It was our first night in Barcelona. Having spent a lot of time there in my early teens, I’d always declared it my favourite city in Europe, but I was a little worried that my first trip there as a grown up, wouldn’t live up to my expectations.
However, all began well. The journey from the plane to the city centre was super-easy. Just the evening before, we’d seen TV coverage of torrential rain and flooding in Barcelona, but all seemed dry and calm when we arrived. We met our host outside Hard Rock Café who took us to the hostel. We were staying just off the most famous street in Barcelona, Las Ramblas. We held onto our valuables (and each other) tightly, as we tried to head away from the hoards of touristy eating places. We took a turning off Las Ramblas, but found only a few tramps, and nowhere looked particularly appealing for food.
Instead, we decided to walk north of Las Ramblas, our hunger levels getting ever greater, as we surveyed the menus outside each restaurant we passed. As ever, it was important to us that we found somewhere good. We kept walking and telling ourselves it would be “just one more street”…
It was late by the time we found Mussol but dining late is entirely in keeping with local custom. The menu looked good from the outside, but didn’t allow much of a view inside the restaurant. We boldly went, were no Slough residents had ever been before (probably), and we were rewarded with a large, high-ceilinged airy restaurant, the perfect combination of modern and rustic, smart and relaxed at the same time. The décor reflects the ethos of Mussol, (which means ‘Owl’), which is to bring traditional Catalan farmhouse cooking, with a modern twist to a wider audience.
The Mussol that we found ourselves in, is the original, flagship restaurant, which opened in 1994. The concept of bringing rustic Catalan dishes to the city, was at the time fairly ground breaking, and now was so popular that three more Mussols, have sprung up in the city, (but each location retains a distinctive look and feel).
I was delighted to find the House Rioja was a mere €6 a bottle, (and it tasted great). We began relax and feel that we’d made the right restaurant decision, as the patient, friendly staff, went to great lengths to help translate the specials board (which was in Catalan only). My dad describes Catalan as being to Castilian (what we know as Spanish), what Welsh is to English, which is not entirely accurate, but given that in Castilian, the restaurant would be called ‘Búho’ rather than ‘Mussol’, the differences are certainly pronounced, and I was struggling to translate the specials board with only my GCSE Spanish to help me!
Mussol’s specializes in charcoal grilled meat and veg, and we ordered a range of dishes to sample and share.
The asparagus, was cooked over charcoal with olive oil and sea salt, and was absolutely delicious! Cooked to perfection, retaining a slight crunch, it was just the right level of saltiness to make the flavours sing.
The ‘pan’ or tomato bread, seemed to be a house speciality. Thick wedges of country bread, toasted and served warm with a fresh, slightly garlicy tomato salsa was both simple and very tasty. Almost more importantly, it was served with a mega potent garlic puree, which I absolutely loved.
The lamb. chicken, peppers, mushroom, onion skewers cooked over a charcoal grill – were very juicy (particularly the mushrooms) and each element was full of flavour. We had a garden salad on the side and to up the carb count, we had potatoes that were cubed, fried, and seasoned joyously, with herbs and salt.
Another big highlight was the barbequed aubergines, which were very thinly sliced, and sprinkled with soft goats cheese. A heavenly combination.
Each dish was utterly delicious, and we were so full that we were only slightly sad to find that the chocolate brownie dessert had sold out.
We rated Mussol a 9.5 out of 10, and headed back in extremely high spirits.
Some days later, after 4 days of excellent gastronomy, we found ourselves without a dinner plan on our final night in the city. I almost didn’t want to suggest it, lest we find ourselves disappointed, but without too much discussion (as it turned out that D felt the same way), we found ourselves back in Mussol, for a farewell Barcelona meal.
I was hungry – full days of walking, and simple picnic lunches of olives and bread from the Mercat Boqueria, meant that I was ready to try plenty of dishes from the specials board.
We had an almost breakfasty dish, of eggs (the yolks soft and very orange) in a tomato sauce, with little, tiny skinny chipped potatoes, which even in the evening was tasty and comforting (as egg and chips should be). I also had an asparagus dish in a romano sauce, which wasn’t quite as flavoursome as the asparagus sampled last time. Roasted vegetables and more of the tomato bread, completed our starters.
Despite being quite full by this point, the mains were a real highlight this time. My chicken escalope with rich blue cheese sauce was wonderful. The strong flavours of the sauce were brilliant, and the grilled chicken was tender and juicy. D was a big fan of the ¼ Rabbit which again was charcoal grilled, and served with borlotti beans.
There really was no space at all for dessert this time, no matter how much our incredibly friendly waitress tried to tempt us. We were so pleased that we’d discovered somewhere in the city which managed to come up with consistently good, frequently changing food, in a restaurant with great atmosphere. It seemed to be popular with both tourists and locals alike, but the staff were friendly and efficient enough to make everyone feel looked after. Highly recommended should you be visiting the city – I'd already love to visit again!
