Suculent, Rambla Raval, Barcelona

On a Sunday afternoon, my loved one and I often like to go for lunch. It's a great way to catch up after a week of passing like ships in the night. I'm pretty easy to please. I just choose and go but Rob Roy is notoriously indecisive and drags me around in circles for ages. It usually ends in me heaving his limp, hungry body to the nearest place while he mumbles deliriously. However, on this sunny Sunday he knew exactly where he wanted to go. "Let's go see Romero at Suculent. You know, that new place on Rambla Raval?". I was thrilled to a) try somewhere new and b) not have to ponder the different ways to dispose of a corpse.
And so we set off and were happy to immediately find a table outside in the street. Rambla Raval isn't the prettiest of avenues but it's certainly entertaining and Suculent is perfectly positioned on the quietest corner.

The Outside

Run by head chef, Romero, who knows Rob Roy from their El Bulli days, has created himself a perfect space to serve up his finest treats. The menu is full of traditional rice dishes and features plenty of fish.
We elected to have a fresh gazpacho, a cod cream, a sea anemone and prawn rice followed by a melon and mint soup and a yoghurt with strawberry and vermouth jam.

The Liquids

The gazpacho was perfect and served in a terracotta jug with all the trimmings. It was lovely and thick and oozed fragrant tomatoes, cucumber and was drizzled with a delicious olive oil.

The Solids

Next came the cod cream, served with crisp breads and a truffle oil. It was creamy, rich and boasted simple flavours like garlic, which complemented it wonderfully. We shared the sea anemone and prawn rice which was piping hot with steam when it was served. The prawns had purple heads and had only gently been cooked to preserve the flavour. Prawns from Taragona are famously sweet and these were no exception. The rice was very good but we both quickly realised that we probably should have stuck to a meat option- anemones are snotty and not much fun as far as we were concerned!! But we appreciated the quality and idea of them. Our yoghurt with strawberry jam infused with pepper and vermouth thankfully helped us feel less traumatised and we sat back with our coffees to enjoy the afternoon. The melon and mint soup was also to die for and cleansed our palates right up.

Later, when we were ready to go home for a siesta, we were invited in to take a look around and to say hi to Romero, who was busy at work.

The Interior

Inside there was a happy duo of chaps playing lively music and other couples enjoying their Sunday together. The design is simple and honest with wooden tables and a long wooden bar. The best surprise of all was in the kitchen where there was a wall that, if gently pushed, revealed itself to be a doorway into a private room where the lampshades are saucepans! A great place for an intimate meal with friends.. tucked safely away from prying eyes.

In all, Suculent was a cool place to have lunch and the food was very good indeed. Considering we usually opt for a ten euro 'menu del dia' the prices at Suculent seemed a little steep. However, you are paying for extremely good quality food, charming service and excellent coffee. If you have a little spare cash and fancy something different from the norm, Suculent is the place for you!