I made it madatory to visit one of Barcelona’s hottest tickets – La Boqueria – a market where you can get a seriously good feed and where many restaurants source their produce. Fruit, fish, meat, veg – you name it, it’s here, and that’s never a bad thing. The scene is jollification for the senses; vivid strawberries piled high, mystery cuts of animal anatomy, legs of jamón dangling from above, fresh-pressed juices, glistening seafood, and greens that look like they’ve just been plucked from the earth and rinsed in spring water. It’s no wonder this place is a pilgrimage for those with an appetite. Through reputation alone, I made my way to El Quim, a bar that started as a humble five-stool shop in 1987 and has since grown into a 16-meter counter with 18 stools, right in the heart of the market. Behind chilling glass cabinets sat trays stacked high with pickled anchovies, familiar padrón peppers, fried artichokes, sausages, beans, and unexpectedly – bao!
First came the morcilla cebolla (€3) – a blood sausage with a palpable caress of roasted spices and paprika. I cut it open, exposing its deep purple innards, and shoveled it in with a sliver from the pile of sweet onions it came with. I wanted to really enjoy it, but the skin was deeply fibrous – verging on uncompromisingly leathery – and the filling, with its oleaginous cubes of fat, leaned too far into dominance.
The gloopy blood sausage served no purpose but to confuse the palate.
From the “Quim’s Specialities”, I ordered the butifarra with beans and aioli (€10). What arrived was a hefty pile of nutty white beans – sorrowfully bone-dry. Not even the aioli could save them. In the same vein, the sausage tasted dejected – dry and lacking in flavour.
The huevos chipirones (€17.95) – their house speciality of baby squid with fried eggs – was a headliner. I caught myself drooling as I watched it sizzle away in the iron skillet. But in the end, it turned out to be a cardiologist’s wet dream, weighed down by nuclear levels of salt. I can feel my arteries hardening just thinking about it. It was all a bit of a massacre – death by sodium.
I’m not one for wasting anything, it’s not how I’ve been hard wired – I did my best which is all you could wish for.
Verdict
When did I go? March 2018
The damage: Expect to pay €25/45 per head.
The good: Not a lot, most of what I had was abysmal.
The bad: I had such high hopes of El Quim after hearing so many people gush about it. It’s a crying shame that what I had was so off the mark, we even witnessed another displeased diner send his food back after labelling it disgusting – all a bit discouraging really. That said it wouldn’t take a lot correct the wrong, especially with the quality of produce they use, they can start by taste testing. The basics.
Rating: 1.5/5
Would I go again? It would take a lot of persuading.
Address: Mercado de La Boqueria, La Rambla, 91, 08001 Barcelona, Spain
Web: http://elquimdelaboqueria.com/?lang=en
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