Barcelona's Ronda Sant Antoni has just opened Antiga Casa Buenavista, a four-star, 43-room boutique hotel that represents the culmination of a dream for the Andorran Molleví family. With this project, which has faced multiple difficulties along the way, the Mollevís pay homage to their ancestors, who a century ago opened the now-defunct Buenavista eatery on the same property, which is now also being revived.
This opening is entirely extraordinary in the current context of a hotel moratorium in Barcelona, as no new hotel establishments can be launched in Ciutat Vella, especially if it involves a new license, as is the case with Antiga Casa Buenavista. It is, therefore, one of the last projects that managed, in 2015, to obtain a hotel license, although construction did not begin until 2018 after suffering several okupaciones (squattings). Construction coincided with the pandemic and had to overcome other difficulties, such as archaeological excavations that had to be carried out when remains of an ancient monastery were found during earthworks.
Antiga Casa Buenavista is located at number 84 Ronda Sant Antoni, a few meters from the Goya Theater and Plaça Universitat. In reality, the five-story hotel occupies two properties, as it also has a facade on Joaquim Costa street. In 1918, on the ground floor of this building, Mateu Molleví and his wife Conxita opened the Casa Buenavista restaurant and set up their residence just above the establishment. The place became very popular in the neighborhood thanks to its traditional market cuisine at affordable prices and its strategic location, next to the then newly opened Goya Theater. Intellectuals, artists, and bourgeois from the beginning of the century, but also working classes and neighborhood families gathered in this eatery, which was managed by different generations of the Molleví family until its closure in the mid-70s. Afterwards, for a long time, the premises of the old restaurant were occupied by the Fase 4 electronics store.
Now, it has been the brothers Àlex and Guille Molleví, great-grandsons of the founders, who, together with their father, have made the project of reopening the restaurant and building the hotel a reality. "We had been thinking for 20 years about transforming this historic building into a family hotel with a strong Barcelona character and being able to reopen the eating house," explains Guille Molleví to The New Barcelona Post. The family, who over the years acquired ownership of the property, is no stranger to the hotel business, quite the opposite. The father of the two promoters of Antiga Casa Buenavista came to own a chain of hotels in Andorra and, currently, the family continues to manage the Hotel de l'Isard, on Avenida Meritxell in Andorra La Vella.
For the construction of the hotel on Ronda Sant Antoni, they hired the TDB Arquitectura studio, by architect Juan Trias de Bes, who has conceived a very cozy establishment where details have been meticulously cared for, with a strong design component, high-quality materials, and where guest comfort is prioritized. The original facade of the building and its sgraffiti have been maintained, while the interior is all new, although typical elements of Barcelona architecture have been incorporated, such as hydraulic floors or Catalan vaulted ceilings. Emphasis has also been placed on the furniture, which alludes to Barcelona design thanks to the advice of the MINIM team. In parallel, Concepción Padilla has been in charge of the suggestive interior design and decoration of the Casa de Comidas Buenavista restaurant, which has also just opened on the ground floor.
The establishment has the advice of Lleida chef Marc Roca, owner of the Blau restaurant on Calle Londres in Barcelona. For now, it only opens at noon, but the idea is that in a few months the kitchen will operate continuously all day, seven days a week. The menu focuses on tapas, traditional spoon dishes, and grilled cuisine.
Anchovies in oil, ventresca salad, cocido croquettes, and cod tortilla al pil pil are some of the proposals to whet the appetite. Main courses include cannelloni, meatballs with boletus, veal cheeks with parmentier, capipota, baby squid with chickpeas, or a creamy rice with prawns and cuttlefish. If you prefer grilled dishes, you can choose between a T-bone steak, an Iberian presa, a butifarra with Boquería beans, or Galician clams with Jerez and Iberian ham. For dessert, classics like rum baba, a Swiss with fresh cream, or a Valencian: orange cup with Cointreau.
Illuminated by a skylight, the restaurant has a small patio with a fountain and is decorated with drawings that were used on the menus of the old eatery and with phrases that also adorned the walls of the historic establishment, such as Amb pa i vi es fa camí; Barriga llena, corazón contento; or No hi ha res millor que un trago amb porró.
Returning to the Antiga Casa Buenavista hotel, the luminosity provided by the interior patio stands out, as does the rectangular pool exclusive for guests located on the fifth floor, with privileged views of the sea of terraces and rooftops of Raval and Ciutat Vella. The Altell, a mezzanine reserved for guests with meeting rooms, a library, and sofas in front of a fireplace, has also been masterfully decorated. On each floor, there are four rooms with balconies overlooking Ronda Sant Antoni, and the rest of the rooms have views of the interior patio or Joaquim Costa street. The hotel is committed to buying from local suppliers; thus, the sheets are from Bassols and the amenities are from Natura Bissé. Local businesses in Raval and or Mercat de Sant Antoni will also be prioritized for purchases to supply the kitchen.
The Molleví family, who prefers not to disclose the investment made, will directly manage the hotel, which is not part of any chain, and assures that its vocation is long-term. "This project is not a speculative investment, quite the opposite. Our vocation is 100% permanence; we will apply family management, with a high level of service and an excellent relationship with neighbors and integration into the neighborhood," explain the owner brothers. The hotel has created 30 jobs and currently markets its rooms at a price ranging between 180 and 220 euros per night.