Besides the Batlló, Amatller, Milà (La Pedrera) and Lleó Morera houses, tourists often discover another reason to photograph and share on their social networks in the small passage at number 24 of Paseo de Gracia in Barcelona. It’s about multispace El Nacional, a unique restaurant concept in which, under one modernist roof, the visitor finds four bars and four restaurants, each with its own personality and its own menu, but with the common denominator of offering the best products and recipes from the Iberian Peninsula.
It is not for nothing that El Nacional is the the only restaurant in Barcelona that is in the “top ten” of the most beautiful in Spainaccording to the travel site HolidayGuru, which places it in ninth place for the number of times users of that platform label it with the expression “nice”. When this gastronomic “mecca” opened its doors ten years ago, it represented a revolution in the culinary offerings of Paseo de Gracia, becoming an attraction in itself for tourists, who formed queues to enter. After a decade, El Nacional remains a unique visit and gift, both for the people of Barcelona and for the rest of the Catalans passing through the capital, given the spectacular space and the quality of the dishes and service.
Gérard Subirats, founding partner of El Nacional, remembers that ten years ago he decided to “transform what was a private parking lot into an open space, dedicated to gastronomic leisure and open to the whole city: a restaurant of restaurants“. With more than 3,000 square meters of surface area, the establishment is located in a warehouse which is an example of modernist industrial architecture, with a Catalan vault-type ceiling, large skylights and wrought iron pillars. In the late 19th century, the space became a theater then housed a fur factory and more recently, a car dealership until finally, until 2013, it was a private garage.
During the process of restoring the space, different techniques from the turn of the century were used, such as hand-decorated artisanal tiling, in addition to the creation of display cases with recycled materials and exclusive period pieces, such as the two antique balconies brought from La Coruña and which preside over the entrance to El Nacional. And the walls were kept in their natural state, simply by cleaning them and repairing the old paintwork. THE A visit to the large toilets is required due to the photographs displayed of the establishmentthe collective sinks and the century-old taps and the large room which is reminiscent of the dressing rooms of the stars of the old theater, with mirrors surrounded by light bulbs where you can groom yourself.
The establishment is open 365 days a year from 12 p.m. to 1 a.m., with uninterrupted cooking all day until 11 p.m.. All the diner has to do is decide which restaurant or bar best suits their desires. One of the 4 bars is dedicated to wines and charcuterie, with boards of local cheeses and freshly cut Iberian acorn-fed ham and can be accompanied by the best references and DOs of the Iberian Peninsula. The Iberian bellota ham, Guijuelo, is to die for, and the Puigpedrós cheese, cow’s cheese, with oil and quince jam is an ideal aperitif for any meal, whether lunch or dinner.
The beer bar features a selection of drafts or bottles which can be accompanied by an assortment of kebabs or preserves, while the cocktail bar is open 24/7 for aperitifs and classic or signature cocktails. The fourth bar specializes in oysters and is the ideal meeting point to taste this exquisite seafood delicacy, accompanied by a good cava and seafood or caviar. Claire Guillardeu’s oyster special at number 2 and the seafood salpicón are recommended for swimming in the abundance of seafood, as is Exquisite and original is the fine crispy sausage spread, with tomato, mozzarella and parmesan. crowned with green shoots.
If you prefer to sit at the table, you have to choose between four restaurants. La Parada’s delicatessen concept is fast and light food; La Traperia offers a wide variety of cold and hot tapas, rice, paella, fideuá, etc., while La Llotja is a restaurant specializing in rice and fish which has a fish market type display which allows you to choose easily find the product that suits you best. suits you, whatever the guest wants, who also decides how they want to cook it. The monkfish suquet with clams is eaten with a spoon and used to dip the bread.
And the last restaurant offering is La Braseria, specialized in meats, where the different foods are also displayed in a curing display case. Exquisite cuts of Bruna from the Pyrenees, matured for 40 days; European Simmenthal cow, matured for 60 days, or Galician cow, matured for more than a hundred days, always accompanied by potatoes and salad. For dessert, the The pain au chocolat presented in the shape of a rose, with extra virgin olive oil and salt flakes is a real “flashback” which transports the guest back to their childhood.
Another particularity of El Nacional is to have a gastronomic committee which prepares its own calendar each year where a flagship product is highlighted each month, either because it is seasonal or because it benefits from a protected designation of origin (DOP). a leading protected geographical indication (PGI). With the selected products, several dishes are prepared for each of the restaurants and bars of the gastronomic multispace, which also has a private room for groups, called El Magatzem, hidden in the back room to offer an exclusive and secret experience. Quite the opposite of El Kiosco which presides over the entrance to the establishment, dedicated to the sale of artisanal ice creams with seasonal flavors. And of course Don’t forget to take photos and tag them with the phrase “the biggest and most beautiful restaurant in Barcelona”..
