Paseo de Gràcia will once again show its most gastronomic side with the Passeig de Gourmets festival. In its seventh edition, which will be held from March 7 to 17, the culinary event will offer proposals already present in previous years, such as gourmet tasting menus, the platillos route and signature sandwiches, to which two new features are added: creative pastry and cocktails.
About twenty restaurants are participating in this edition, including establishments by great chefs such as Carme Ruscalleda and Martín Berasategui. Both have participated in the presentation of the festival, and have recalled the origins of their careers, inevitably focused on their respective families. "Paseo de Gràcia is unique and unrepeatable," proclaimed Berasategui, while Ruscalleda praised its gastronomic proposals.
Signature pastry, along with cocktails, will be the latest addition to this culinary festival in the Catalan capital. Six restaurants will present, for eight euros, desserts that will have creativity and innovation among their main ingredients. Visitors will be able to taste proposals such as Os-Kuro's interpretation of a Japanese hanami forest; a cheesecake millefeuille from Somni Restaurant, melon with sangria and strawberries at El Nacional, or a chocolate mousse with praline at Blanc del Mandarin.
Paseo de Gràcia is the street in Europe with the most Michelin stars, as its establishments add up to seven of themThe other great novelty of this edition, mixology, makes a prominent place for itself at the festival. El Passeig de Gourmets will offer nine proposals from the hand of boutiques of the area, who will design their cocktails for the occasion. Firms from the promenade such as Tous, Brunello Cucinelli, Santa Eulàlia and Ferragamo will do so.
The format of the signature sandwiches, which debuted in the last edition and are maintained this year, will offer multiple versions of sandwiches in their most gourmet facets, and all with the option of being served with gluten-free bread. The proposals range from a brioche of sirloin tartar and tuna belly with Berasategui's seal at the Monumental Hotel, a sandwich of pastrami at the Bar del Majestic, and a hot dog of suckling pig at the Terrassa del Claris.
The already traditional tapas route will include 13 diverse culinary proposals for ten euros, among which will be a bao of oxtail from the Café Vienés of Hotel Casa Fuster; a steak tartar with croissant bread at the Santa Eulàlia store, and some XL coulant croquettes at the H10 Casa Mimosa.
The festival, which also represents an opportunity to visit emblematic spaces on the promenade outside the usual routes for Barcelonans, will also offer eight gourmet menus, in a proposal in which the establishments Sintonia; Restaurante Solomillo; Virens, at the Almanac hotel; Blanc, from the Mandarin Oriental; Solc, from the Majestic; Somni Restaurant, from The One Barcelona, Os-Kuro and the Terrassa del Claris participate. All of them will offer menus for 55 euros, or for 70 if they want to complement them with a cava pairing exclusive for the occasion. The gastronomic event's offer will be completed with experiences, training sessions, workshops, and tastings, among other activities.
"When you talk about Passeig de Gràcia, people think of shops or culture, but the promenade has another very important facet, which is gastronomy," claimed the president of the Associació Passeig de Gràcia, Luis Sans. He recalled that the artery is the street in Europe that concentrates the most Michelin stars, as its establishments add up to seven of them. Sans highlighted that the promenade's restaurant offer ranges from luxury to proposals for all budgets: "Passeig de Gràcia is marked by miscegenation."
Berasategui has maintained that Paseo de Gràcia "is unique and unrepeatable" and offers gastronomy with different forms and different prices: "Paseo de Gràcia is a lesson for all of us who come." For her part, Ruscalleda has defended that the gastronomy of the Barcelona artery is "one of the exponents of Paseo de Gràcia," and has guaranteed that the festival's cocktail and pastry proposal will surprise its visitors. The chef recalled the figure of her father and his work as a farmer, and has highlighted the role of the primary sector, also to "maintain the unique character of what the land gives us."