Entrepà de Taula

Location:Casa Alfonso
Website:http://casaalfonso.com
Address:Carrer Roger de Lluria 6, 08010 Barcelona, Spain
Status:Open (last checked on 7 January 2019)
Eaten:“De L’Avi Alfonso,” bread with tomato, three small beers, an espresso

#2 Brettljause in 2019Here is a dilemma: according to the waiter, this “Old Alfonso’s board” was supposed to be for two people. Of course, not planning to miss such a chance, I proclaimed I was very hungry (a lie), but then, waiting for the dish to arrive, started to think of creative ways to review it kind-of objectively. Finally, I decided to give the score based on a half of the dish’s volume for a half of its price, even though such an option is not available.

When I saw the plate, however, I had to change my plan quickly. I don’t think that having received such a board in his home country, an average Austrian would have complained about the size. He would have complained about the absence of bread, however (the toasted bread with a bit of tomato on it needs to be ordered separately). He would have also complained bitterly about the price, for nearly 28 euros for something that is, in essence, a Brettljause with no vegetables, horseradish or mustard sounds like a robbery.

The truth is, of course, that this is not your typical Brettljause, but a selection of high-quality Spanish specialties that happens to look exactly like a Brettljause. These specialties are, presumably, expensive. One may reasonably argue that homemade specialties of Austrian farmers are just as unique and tasty, yet cost almost nothing at their Heurige, but maybe the popularity of Barcelona as a tourist location in comparison to, let’s say, Bad Schweinstall has something to do with this gross injustice.

The Brettl of Barcelona came with three types of meat (or what looked like meat anyway), a Pâté and five types of cheese. The Pâté was amazing; I don’t want to speculate what it was made of, but I would not be surprised if the thing had wings. There was hardly any flavor of liver in it, which made me profoundly happy. The meats, as a result of my post-event Google research were a Jamón, a Lomo and a Mojama – which, according to Wikipedia, is a cured tuna fish. While eating the Mojama, I had a few seconds of surprise of how slightly fishy the “meat” tasted but till the end I thought that the taste came from some particular salt that had been used. Oh well, I may have to  reconsider my distrustful approach to fish, because the Mojama was highly enjoyable.

I could do a little research on the cheeses as well and tell you with a certain degree of certainly what their names are, but I feel too lazy for that. Let’s just say that one of them was probably sheep cheese and did not have any special taste (but replaced butter quite effectively). The other cheeses were relatively strong, though two of them tasted somewhat similar. Having them served with a few grapes, nuts or jams would have improved the experience tremendously, but having a tomato-covered toast instead of normal bread made things not too boring.

Today being my very first evening in Barcelona and in Spain in general, I have nothing to compare this “Spanish Bretljause” to (except Spanish-themed Brettljausen in Vienna, which is an improper comparison), so the score reflects my initial naïve opinion. Basically, I found it really good, just very overpriced. How authentic it was is also something I cannot really judge at the moment, because sitting at a table outside (bless Barcelona’s warm climate!) I must have heard more English than Catalan or Spanish from the people passing by. The restaurant is located in a very touristic area but looks much nicer and more “local” than all the others I saw today. It is certainly a good option for those on vacation to Barcelona who feel home-sick for a good Bretljause.

3.5

Brettljause
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