An authentic cuisine to fall in love with the sea: Albert Ventura's formula at La Llotja

Barcelona, despite being embraced by the Mediterranean Sea, often lives with its back to this coastline and its traditions. Every morning, when the city awakens, the port experiences intense activity, with the noise of boats docking and the smell of freshly caught fish. An intense activity, with centuries of history, which, however, many Barcelonians are unaware of despite its proximity. Recovering this connection with seafaring life is precisely the objective of Albert Ventura, the chef who will lead the restaurant located on the first floor of the renovated Llotja de Pescadors. An ambitious challenge that he will face with "authentic and unpretentious cuisine."

It will do so in a unique space: a renovated Llotja de Pescadors that, in recent years, has opened up to the public to become an authentic window to this coastline almost forgotten by the city. Today, fewer than twenty boats and about 250 fishermen work in Barcelona. With the aim of bringing this traditional trade closer to the citizens —and even inviting them to experience its intensity firsthand, by opening the fish auction to Barcelonians for the first time— the port began, three years ago, an ambitious reform of the Llotja de Pescadors. "A space that citizens must recover and make their own again," defends chef Albert Ventura, who is now outlining the gastronomic offer of this new space.

The project has involved the demolition of the old Llotja and the construction ofa new building signed by the OAB architecture studio, led byCarlos and Lucía Ferrater. A voluminous building of more than 3,200 square meters conceived in three blocks, which has been awarded the Ciutat de Barcelona d'Arquitectura i Urbanisme Prize. Not only for its innovative and sustainable design, based on aluminum panels, but, above all, for the novelty it incorporates:an exterior walkway that allows citizens to observe the daily fish auction that takes place on the lower floor. The platform allows combining the activity of fishermen and fish auctions —which are organized in two different rooms with separate accesses: in the morning blue fish arrives, and in the afternoon trawling fish: white fish and seafood— with the presence of visitors, preserving hygienic and food safety guarantees. In addition, the opening and redevelopment of the Moll dels Pescadors, a promenade inaccessible until a few months ago, now invites people to walk to the Llotja and the centenary Torre del Rellotge.The culmination of this transformation is the opening of the restaurant, also located on the first floor and designed to highlight seafood dishes. After a bidding process that has been prolonged, the Board of Directors of the Port of Barcelona has decided to award its management to Grup Restauració Aventura —responsible for Coure, Bar Thonet, and Vraba—, which will occupy a space of more than 290 square meters with a covered terrace of 80 meters. With a concession period of 20 years, chef Albert Ventura will sign agastronomic proposal that has a clear mission: "to become an eatery, unpretentious, but with personality and authenticity."

A house from which to reconcile with the sea and delight in its fresh products, which must be promoted and valued, as Ventura defends, who recognizes fish as one of his star ingredients. He affirms this after a career of more than two decades in the kitchen, either as owner and chef or as a gastronomic advisor for various establishments. A career during which he has always shied away from large sophisticated restaurants, arguing that the best breeding grounds are "small kitchens, with personality and product," Ventura acknowledges, who has also never wanted to enter "the game of Michelin Stars or tasting menus."

In 2005, Albert Ventura opened his first restaurant in Sant Gervasi: Coure —a project that has grown and reached the center of Andorra, with a new space in Andorra la Vella—; but he has also taken charge of Grill Room Bar Thonet, a space previously occupied by the mythical Café Torino in Barcelona. His relationship with seafood products, and especially with the port area, has intensified since 2024 when Ventura, along with his professional colleague and friend Jordi Vilà (Alkímia and Al kostat), took over Vraba, the official restaurant of the America's Cup (in the facilities of the old IMAX cinema).

"The coastline is an essential element for Catalonia, but unfortunately we are moving further and further away from these traditions that shape our identity and our culture," Ventura defends. For this reason, he wants the Llotja restaurant to be an open and close space, that manages to connect with local citizens and even with the fishermen who work to defend this coastline.

A purpose thatwill be carried out without artifice, elitism or tasting menus, defending the truth of the product and the tradition of a cuisine deeply rooted in the territory.He confesses, then, that his source of inspiration for elaborating the menu —which is now in the process of conceptualization— are the traditional cookbooks of the Catalan coast, with mythical dishes but rethought to continue seducing the diner. The proposal will be based on seafood products, with a menu that can vary according to the daily auction, but in which a goodfork breakfast,quality sandwiches, carefully prepared appetizers, and authentic dishes with personality.

Although he is still finishing designing the business plan, his idea is that the place can adapt to the schedules and routine of the fishermen: with uninterrupted kitchen service from nine in the morning to seven in the evening. "The restaurant must breathe at the same rhythm as the Llotja, integrating harmoniously into its routines," Ventura emphasizes. Offering a gastronomic experience that can be a bridge between the city and the sea, where diners can watch the auction and smell the fish they will later taste.

"The philosophy is the same in all my establishments: that the diner feels at home," says Ventura, who admits that he cooks thinking about what he likes to find when he goes to a restaurant. "The goal of any new establishment opening in Barcelona must be to seduce the local public: to offer something authentic, where they can recognize and identify the traditional flavors," the chef remarks. "If the project has personality, tourists and foreigners will come on their own, but the essential thing must always be authenticity," he adds.

Thus achieving another goal: to show the diner sitting at the table the richness of Mediterranean produce and maritime culture. "Increasingly, less fish is eaten at home because there is the preconceived idea that it is very expensive, difficult, and laborious to cook," the chef laments. An idea he wants to dismantle from the restaurant at the Llotja de Pescadors, offering simple, approachable, and personality-filled dishes. An invitation to look again, taste, and fall in love with the sea and its products.

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