Text and images by: Angelo Scirocco
Chef Angelo Scirocco started out in the kitchens of Cape Town’s iconic ‘Test Kitchen’ and ‘Chefs Warehouse & Canteen’ and was named Best Young Chef in Africa and the Middle East in the San Pellegrino young chef competition in 2015. The following year he moved to of Johannesburg to open the Urbanologi before relocating to Barcelona. Here, with partners Liam Tomlin and Victoria Engelhorn, he opened Brugarol. Styled as an izakaya-tapas bar, Brugarol is a gastronomically exciting yet homely local hang-out.
Sunday afternoon 15:45
Quimet & Quimet, Raval, Barcelona. ( I have 15 minutes to eat before they kick me out!) Founded in 1914, it’s THE place for ‘pica pica ‘. This is the art of conserves, El art de combinar las latas, that you eat standing at the bar. Everything’s preserved or canned, from white asparagus to sea urchin or blue-fin tuna belly. Enjoy a dry sherry, some olives, salted peppers, a portion of Catalonian anchovies – the best in the world. It’s festive and social. You eat, chat to the owner behind the bar, discuss the best menu choices with a random couple next to you. Perfect.
Tuesday 9:00
Headed to the Mercat de Sast Josep, better known as La Boqueria, founded in 1217. Spain’s week doesn’t really start on a Monday. Tuesdays’s when the fish comes in fresh. Brown crab, sea urchins, langoustines , scarlet prawns, goose neck barnacles, monkfish, turbot – everything you see is alive. Very alive! Been waiting 6 months for sea urchin season. Fabulous on the menu with persimmon, jasmine tea oil and jasmine flowers. Result! In the truffle and mushroom section, the chanterelles look amazing. A kilo will do.
Wednesday 00:15
Just cashed up at Brugarol. Heading for a quick sherry with Xavi . Like everyone else, his bar has to be closed by midnight for the curfew. He’s a good mate, and while we catch up he brings out Marcona almonds. Later we end up picking cockles from their shells, dipping them in olive oil, heavily seasoned with lemon and black pepper. At some point we’re in the kitchen with Pluma Iberico, Pimientos padron and Botifarra.- don’t remember much more.
Thursday 9:15
Calle Laitena is one of the busiest streets in Barcelona, dividing el Bhorn and the Gothic quarter. Today it’s dead. Not a single car. Armageddon? I’ve noticed bronze plaques on the floors in front of really old buildings. One is a toffee shop; the smell of burnt sugar, toasted caramel pastries and liquorice fills the air. The owner explains that the plaques are awarded by the city to preserve excellence of artisans and some are over 150 years old! Excellence is appreciated here.
Sunday 8:45
¡¡¡Dia del libre!!!!…(off day)
Barcelona only stirs at 9:00, usually to the comforting aroma of coffee and pastries on every street. Breakfast in Spain ain’t muesli. It’s xuixo, pastries fried and filled with custard or chocolate and dusted in sugar. There’s also ensaïmada, fluffy spiral pastry dusted with icing sugar with your cortado. Great start to the day. I’m off to the Gaudi Cathedral that looms right behind Brugarol. I’ve never been. There are always long queues. Today there’s no line. Stunning!
Sunday 17:45
Tonight I’m in El Poble Sec a lively barrio that’s home to a classic bar that does really old-school tapas. They keep a really good Jamón Ibérico on the bar counter and a there’s a slot machine in corner. Brilliant! There’s a sort of menu scribbled on a piece of paper. I’m in heaven with boiled Alexandra potatoes, chopped octopus and smoked paprika. There’s slow-cooked beef head and pork trotters, snails baked in their shells with wine, garlic and pepper. A couple of croquettes filled with calamari and squid ink, a few slivers of hand-sliced jamon, pa amb tomaquet and we’re ready to go! Buen provecho! Drinks start with some Verdejo, a cheap-and-cheerful fruity wine, then a bolder, heavier Rioja. A bottle of fino – dry, white sherry – will round it off. ¡Salut!
