Restaurant Chamonix

Location: C/ Urgell 67 (Gran Via – Diputación), 08011 Barcelona, Spain

Telephone: Spain 93 323 51 08

Website: www.chamonixbcn.com

Cost per head: from 31 Euros

Wine list: Very reasonable.

Date of visit: December 2009

Summary:

When we were in Barcelona in early December 2003 we came across this restaurant by accident but we had an excellent meal at that time (mid week and quiet) so when we were in the city again last Christmas we decided to check if it was still there and if so what the menu looked like.  We walked past on the morning of Christmas Eve and to our surprise, the restaurant was still there (many come and go) and still under the same management of the owner/chef Jesús Sánchez. Since the menu looked very good we decided to make a reservation for the Monday night after Christmas so we looked through the closed door and a very friendly young lady opened up, we discussed the menu and promptly made our reservation. On the menu leaflet we picked up it said No tenemos estrellas Michelin pero sabemos cocinar (we do not have Michelin stars but we know how to cook) so we were looking forward to the meal! We mentioned to some of our Spanish friends on Christmas day that we were going to this restaurant and they all said that it was a good choice!

We arrived and were met by the ownere/chef with whom we had a good chat, he explained the menu to us and we decided to try his special menu (menú especial degustación). If you prefer to go a la carte the menu offers some very good choices. We decided to have an aperitif before the meal and we both had a glass of cava; some nibbles arrived together with a fresh bottle of cava which was opened, poured and left at the table in case we wanted a top-up! The cava, which was labelled for the restaurant but produced by a good producer in the Penedés region of Spain, had a good nose and it was very dry, light, fresh, rounded and well-balanced with good length. A very good start!

The red wine arrived and was opened soon after the cava to give it time to “breathe”.  This was made from the Tinta Fina (tempranillo) grape in the Ribera del Duero region of Spain (Erial 2007, Bodegas Epifanio Rivera, Pesquera del Duero) which proved to be a good example of the region’s wines; on the nose it showed plenty of red fruits with vanilla and toast aromas and on the palate it showed mature blackberries, soft tannins and good spicy flavours with a long-lasting finish. The wine was included in the menu but, if you prefer to have another one, the wine list is good and reasonably-priced with a good selection of wines from Spain and some from abroad.

And now to the food!  The starters consisted of 8 different items that included excellent jamon, chorizo and lomo, all from acorn-fed pigs (bellota). From the selection of 7 main courses we shared the beautifully de-salted Bacalao al horno (baked salt-cod) and the very tender and well-done solomillo de buey (very good cut of sirloin steak). On many occasions in Spain, the dessert turns out to be an anticlimax but on this occasion this was not the case as most of the desserts were home-made rather than industrial ones! The meal was rounded off with a very strong and tasty café solo. Throughout the meal the young waiter was very attentive and the owner/chef came out of the kitchen on numerous occasions to chat and to check that all was to our liking or whether we wanted seconds of anything and we did in fact have seconds of his home-made bread!

The mineral water came in a beautiful-looking glass bottle and we asked the owner for a couple of empty ones; he was surprised at our request but we explained that we were in the middle of a kitchen refit at home and we wanted them to fill with layers of dried beans of different colours for decoration! He gladly obliged and these are now on display in our new kitchen!

All this for less than 35 Euros per person! Sadly, the restaurant was very quiet (with only two other diners) but it was the Monday night after Christmas and the restaurant is not in the touristy centre of Barcelona but at the end of the meal both the waiter and the owner/chef told us that Monday is a quiet night! If we remember correctly, our previous visit in 2003 was also on a Monday night and again there were only two other diners! However, the experience is worth repeating and we can confirm that Jesús can cook so, in our opinion, it is worth seeking out this restaurant and, although it is not central, it is only a minute’s walk from a Metro station so it is easy to get to. We will certainly return next time we happen to be in Barcelona!

Demetris Savva

{geo_mashup_map]