Diners select the piece and how they want it cooked
The ‘lonja’ or city fish market is the place, where the fishermen auction their day’s catch and this is quickly sent on to its destination. For example, to El Nacional, where the restaurant, La Llotja receives the best daily fish and it displays them so that customers can select the one they fancy and can ask for it to be cooked to their taste.
La Llotja, the Barcelona restaurant, is El Nacional’s restaurant that specialises in fish and that offers a wide selection for customers, since not only can the day’s fresh fish and shellfish be chosen from the display, but also customers can decide whether they prefer it grilled, baked, steamed, fried or stewed. Or raw, which as we will see, is also a possibility that this unique space offers.
The option to choose the product and the cooking method is a favourite of La Llotja’s customers, according to Michel Gradeler, assistant kitchen manager at El Nacional. And it is also the chef’s preferred idea, since this offer “multiplies the menu by a thousand. It is a living menu”. In fact, the incredible product rotation in the restaurant always guarantees the freshness of the offer.
At the fish market, which offers products priced by weight, whole pieces from the best Mediterranean ports are offered, always depending on the season and the market. When this product reaches the restaurant it is labelled with a serial number to guarantee its freshness and traceability to customers. Usually, there are wild sea bream, sea bass and bass (nothing to do with fish farmed product); shrimps, lobsters and prawns from the Mediterranean; Galician mussels, cockles, clams, razor clams, octopus, crabs, spider crabs and goose barnacles; little red shrimps from Huelva, sea anemones and lobsters, amongst other tempting possibilities.
On the menu different specialities are suggested with these fish and seafood, such as bass with vegetables, sea-bream baked in salt, clams from Carril and grilled Galician razor shells, Donostiarra-style wild sea bass and bluefin tuna fish with ratatouille. However, according to the customer’s preferences, these fish and shellfish can be prepared steamed, fried, charcoal-grilled… There are many combinations and the choice can be accompanied by sautéed vegetables, lettuce heart salad and fried potatoes.
Seafood stews
For those who prefer stews, the menu offers two finger-licking good recipes from the Balearic Islands: the well-known Menorcan lobster caldereta (stewed lobster casserole) and the bullit, (a rice and fish stew, similar to paella) from Ibiza. This unique dish is served in two stages: in the first place, the rock fish boiled with potatoes and accompanied with garlic mayonnaise.
Whilst the customer is enjoying this dish, the broth from boiling the fish is used to prepare a dry rice dice, an arroz a banda, which is served immediately. The bullit is not commonly found on restaurant menus in Barcelona, but one of El Nacional’s characteristics is exactly this, to present dishes unknown to most people. “This is what differentiates us from restaurants for tourists”, Gradeler emphasises.
Or raw
La Llotja’s menu could not neglect a very popular way of eating fish: eating it raw. In order to do this, the freshest fish must be available, such as the ones that arrive here every day. Four types of oysters, three from the Atlantic and one from the Mediterranean and a splendid Mediterranean bluefin tuna fish tartar with avocado, hazelnuts and sesame oil make up the offer. For those on the fence, we recommend our signature dish, Raw, a selection of oysters, tuna fish tartar and scallop ceviche to satisfy the most demanding raw food fanatics.
And if any of the diners, including children, do not fancy eating fish, at La Llotja an incredible hamburger with chips, a charcoal-grilled free-range chicken breast or a beef steak sautéed with vegetables can also be prepared, along with an extensive dessert menu.
