Bodega 1900, Barcelona

Reviewer: Foodnut.com Bodega 1900 Carrer Tamarit 91 Barcelona, Spain 08015 +34 933 25 26 59 Bodega 1900 Website

Rated 4.5 on Trip Advisor

Bodega 1900 is part of the hot Albert Adria’s group of restaurants, across the street from his legendary restaurant Tickets. (We dined at Tickets a couple days later) It focuses on creating a place were friends meet for a drink and small tapas. This is not a large restaurant and has sidewalk tables, a front room with 3 tables and chef cooking stations, plus a back area.

They have a prix fix menu plus a la carte. We had more fun and saved money ordering on our own.

Reserve well ahead of time, we saw many people turned away at the door without reservations.

Menu:
Changes from time to time and includes a chalk board with today’s specials. There are a good number of starters and small plates. Most are in the seafood or cured meats space.

Service:
The waitress was very helpful. She assisted us in navigating the menu and ordering the top dishes. Her English was just fine.

Food Picks:

Olives – Gordal and Piparra Oliva-S (1.90e) is a fun must get dish here. They are converted to a gelatinous mound which you put on your tongue to burst in your mouth.

Percebes aka Sea Barnacles (25e) were a special that day. We have heard about the people who die in catching these hard to get creatures. This was the first time we tried these. They were steamed and ready for us to twist and extract the meat. They taste a little like crab and the brine of the sea. Everyone should try them once. Messy though..

Navajas en escabeche aka Razor clams in white escabeche sauce (13.20e) were done well. Slightly cooked to an al dente state and pre cut. Do no eat the seaweed and rocks!

“La rubia gallega” beef tenderloin cured in salt and spices (tapa 60gr) (15.80e) was recommended over the regular jamon. This one is only served in this restaurant. Frankly we had some 5J earlier in the day at the Boqueria and found that even better. This was a bit fatty, subdued in flavor, and salty.

Pez Lemon or Smoked Fish (9.20) consisted of 3 large pieces, each with a small egg. OK. The skipjack we had the previous day was better.

Foie Gras (8.94e) Foie en escabeche de pato was accompanied by corn and gravy, very weird. This combination actually worked and was pretty good.

Langoustine (7.20e) de la Rapita were large grilled prawns with garlic. We’ll done and very simple.

Guiso de rabo de buey aka Stewed oxtail with shoe string fried potatoes (14.80e) was cooked Chinese style with star anise until meat just fell off the bone. Good stuff. It needs some rice so you can eat up all the nice gravy.

Just OK:
Bread service (2.80e) was pretty basic.

Pans (Don’t Order):
None