation, since its surface is entirely decorated with sgraffito. Its theme is varied by combining rural and bucolic scenes with aquatic elements and an iconography characteristic of the baroque repertoire, among others.
Bermúdez studied law at the University of Santiago de Compostela and spent four years in Dublin working in the commercial sector of a company, but that was not his path because what he loves, it’s about pleasing and undertaking. The five restaurants he runs with his brother Miguel and other partners now join Gourmet Album project which will soon be presented with the hundred Barcelona restaurants that support it and it will surely be an incentive to discover the gastronomic wealth of this city. Each company represents true heroism when it turns dreams into reality and ideas into projects, like this one in the album, ideal for collecting good culinary experiences and receiving gastronomic incentives.
A man of action, Bermúdez’s Galician identity is realized with Galician simplicity. Because the Galicians stand out for their ability to add, since, far from diminishing ideas or their identity, they add and enrich them with new contributions which, at Arume, are reflected through the fusion of international flavors to create a unique gastronomic experience, Atlantic, “glolocal”, global and local at the same time. After tasting Arume’s cuisine, what Julio Camba said happens: “Every meal must leave a psychological satisfaction at the end.”
