From Brazil to Barcelona: The famous Bottega Bernacca opens a store in Gràcia

It is one of the most celebrated Italian restaurants in São Paulo thanks to impeccable al dente pasta, cooked for just a few minutes, to which intense and silky sauces, prepared at the moment, cling—almost by magic. The Bottega Bernacca restaurant brand, specialized in pasta, arrives in Barcelona, the hometown of its chef Gerard Barberan, and has already become one of the city's most celebrated openings.

It is a fine dining Italian restaurant, one of those specialized establishments that pay attention to details, the experience, and the product they work with. "I'm dealing with suppliers. The dry pasta suppliers are clear to me since we work mainly with producers from Gragnano. We cook the pasta, we don't make pasta, and that's the difference. In the morning, I'm the one who produces the ragu and all the bases. I only make stuffed pasta because sometimes it's fun. Our brand is to perfectly cook al dente dry pasta from Gragnano."

Barberan, who had been in Brazil for eight years—although he is from Badalona—was eager to return home and open a Bottega Bernacca here. The original business is barely 35 square meters—the wine cellar is inside the kitchen, so the cook stops cooking, grabs the wine, and gives it to the waiter to take to the table—and can serve 12 diners. "We didn't have a physical place to serve the pasta, so we started taking out the pan and serving it directly at the table, which is how we have reproduced it in all our restaurants, including here."

His new place in Gràcia is much larger, cozier, and more romantic. It even offers a private room at the back next to the kitchen where you can follow the constant hustle and bustle of pots as dishes go in and out towards the tables. There, Barberan has reproduced a small corner that pays homage to that original Bottega Bernacca, with chairs hung on the wall. "We also didn't have a place to store the chairs, so we explain these two things so people can get their bearings," he assures.

The restaurateur and Davide Bernacca, his partner —whom he met in Ibiza— are especially known in Brazil both for Bottega Bernacca, which already has five establishments, and for the Michelin-starred Kuro restaurant, specialized in high-end Japanese cuisine. It has been a year and a half of renovations at number 10 Bonavista Street to make this dream a reality. Gerard had been executive chef of the remembered Cipriani and Davide, in addition to having promoted Bottega Bernacca São Paulo, was a regular client and personal friend of the Cipriani family.

Treated almost like a liturgical recipe, pasta is cooked between 12 and 14 minutes if it is dry and between four and five minutes if it is fresh, always seeking a crispy and al dente texture that allows the sauce to be better appreciated. "Eating it this way is much more digestible and healthy. Fresh pasta, like the tuorlo in raviolo with fresh black truffle, is made in-house and dry pasta comes from artisanal pastificios," they detail from the restaurant.

Creativity at Bottega Bernacca is at the service of the product, under the maxim of working with high-quality ingredients and cooking them according to the season. "The important thing is to find a good product and respect it. Now we are looking for the best burrata," explains Barberan.

The sauces that accompany the six pasta options include impeccable classics such as cacio e pepe, carbonara or pugliese, along with simple —and magnificent— spaghettoni al pomodoro. The gastronomic and creative possibilities of this Bottega Bernacca that has crossed the Atlantic are extensive. The rest of the menu includes dishes such as artichokes alla romana, mozzarella with tomato, DOP mortadella with stracciatella and pistachios or a wagyu A5 bresaola with spectacular marbling.

Among the starters to share, highlights include the traditional vodka pasta frittatina with scamorza, eggplant alla parmigiana, or a tomato, mozzarella, and French fries tartare. Main courses feature dishes such as cod alla livornese, grilled black monkfish tail, or Jersey beef sirloin, in addition to off-menu proposals like linguine with red mullet and cured jowl or champagne risotto with white asparagus and Osetra caviar. The wine list currently includes up to 82 references of local and Italian wines, with a special focus on sparkling wines.

"Barcelona is a dynamic city that boasts the best imaginable European pantry, the beacon for many other gastronomic cultures, just as Italian cuisine has been around the world," explains Davide Bernacca. "We are where we wanted to be, not only because my daughter studies here or because it is the land of my partner and friend."