Casa Calvet - Barcelona

The Restaurant Casa Calvet is a Spanish restaurant in Barcelona which can be found in the very heart of the city. This Spanish restaurant has two major selling points; the first is that the food is exquisite and the second is that the building that houses the restaurant is magnificent.

The Restaurant

The Restaurant Casa Calvet opened its doors in 1994 and has since been a hub of traditional Mediterranean food mixed with contemporary presentation and flavours. The restaurant is currently run by Pilar Oyaga, who makes sure that her restaurant provides the best service, a welcoming environment and the highest quality food for its customers.

The Restaurant Casa Calvet is located in the Casa Calvet (Calvet House) which was originally designed by the famous Catalan Spanish architect, Antoni Gaudí. This house was built for a textile factory owner, Andreu Calvet, who wanted a building that would function both as a commercial property on the lower floors and a home on the upper floors. The Casa Calvet is quite a conventional building as it had been designed to fit in with the surrounding buildings in an area of Barcelona that was considered to be the most elegant part of the city. It therefore contains a lot of symmetrical elements as well being quite orderly. Although Gaudí is most famous for his more abstract and unconventional works, the Casa Calvet is still highly celebrated.

The building, however, is almost too classically styled. The double gable at the top of the building, a large oriel above the doorway and a variety of large, jutting balconies almost make fun of the Baroque style that is so common in Barcelona and across the Spanish peninsular. The building also has some features that hint at the occupation of the man for whom it was designed. The columns at the bottom of the building are carved in the shape of a tower of stacked cotton bobbins. At the very top of the building there are three sculpted heads which refer to the owner of the building, Andreu Calvet, and his heritage. One of the heads is a sculpture of Andreu Calvet's father, while the other two are sculptures of the patron saints of Calvet's hometown of Vilassar.

The restaurant now sits in the rooms that were formerly used as the accountancy offices, the manager's office and the meeting rooms. The Restaurant Casa Calvet is confident that the great food that they serve, combined with the fantastic setting provided by Gaudí, creates the perfect experience for their customers when they visit Barcelona and eat at this restaurant.

The Menu

The Restaurant Casa Calvet's kitchen is run by head chef, Miquel Alija, who has brought his own modern style of cooking to the restaurant. Combined with the traditional Mediterranean recipes, the Casa Calvet had become one of the places to visit in Barcelona to experience or even study Spanish gastronomy.

Miquel Alija likes to change the restaurant's menu depending on the season which means that all of the dishes are healthy for the time of year as well as being made from the freshest ingredients. He also enjoys creating his own, new dishes such as 'helado de romero' (Rosemary Ice Cream) and 'perdiz con castañas' (partridge with chestnuts). You can even find a hint of oriental cuisine in the menu at the Restaurant Casa Calvet in Barcelona.

Some of the other items on the menu of this Spanish restaurant include 'Lomo de conejo con salsa de mostaza, berenjenas y espárragos verdes' (Rabbit with mustard, aubergine and green asparagus sauce), 'Bacalao de Islandia confitado con tomate, guisantes y zanahoria al jengibre' (Icelandic Cod crystallised with tomato, peas and gingered carrots), and 'Delicias de pato, el hígado, las mollejas y el magret' (Duck delicacies: liver, gizzards and breast).

The Restaurant Casa Calvet also has an excellent collection of wine which is presided over by the restaurant's sommelier, Paquita Castro. In particular, the restaurant has an extensive selection of champagnes and cavas, the Spanish sparkling wine.