Swimming against the current, Nico Drago and Anna Pla have reached a safe harbor at number 35 Ribes Street, a pedestrian street next to the municipal market of the Fort Pienc neighborhood, in Dreta de l'Eixample. Their gastronomic establishment has become a must-stop for lovers of slow food, bistronomy, and natural wines. Contracorrent Bar, with an average price of 30 euros without wine, has already won over followers of these gastronomic trends in the year and a half it has been open.
Having convinced their fans, Anna and Nico also want to seduce the neighborhood residents with a constantly changing menu of small dishes, always based on what they find in the market and the vegetables grown in the garden the couple has in Carmel; characteristics that define slow food: quality and proximity.
One of the few consolidated dishes on the menu, the chicken a l'ast salad, is made with chicken they buy from the neighborhood rotisserie. Incorporating its juice into the mayonnaise, lemon, thyme, and rosemary appear triumphantly. To finish the salad, made with potato and carrot, they place crispy strips of chicken skin that greatly improve upon the classic breadsticks that often accompany this tapa. Festive democracy.
It is unusual for a dish to remain on the menu. Chef Nico Drago, Sicilian, has no reservations about discarding successful creations, always in the interest of his permanent revolution in the kitchen. During the first months of the restaurant's operation, in the winter of 2020, Contracorrent offered an astronomical cod croquette that is no longer on the menu today. Despite demands from the regulars imploring its return, Drago does not give in and remains firm in the policy of constant novelty.
If you go in the coming days, it is likely that you can still try the wild grouper tiradito with Mediterranean tiger's milk, wakame seaweed, and red cabbage kimchi. A wave of freshness that combines acidity with just the right touch of spicy kick.
The eggplant and Cal Rovira black sausage omelet arrives at the table crowned with pork rinds that are very exciting. Here Drago draws on local tradition, playing a bit with textures and seeking recognizable succulence.
Vegetables play a very important role in Contracorrent Bar and are also one of Nico Drago's obsessions. From the garden the couple has in Carmel come out rarities like puntarelle (a bitter-tasting chicory) that denote Nico and Anna's interest in recovering unusual species, revealing in passing the curiosity of customers.
The gastronomic language of Contracorrent Bar is reminiscent of Agreste or Za Za Cuina i Vi, due to the almost total renunciation of pizza and pasta, for the love of the plant kingdom and for an evangelizing commitment to natural wines. In fact, Anna Pla works without a wine list, guided by the compass of the latest discoveries in the world of natural wine.
For those unfamiliar with matters such as orange wines and spontaneous fermentations, my advice is to let Anna advise them, as she will know how to find the most suitable wine for what they order and explain to them, if they wish, what "minimum intervention" wines mean.
Although science has not fully confirmed it, there is a belief that natural wines do not cause hangovers. Believe me, it's worth checking.