Cal Pep, Barcelona

I'm not quite sure what to call Cal Pep, Terry Durack recently listed it as the best tapas bar in the world and I wouldn't want to argue with that.

Cal Pep was exciting.

Sitting at the long bar running the length of the establishment, this is counter dining at its superb best. We asked for a selection of tapas and sat back and watched Pep Manubens work the long space calling from end to end orders to the chefs and waiters as they grill, and finish dishes in the long space, some dishes were also coming from a tiny kitchen at the end of the bar. Peps big personally shines through in all aspects of his small dining room, from the funky art on the placemats and on the walls, to the cute postcards we are given as we leave, and to politely asking if I could take photos to then suddenly having camera thrust out of my hands and into the waiters' and then Jack Nicholson look-alike Pep, posing with us for a photo. You are made to feel incredibly welcome.And then there was the food... Crispy fried baby fish of a few different varieties, school prawns and calamari rings all tossed together and perfectly seasoned.
The 'ham and clams', as I saw it not so eloquently written. Essentially, fat juicy clams cooked with cubes of jamón and served in a impossibly viscous and rich porky, clamy broth. This was possibly one of my top five dishes of all time.
Tortilla, an egg and potato omelette that was slightly unset and served smeared with a heady aïoli.
Pan fried fish, that was sectioned and bones removed in front of us.
The beans were braised but tasted incredibly light, the dressing was sticky and high acid sweet, and the sausage I'm not entirely sure what it was but it had rich crumbs of foie gras through it.

The 'foams' as the staffed called them had 5 daily flavours. To the right in the image was the crema Catalina that was an orange and cinnamon spiced foam topped with sugar and then blow torched. The other flavours were pineapple, coffee, lemon and a white chocolate foam with macerated wild strawberries in the bottom.

Cal Pep was all about ambience, of which it oozed. We didn't speak the language and they didn't speak ours but there was a lot of care and love in everything we ate and experienced.

Cal Pep would be the ultimate local.... if only I lived in Barcelona.

Jack