Barcelona is one in a million in many ways. It’s one of those few cities that have everything and that we all want to visit or live in at some point in our lives. Fast, colourful, passionate, artistic and full of flavour.
At Suculent, Antonio (Toni) Romero has reduced those ingredients, and cooks dishes that capture the soul of one of the best cities in the world.
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B A R C E L O N A
Despite its brilliant path since it opened in 2012, Suculent somehow still remains a well-kept secret of Barcelona; one of those restaurant where other chefs go to feast on their days off. Without pretensions or luxuries, chef Toni Romero has spent years renewing and giving his own twist to traditional Mediterranean dishes, with hints and influences from other cultures.
Here the focus is not necessarily on technique – which is something that Romero knows quite well having spent years cooking at elBulli, Arzak and Maison Pic – as it is on the deep flavour.
Broths and sauces are where the real DNA of Suculent can be found and almost every dish is created with that in mind. The emotional energy of Barcelona is concentrated, reduced and turned into intense bases that cover every single vegetable, piece of fish or meat.
My first visit to Suculent in the dodgy, yet charming Rambla de Raval-area of Barcelona was in early 2013, by recommendation of best-selling food writer Matt Golding when I visited him in his adopted hometown.
My first Suculent-bite was an utter delicious Spanish red prawn ceviche with avocado and corn that ended up becoming a house classic. I already then knew this would be my first visit of many; to this day around 50 times.
On the opening day of Suculent, Ferrán Adrià came to eat and said:
“I really like the menu but what’s this ceviche doing here?” (as it was foreign to Suculent’s original idea). Toni Romero listened, but didn’t take it off the menu. He always pays attention to what Ferran tells him, but at the end of the day he knew that this was going to be a guest favourite, and today it still is.
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Over the years I’ve taken friends, family, writers, foodies, chefs, filmmakers, billionaires – you name it – to Suculent on our days off from the city’s fine dining scene, to hang out and relax. All have without exception been indulged by the level of cooking – this in a place where a 9-course house menu currently sets you back around the same amount as a good glass of Champagne does in a top restaurant in Copenhagen.
Poetic, yes, but also out of proportions, with a lot of obvious talent that in no way has reached its full potential. Sometimes you need a bit of assistance to make things happen to why Bon Vivant with pleasure now also represents Suculent.
If we can help fine dining establishments on an international scale, then now – if ever – is the time to take my favourite casual go-to place for the past 8 years and do the same on a, perhaps, more modest one. Let’s see.
One of the most replicated dishes in all of Spain;
Suculent’s steak tartare over bone marrow.
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Suculent was named as Barcelona’s Best New Restaurant by Time Out Magazine in 2013, nominated as breakthrough restaurant at Madrid Fusion in 2013 and 2017, and earning a Michelin plate and a Repsol Sun last year, to being ranked as 83rd at The Best Chefs Awards list, also 2020.
“Suculent is a paradise of taste and simplicity. In one of the most avant-garde cities in the world, meeting Antonio Romero is a return to the old tastes and rituals which offers deep-flavoured safety in a casual-contemporary venue, inclusive and open to the masses. It’s an old-fashioned project that gradually transforms into becoming a modern classic – perhaps now more than ever.”
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Le Corbusier once said: “Allow me to state how much I love Barcelona, an admirable city, a city full of life, intense, a port open to the past and future.”
Suculent, with its intense dishes full of life, cooks the past as well as future of the Catalan metropolis. Suculent cooks the soul of Barcelona.
Go visit next you are in town.
In case of interest or/and press on Suculent,
please contact Kristian Brask Thomsen at:
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Bon Vivant Communications is a global gastro embassy specialising in culinary diplomacy, exclusive dinner parties, star chef world tours, cultural marketing, filmmaking and entrepreneurism.
The diplomacy speaks to a strong network of 600 journalists, bloggers and writers, as well as 5000+ global diners around the world.
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Hungry for more? Read this in-depth US-article on Suculent.
