When I was last in Catalonia someone took me to a place called Can Tura in San Aniol de Finestres for Sunday lunch. We went in, sat down in front of three piles up plates a napkin a bucket with an iced bottle of red wine and a board with some butifarra, fuet and olives. There was no menu, once we finished with the butifarra and the fuet the plates we were using were removed and we waited until the next course arrived. Our only clue to what we were getting was looking at the other diners who had arrived earlier than us.
Sant Aniol de Finestres
We were soon lost in a deluge of snails, rice, meat, seafish and lastly industrial ice-cream from a plastic packet. The owner, a Catalan speaking Andaluz insisted we take rest of the butifarra and the fuet home and several fuets made their way to be London to be shared among students, friends and general ne’er do wells.
Proudly displayed on the wall beside me was a framed article from the 90s declaring in a Catalan newspaper that Can Tura wasn’t a restuarant or a hostel but a ‘Casa de Pages’ (a peasant’s house) that served food.
I like this idea. London is full of Spanish restaurants, many of whom do tapas exceptionally well but we are lacking in the Casa de Pages style. We are also lacking in the Casa de Pages scenery surroundings seen above but I can’t help with that.
On 15th January myself and Franz Schinagl, ex-Head Chef of Asia de Cuba will be cooking a menu at Beas of Bloomsbury in Theobald Road in a Casa de Pages style for you to enjoy. There will be a few concessions to London urbanite however. The red wine will not sit in an ice bucket, the dessert will not be ice-cream from a plastic packet (although we can wrap the dessert in clingfilm if you want a pseudo-authentic experience) and you will know the menu beforehand.
Please e-mail info@catalancooking.co.uk if you are vegetarian, piscetarian or celiac and would like to come.
The menu (possibly subject to some minor changes) will be:
Aperativo of fuet, cheese and olives
Carn D’olla Soup
Catalan rice with wild mushrooms
Carn D’olla (similar to bollito mixto)
Dessert
Coffee, liquer and turron
Wine is included
Price is £45 (£35 of you don’t want wine)
To book please e-mail contact@beasofbloomsbury.com or call 0207 242 8330
If you would like to buy this as a gift for someone please contact above to purchase a gift voucher
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Rachel, this looks amazing and great fun too! If you need a hand with the vino, please let me know.
[...] in London and are keen to try escudella i carn d’olla, Rachel of Catalan Cooking is hosting a pop up supperclub event on January 15 where you can try it. The menu looks [...]
Have managed to get a table for 6. Hurrah! Been dying to try your food.
Wen
Thanks Robert, I hope it will live up to expectations. Franz is adding to the menu and drooling over dessert videos at the moment.
Wen, that’s great! See you next Saturday!
[...] an informal dwelling, not a restaurant or hostel, that serves food in a fun, informal way. See this article for a better [...]