I’ll paint a picture for you, my friend. We find ourselves at Casa Batlló, the result of a total restoration in 1904, by Gaudí, of an old conventional house built in 1877. A crippling hunger strikes. My stomach overpowers me. I must eat or face the consequences. A quick peruse of TripAdvisor reveals we are within 1km of En Diagonal. The reviews are overwhelmingly positive. I intend to follow that trend.
You could easily walk past it, but it is not a restaurant to be missed. No bigger than my bedroom (kitchen included), En Diagonal was set to surprise us in ways we could not have imagined.
If you’re lucky, you’ll get a table. Once seated we were brought the menu and gasped at the low prices proposed. We did what any sane frivolous person would do and ordered almost everything on the menu. And this time we took an abundance of pictures. Here are some to start us off, an amuse yeux, if you will.
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I shall try to use less sensational language than in the previous post.
The wine-cooked chorizo tasted phenomenal. It was just the right texture. I feared it would be too tender but it was perfect. You want chorizo to resist your chewing. That way, defeating it feels like a victory.
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Next, featuring my dearest’s elegant hands, the garlic butter mushrooms. This is the sort of dish which you have already decided to eat and will continue to eat regardless of how many times you frequent the restaurant, or how many options there are on the menu. Deliciously crunchy, rich and innovative. I’ve never considered just slicing the garlic in the middle (at the back of the plate) and cooking it with mushrooms. What a lot of time I have saved coming to this restaurant.
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I was unsure about pimientos del padre. We had been given one with a foie gras and beef carpaccio canapé at Agua Barcelona two nights before. What I didn’t know was that there are in fact no seeds in these peppers. The salt adorning this dish feels deeply encrusted within the soft skin peppers themselves. Top notch dish.
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Patatas bravas are always showstopping. These were no exception.
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Though we felt as though we were about to burst, we thought it best to order even more food. This time we decided on the ham, and chicken croquettes. They must have had some sort of bechamel (white roux and milk sauce) in them because they were so light yet so filling. It goes without saying that the Iberico ham tasted superb.
I like restaurants where you are served on slates, the dishes keep their heat more effectively and you feel as pretentious as you sound, when eating. Maybe that’s just me.
This place is special. En Diagonal is exclusive; distinctive and honest. You enter and you know you’re in for a treat. The food speaks for itself, it’s high quality is undeniable.
I really recommend it.