Dinner with sunset in the Grec Gardens

This July, Barcelona offers the possibility of dining in an incomparable setting: the viewpoint of the Teatre Grec gardens. Contemplating the sunset from Montjuïc and enjoying a menu paired with Gramona wines and prepared by the chefs of the Casa Xica restaurant in Poble-sec is an experience that can be enjoyed for very few days and that can also be combined with attending the show scheduled for that night.

This is an initiative framed within the Grec Festival, which started on Wednesday, June 29, and will end the last week of July. Throughout the month, fourteen shows have been programmed on the Teatre Grec stage for 19 nights, including music, dance, theater, and circus. The performances begin at ten at night, but before, starting at eight, it is possible to dine at the rephemeral restaurant Farm to Table, always with prior reservation.

That shift, from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., is reserved for diners who have purchased a ticket to attend the show. It has the advantage of being able to enjoy the gardens and the beautiful surroundings of the open-air restaurant while it is still daylight, contemplating the views of the city and, especially, the sunset.

For those who do not want to attend any show, but do want to enjoy what is surely this year the best ephemeral terrace in Barcelona, there is the option of attending the second shift, from 10 p.m. onwards and with the possibility of extending the night afterwards in the Grec gardens, where this year kiosks have been installed serving signature cocktails, beers and gin and tonics until two in the morning.

After winning a public tender, the operation of this temporary restaurant is run by chefs Raquel Blasco and Marc Santamaria, owners of Casa Xica and trained in restaurants in Barcelona, London and China. With the Farm to Table concept, they want to focus on local ingredients and maintain a direct connection with their producers. "We have opted for a selection of dishes made with the highest quality ingredients in which we try to respect the product a lot, intervening little. We seek purism, without disguises, and we want to pay tribute to local distributors and producers," explains Blasco, a true enthusiast of Poble-sec.

With capacity for a hundred people per shift, Farm to Table offers the option of choosing three menus: two at the price of 35 euros ---one of them vegan and with three dishes each--- and another superior ---five dishes---, of 55 euros. If you want to complete the menu with a wine pairing, that is, tasting a different wine with each dish, you have to add 35 euros more. In this case, a selection of DO Penedès wines and Corpinnat sparkling wines from the Gramona brand will be offered, such as Chardonnay Mas Escorpí or Xarel·lo vermell Mart.

Although the commitment to local products is the common thread, both tasting menus incorporate an Asian touch, a usual characteristic in the gastronomy of Blasco and Santamaria due to the time they resided in China. Thus, we find a Thai curry of seasonal organic vegetables and a salad of kilometer zero spinach and sprouts with grilled wild meagre and crispy pumpkin. But the authentic star dish is the squid tartare with ajoblanco of coconut and lime.

Other proposals are the low-temperature beef rib with French fries and pico de gallo; and the mackerel sashimi, orange and ginger gel and Pyrenean trout roe. For dessert: chocolate ganache with kikos and Les Garrigues oil or organic fruit salad with lime and ginger juice and orange sorbet.

After the festival's premiere with the dance company Netherlands Dans, the Teatre Grec will host this Sunday and Monday the play El Burlador de Sevilla, directed by Xavier Albertí, and then the program will continue the rest of the month with the singer-songwriter Roger Mas; the play 28 i Mig, by Oriol Broggi; and other proposals such as those by Jane Birkin, Sondheim and Els Pets.