Stitch and Bear

A long-running Irish blog with reviews of the best restaurants in Dublin and throughout Ireland. Some wine and cocktails thrown in for good measure!

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Tapas 24, Barcelona

Last April, we spent a fantastic few days in Barcelona. Part of that holiday involved a trip to the amazing restaurant Comerç 24, which is just one part of Projectes 24 from chef Carles Abellán. We were delighted to find that Tapas 24 was located just across the street from our hotel on Career de la Diputació. April has come and passed, and it is now August. But I still want to share Tapas 24 with you. It's simply that good.

Tapas 24 is a basement restaurant, where every possible work surface is utilized to hold fresh market produce or assemble dishes. Tables and benches come sized "small" and we often saw queues of people back out the stairs and up onto the street. The serving staff are a mixture of traditional Barcelona waiters and shiny cool hipsters, all dressed alike in the old-fashioned white waiters jackets that are so common in Barcelona. Chalkboards heave with all the dishes and specials on offer, and it's exciting just to sit and watch. In short, it's so cool that it hurts.
Tapas 24 Street Exterior
Our first meal at Tapas 24 was at street level, outside the entrance, tucked under street heaters. Hence, all my photos took on a warm, orange hue. Everything at Tapas 24 shrieks cool, from the typeset menu and place settings, right down to our Freddie Mercury lookalike hipster waiter who ran up and down the stairs, bringing us cava and many little plates of things. 

Tapas 24 has many dishes to sample, once you get used to the Catalan spelling. My limited Spanish vocabulary wasn't quite up the job. We tried their signature ham & cheese toastie, better known as the Bikini 24. This is no common toastie, but is a delicate, crustless thing made with jamon iberico, mozzarella and black truffle. The McFoie Burgeur is another signature dish, where the patty is a tartare-type mix of beef and foie gras, served in a thin, crispy bun. A quirky cheeky tribute to the golden arches.

But perhaps the best was yet to come at Tapas 24. A dish of Xocolata consisted of three uber-creamy scoops of chocolate ganache, drizzled with olive oil and topped with a few delicate flakes of sea-salt. My sepia-toned nighttime photos doesn't do this amazing dish justice. I would gladly fly back to Barcelona tomorrow morning for another plate. Hell, I would even consider walking to Barcelona if I knew this was waiting for me as I turned onto Passeig de Gràcia.
Bikini Comerç 24 - Tostado de jamon y queso
McFoie Burgeur
Xocolata - chocolate ganache with olive oil and sea salt
Tapas 24 is one of those places to which gluttons like us keep on returning. Having indulged with foie gras burgers and truffled toasted sandwiches, we found ourselves back there the very next morning for breakfast.  I fuelled up with a large plate of Ous Estrellats amb Patates amb Botifarra Negra. In simpler terms this was a plate of fried cubed potatoes, topped with "smashed eggs" and black pudding pieces. Himself ordered the Truita de Trempó, a pancake shaped omelette with potatoes and chorizo with an oozing egg yolk middle. A trip to Barcelona is not complete without sampling Pa amb Tomàquet, a simple Catalan side dish of grilled bread rubbed with tomatoes. When done well, it's downright addictive and amazingly intense.
Truita de trempo
Ous estrellats amb patates amb botifarra negra
Pa amb tomàquet (tomato bread)
Tapas 24, Carrer de la Diputació 269,  08007 Barcelona
Tel: +34 934 88 09 77
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1 comment

  1. Hello!..I enjoyed your description of the tapas!!..I eat them all the time here, as I live in Barcelona..To make pan amb tomaque, just cut a ripe tomato across the middle, rub it onto the bread and drizzle good olive oil on top. Bread must be baguette type, or similar, NEVER the sliced stuff sold at home.

    BTW..Catalan is a language and not a way of spelling differently..LOL

    Cheers..Maureen

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