El Mercader de l'Eixample

Claudio Hoyos, owner of El Filete Ruso, opened El Mercader as 100-percent organic – Hoyos has a 300m2, organic-certified smallholding in Collserola, and all their meat and dairy is organic, too. ‘This is the logical continuation of El Filete,’ he says, referring to the fact that his first restaurant pioneered organic burgers in BCN. The name of the new spot pays tribute to Josep Mercader (founder of the Hotel Empordà in Figueres and one of the originators of modern Catalan cooking). You’ll notice one of Hoyos’s passions, the traceability of the ingredients. ‘The menu shows the origin of every foodstuff and every producer, and, if the customer wants, we can show them the invoice,’ he laughs. The unusual corner location is as cute as they come. And although they’re not the first to do it, their revivals of traditional Catalan recipes for special occasions are pretty stunning. Ultra-phallic cannelloni have all the sinful goodness of roast meat and a hint of liver that will awaken many a Catalan’s childhood memories. And the salt cod, fresh and full of flavour, flakes tenderly on a bed of Santa Pau beans cooked to perfection. All with serving sizes that are just bigger than half portions, making them ideal for sharing.