Bon Appetit did a small Barcelona feature in it’s May edition. I was delighted to see that I have hit most of their recommended spots (so this blog’s move to Spain is starting to get somewhere). And then I read about how Carles Abellan – whose Tapas 24 I love (and posh restaurant Comerç 24 I visited for my last birthday), has a Chirringuito. And, and… He serves ice cream from Rocambolesc. Which is great because until now, I had been planning to travel to Girona for the day to try it.
You can see the W hotel from La Guingueta. The waiters are dressed in identical nautical themed shirts, enough of them have tattoos and patches of hair shaved off in weird places for it to seem a conscious part of the look. I recognise 2 waiters from Tapas 24, one seems to have been promoted to manager, a charismatic girl with strange zig zagging hair cuts, who once whisked me to the front of the line at 24 when she realised that I was dining alone.
The menu is made up of things between bread, slightly unusual (for Barcelona) things like chicken burgers, fresh pressed juices (€6) and guacamole (€12) or nachos. The pricing is – well I find myself thinking, I can see the W but does that mean I have to pay W prices?
I order a fresh pressed granny smith apple juice. A peculiar choice in retrospect since they are the usual suspects, heavily waxed from down under. I receive a glass of warm juice that is too bitter to drink. I send it back without any fuss from our pretty waitress and the next one is just fine. The €12 guac is so salty it’s gone from titter tottering on the edge of being too salty and plunked itself right in to – so salty I want to gulp sea water to tone it down. The chef might be in love – since I have already sent back the juice, I feel like saying the guacamole is inedible might be pushing things slightly. The chicken burger is good, also salty but still edible.
As for the Rocambolesc ice cream. Well – it’s a frozen custard. It comes in chocolate, vanilla or raspberry – or a combination of those 2. A cup is €5. It’s good…it’s just missing all that great stuff they put in over at Shake Shack - you know like in the Shack Attack, the fudge sauce, chocolate truffle cookie dough and Mast Brothers Shake Shack dark chocolate chunks – oh and the chocolate sprinkles
So it looks like I am driving to Girona for ice cream after all…
La Guingueta
Playa de San Sebastián
Barceloneta
08001
www.carlesabellan.es/la-guingueta-de-la-barceloneta
Tagged: Barcelona, Barceloneta, Carles Abellan, Chirringuito, ice cream, La Guingueta, Tapas 24, W Hotel
