The metamorphosis of Casa Leopoldo into a Chinese restaurant has put the select palates of Barcelona on a war footing. The business does not close, but its transformation is such that it pushes Casa Leopoldo to the gastronomic loss list from the city.
And it is that Barcelona, especially Ciutat Vella, has mourned in recent years the closure of several very popular restaurants that satisfied both the neighbor on foot and the most demanding gourmet. Locals with tradition, with a casserole menu and royal recipe book, and above all with an atmosphere that made them special.
It also happens that some were also referents of the literary universe of Manolo Vázquez Montalbán. What tablecloths fit your famous detective Carvalho? In the list of his favorites there is already more past than present. Good luck with the Boadas cocktail bar and the Ca l’Isidret and Can Solé restaurants, because otherwise the restless character would end up in a McDonald’s.
Leopold House
As explained in detail Major Tasting of El Periódico, the gastronomic temple of the Raval has reopened converted into a Chinese bar that makes a lunch menu for 12.5 euros. A poster with the new dishes now covers the sign highlighting that they made ‘Traditional Catalan Cuisine’. The summary is that where Montalbán ate oxtail, today they cook spring rolls and three delicacies rice.
Can Lluis
This historic building in the Raval opened in 1929 and closed last year. It was unable to recover from the impact of the pandemic… nor the legal battle against the real estate fund that acquired the building. The writer was a declared fan of his cod fritters, one of the specialties of Can Lluís. So much so that in 2013 a gastronomic route was launched through the Barcelona of Montalbán that stopped at this place specifically for its fritters.
Quo Vadis
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This dining room of reference for the public of the Liceu, located on Carrer del Carme, closed in June 2013 and was also a temple of Carvalho. He lowered the blind after 57 years due to the lack of generational change in all areas: at the head of the business and in the clientele of the Rambla. Three rooms, a mezzanine and a ground floor that could feed more than a hundred people.
Mr. Parellada
Another loss in old Barcelona is the Senyor Parellada fonda, although its replacement has been less traumatic. This classic on Calle Argenteria opened in 1983 and closed due to the pandemic in 2021. Its spirit lives on in its mother house, the Fonda Europa de Granollers. It has reopened this year with a new approach, name and interior design: it is Carmina, from the Barcelona group Isabella’s, which pays tribute to some of its predecessor’s dishes and seeks its own path without giving up high-quality proposals for demanding palates. If Montalbán were alive, he would surely make the best portrait of the successes and errors of this change of tablecloths.