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Organic, Km-0, local and many other terms are found more and more often on restaurant menus. Diners not only want high-quality, flavourful products at a good price, but they also want them to be healthy and sustainably produced, and they want the origin of their food to have a story with a small-scale producer behind it.

We Miguelines have found many restaurants which brandish these fashionable words as a way to hide poor cooking. However, there is a small group of restaurants where these words truly are their credo, and their cuisine is closely tied to the quest for authentic scents and flavours, respect for the product and, in short, care for their diners.

Within this small group is TiaSanta, located on the corner of Carrer Còrsega and Pau Claris and led by Luis Magual, a Venezuelan economist who followed his passion for cooking and products to Barcelona to get trained in the kitchens of the Hofmann school.

The venue is small; just 50 diners fit on two floors, and it is open Monday to Sunday nonstop from 8 am until 11 pm, which makes it a wonderful place for a breakfast, brunch (only at weekends), lunch or dinner. Warm, dim – though not romantic –  lighting and “modern-elegant” décor based on stone brick walls, comfortable leather chairs and wooden tables with tablecloths make TiaSanta the ideal restaurant for an informal meal with your partner, family or a small group of friends.

In terms of its cuisine, Luis has designed a menu based on local, organic, high-quality products, where he fuses Mediterranean, Asian and Latin American flavours. The menu is made up of little dishes for sharing, salads and main courses based on vegetables, meat and fish with the goal of satisfying all palates. In terms of wines, the selection is brief yet ecological.

Starting with this premise, we Miguelines allowed ourselves to be led by the fantastic Núria, whose friendly, youthful, informal service guided us through the main dishes on the menu. To warm up our palates, we began with the “Mixed grilled vegetables with pumpkin sauce”, in which the products were cooked to perfection using different techniques. It was followed by an acceptable “Seabass ceviche” accompanied by red onion and crispy mango, all marinated in tiger’s milk.

Mixed grilled vegetables

Graellada de verdures

Seabass ceviche

Cebiche de corbina

Luis later ratcheted it up a notch and treated us to “Scallops with wild mushrooms”, a dish with an elaborate visual aesthetic that was attractive, creamy and brimming with flavour. At the same level was the “Galician-style octopus”, which came with delectable mashed potatoes with red pepper which proved to be the ideal accompaniment to the perfectly-cooked cephalopod.

Scallops with wild mushrooms

Veiessis amb bolets

Galician-style octopus

Pop a la gallega

We continued our journey with some of the main courses, starting with “Seabass suquet with a Thai touch”. This was perhaps the best dish of the evening, an outstanding fusion of flavours from both cultures, striking yet balanced and the fish cooked just about to perfection. If only the seabass skin had been crispy, we would have taken out our handkerchiefs and hugged Luis. To conclude, we sampled a flavourful, hand-cut “Steak tartare” served with a homemade Harry’s Bar sauce, which was topped with an original pickled egg yolk and served with thin slices of Indian papadum.

Seabass suquet with a Thai touch

Suquet thai de corbina

Steak tartare

Steak Tartar

We then tried three desserts: the “Torradeta”, the “Trio of chocolates” and the “Tiramisu with pistachio ice cream”. They were all great, and the Hofmann style shines through. It would be impossible to say which one was best – any of the three will leave you happy with their sweet aftertaste.

Torradeta

Torrada

Trio of chocolates

Trio de xocolates

Tiramisu

Tiramisu

In short, TiaSanta is a restaurant where you can savour organic, sustainable, local food with choices for all palates. Luis harnesses common sense, his experience in the Hofmann kitchens and his influence from abroad to offer serious, visually appealing dishes with powerful flavours that are – to top it all off – healthy! If only all “organic” restaurants were like TiaSanta!

Score
Food   Wines
69   50
Services   Venue
67   68
Price   MIGUELÍN STARS
35€   1 estavellis
Per person: 4/5 dishes to share +1 glass of wine.  

Where is TiaSanta?

Address: C/ de Còrsega, 337, 08037 Barcelona

Telephone: 936 399 901

Timetable: Tuesday to Saturday, 1:30 to 3:15 and 8:30 to 10:30. Closed Sunday and Monday.

Website: www.tiasanta.com