The one who was a fan of the program top chefa talent culinary show that aired on Antena 3 a few years ago, you may still have in your memory the name of Manu Nunez.
Galician of pro and, at that time, chef of the restaurant Arume, this Compostela who has passed through Michelin star restaurants Like Casa Solla, he is now one of the kings of the purest Catalan cuisine, but without being anything like that.
The daily demonstration, after having revolutionized Barcelona since Besta, comes with Batea, where seafood is the protagonist in a space where cocktails and the bar are also synthesized to show closeness between Galician and Catalan.
Knowing both worlds, Batea is one of those exciting restaurants on the Barcelona scenewhose protagonist is a Galician who launches something as Catalan as the sea and mountains together with his partner Carles Ramón.
meet and meet
Batea’s space
Contemplated as a 21st century seafood restaurant, a concept that we will delve into later, Batea is based on the market and on do not disguise the productbut yes in knowing how to season it to make it more interesting.
The parade allows bivalves be kings of a menu with which Núñez and his team feel comfortable, giving rise to the discovery of new ways of consuming fish that share the scene with already more well-known elements.
Sea bass and chicken skin ceviche
Thus, it gives rise to the appearance, for example, of the carneiro —also called fine shell— or to that devotion of the Galician for the musselwhich they thread into a unique gilda where they embed the meat that they pickle themselves.
This first part is what could be considered the most purist, within certain canons, since disruption (always with meaning) is put into dance with dishes that have never been seen before that set in motion the trinomial formed by Manu Nunez and Carlos Ramon (the Catalan leg and both in the kitchen), along with Martha Morales to the front of the room.
Galician cold and cooked dumplings in ravioli
From there begins a dance that is stimulating, easy to eat, easy to share and, above all, innovative. With surprising sea and mountain power, Batea is the best example of how one can speak a same culinary language with gastronomic cultures that, apparently, are far away.
Spiced seafood clams or some Vinaroz prawns with lourdes water that invite you to spread bread are part of this commitment to the product with a touch beyond.
However, it is the sea and mountain dance what Batea turns into the Catalan ode with an inescapable Galician accent. Surrendering to the mix is tempting and tasty.
Betanzos omelette with prawns
Changing with the season and almost with the week, there are dishes that are ephemeral in Batea but that give rise to understanding what happens here. The cold corn dumpling with nice stew It is one of them or the Betanzos tortilla with fried tiptoe, capable of surprising the most discerning.
This is the case of the ravioli stuffed with Galician stew —whose ingredients come from the restaurant La Molinera, in Lalín—, from the cutlet meatballs with cuttlefish or a semi-preserved bonito, only in salpresa, which is another of those demands for respect for fish and that in Batea they handle it like in few other places.
Images | Bat
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