A delightful lunch at Bodegas 1900 Barcelona in 2017

Bodegas 1900 Barcelona was set up by Albert Adrià, the younger brother of Ferran who was behind the iconic restaurant El Bulli which was shut down at the height of its glory in 2011.    After that, they set up Tickets, a quirky restaurant in Barcelona that has been picking up quite a few culinary awards.     According to an interview with Albert in Food and Wine –  Albert Adrià: The Legend Continues,   “(If Tickets was the offspring of El Bulli, Bodega 1900 will be its grandparent.) “Bodega 1900 will be the Tickets that, if we lived 100 years ago, we would have opened …”.      Which seems like a restauranteurs’ version of mixing up sequels and prequels, Star Wars style.

Bodegas 1900 is located in a residential area on the western side of the Barcelona city centre.  It is a 15 minutes walk from Plaça d’Espanya, a major train and transport area.  The interior is tavern like.   There is a “dry kitchen” immediately at the entrance where dishes using the canned items and Iberico ham are prepared.  Some seats are available in this area.  There is a more tranquil seating area deeper inside the restaurant.

Bodegas 1900 Barcelona Menu 2017

Here are pictures of the 2017 Bodegas 1900 Barcelona Menu.   The list of items is short but there is a wide range, budget-wise.  If the premium items are ordered, a meal can be a pricey affair, but if a normal selection is made, a meal in this illustrious restaurant need not be expensive.

We tried some Amelie oysters (4.5 € each).  They were excellent but we are usually fearful about raw food, especially when on holiday and resisted ordering more.

We tried the famous liquid olives (1.9€ each). Each teaspoon blob was made to look like an olive using molecular gastronomy.  The taste of it was even more concentrated than a real olive.

The Russian salad with tuna belly (7.2€) was a more substantial dish.  We think the tuna was from a can, which is not a bad thing as there are premium canned seafood products in Spain that taste close to or even better than the natural product.

Small fried fishes (7.5€).  We were told that they only had anchovies that day, which was fine as we really like the anchovies in Spain. They were fat, meaty and fresh.  Almost like a good tempura, they were deep-fried but not oily.

The snow crab salad with dill (13.8€) was our favourite dish of the day.  The crab content in this dish was high. The crab meat was fresh and clean tasting.

Our vegetable dish was fried padrón peppers with olive juice (8.5€). This was a big plate of small green peppers from the Spanish municipality of Padrón, in Galicia. They were tasty but not spicy. Served fried and with a dipping sauce of olive juice, which is a by-product from the making of the liquid olives.

Our final dish was fried mullets (14.8€).  Six baby mullets deep-fried and to be dipped into some artichoke and potato soup.  This again reminded us of tempura. The mullets were fine and the meat was good, but because they are much bigger than anchovies, their bones are larger and did not fully disintegrate during the deep-frying.

Overall, our lunch at Bodegas 1900 Barcelona was an enjoyable experience.  Some of the items such as the fried fish can be found at other tapas places, but what distinguishes Bodegas 1900 is the quality of the ingredients and the atmospheric place. It was a full house and busy enough to have a nice hustle and bustle, but it did not feel congested in the inner part of the dining room. Wines are available by the glass with an average price of 4.5 € each.  The cost of our lunch for two that day was 85€.

Ratings

Food: 4

Service: 4

Value: 4

Atmosphere: 4

Overall Rating: 4 TOPs 

Bodegas 1900 Barcelona

Address Tamarit 91, 08015

Tel +34 933252659