Mundial Bar, Barcelona

This place is about as old school as it gets. A single waiter might walk 30,000 steps a day in 500 sq ft because he was non stop taking care of roughly 30 customers. One guy taking care of 30 guests. Awesome. Also, there is only one guy in the kitchen. Just one and he is working his little closet of a space to knock out every dish in this place. Two guys handling an entire restaurant for dinner. Two guys. Major credit given for the work ethic at Mundial.

Upon entering Mundial, I spied some crazy green things on a plate. I say “crazy green things” because green vegetables in Spain seem to be as rare as diamonds. The green things were padron peppers which were wonderfully pan scorched and seasoned generously with salt. I’m thinking my near 50-year old body could use some fiber; and green veg and peppers sounded like a refreshing treat. Yep, delicious but not the best item here.

No reason to go too far out of the box at Mundial and keep it simple. Croquettes, Patatas Bravas, red wine. The Patatas were the best I had in Spain. Great fry job and aioli duo of classic heavy garlic (more like the Armenian style garlic sauce than aioli) and the second aioli spiked with smoked paprika..The two different types of croquettes were ok, the bacalao fritter tasted more of potato than fish, with two of the them being cold in the middle. The chicken croquettes were super hot and fresh fried but tasted of older thigh meat. I’m batting 0-2 on croquettes in Spain, but I’ll keep swinging.

As I set up in the previous review with Bar del Pla, I’m finding that each tapas bar has something they do extraordinarily well. In Bar del Pla’s case, it’s braised meat. In Mundial’s case, it’s Patatas Bravas and Padron Peppers. I’m sticking with my theory that it’s going to be difficult for any old-school tapas bar to “run the table” on all things tapas. Rather, the “tapas crawl” might be a better idea when it comes to eating tapas and it shouldn’t be difficult, many of these places are open all day and they certainly don’t close until late.

More reviews and more food pics to come…

**Best Patatas Bravas of the entire trip!!!**

Bar del Pla (a guidebook favorite) in Barcelona was packed all day with locals and tourists alike. I’m not here to bash the guidebooks, far from it. They serve a useful purpose, enlightening first-time travelers to a city or region. But, just like wine ratings written by the casual drinker with no experience, the conventional wisdom often leads to a herd mentality, “if everyone else is drinking/eating Brand X, maybe I should too”.

Praise the Braise!

Bar del Pla is located in the heart El Born. It’s a classic place to eat The highlights for me were the ox tail topped with foie gras and the long braised braised cheek. Yep, two braised dishes that were solid and worth singling out Bar del Pla. These two braised dishes were the best braises the whole trip! Sauces were concentrated and reduced, flavors were bold and warming, classic execution of braised meat.

However, the rest of the food wasn't worth the hype online that this place gets. The croquettes at del Pla were the size, shape and crispiness of an egg roll or spring roll; not a bad thing. The inside was sort of creamy and chicken filled. Was it good? Sure. Should you drop everything to come here? Nah. If anything, I suddenly wanted an actual Thai/Vietnamese style spring roll. Croquettes are served practically everywhere in Spain. Keep searching. Bar del Pla are good, but there are better.

There was even an attempt at tacos here with another braised meat. Perhaps, to a European who’s never been to Mexico and never had tacos, the tacos at del Pla will be totally new and interesting. To me, they were meh.

Come to Bar del Pla for a braised meat tapas, a drink, and move on if you’re hungry. Trust me, there are croquettes, jamon and patatas bravas everywhere else in Barcelona and you should give them a try and move on from the guidebook. And skip the tacos.

Croquettes on the left, Ox Tail with Foie Gras on the right