El Nacional incorporates the seafood platter into La Taperia’s menu, the perfect place to eat some tapas in Barcelona.
Come with your family and friends and enjoy a good seafood platter made with fresh and quality products in a casual, relaxed and pleasant environment.
Do you know that the months containing “r”, from September to April are the best for eating shellfish?
During the summer months, from May to August, many of the species considered as shellfish are in their reproductive period; the females spawn and lose weight, their flesh becomes soft and loses flavour and texture, and the quality drops.
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Few places can boast of having an Oyster Bar like the one in El Nacional Barcelona. An elegant circular space located in Paseo de Gracia. You can find the best professionals and enjoy the best specialties: oysters and clams, open at the moment. A spectacular showcooking that is performed in front of you. One of the most amazing dining experiences in Barcelona.
To meet the demands of many customers who do not drink alcohol, but who do not want to give up on a good cocktail or being in company of those who do like to drink it, there is a specific heading on the menu, conceived for them: the so-called mocktails. The San Francisco is the most well-known, prepared using the juices of orange, lemon, pineapple and peach, but there is also a complete new generation of alcohol-free cocktails that you can try at Cocktail Bar of El Nacional Barcelona.
La Parada, one of the culinary spaces that are part of El Nacional Barcelona, has extended its menu, divided into five large sections: cured meats and hors d’oeuvres, pasta, handmade flatbreads, fine-dough flatbreads and gourmanderías (crepes and cakes).
El Nacional starts up the campaign “1 euro, 1 afternoon snack, 1 kg of food” with Red Cross to improve the nutrition of children in vulnerable situations. This solidary action will be active during the Christmas period and will directly impact approximately 1,600 children served by the humanitarian institution.
According to the Catalan Institute of Statistics (Idescat), in 2016 the 23% of households with Catalan children were at risk of poverty and did not have their basic requirements guaranteed, such as a healthy and balanced diet, education or leisure.
For this reason, El Nacional, aware of the value that it can offer as a benchmark in the restaurant sector, has signed a collaboration agreement with the Red Cross to guarantee a suitable and healthy diet for children in vulnerable situations. It is expected that about 1,600 boys and girls who are served in the 55 centers of the humanitarian institution will benefit from this alliance.
Xabier Otondo, director of Ocio Gastronómico; the president of the Red Cross in Catalonia, Antoni Aguilera and Gerard Subirats, president of Ocio Gastronómico
Next Thursday 23rd at 8pm we will celebrate the opening of the Christmas season
Very soon Barcelona will celebrate its Christmas light switch-on. It will begin the 23rd of November at La Rambla (Drassanes), where the city council will host an act in honour of the victims of the attack of August 17th.
Same Thursday, El Nacional will also welcome Christmas with a spectacular music and light switch-on show that will take place at 8pm. The centennial space will be decorated with ornaments inspired in a world of magic and fantasy.
The work done will be tangible among the passage that links El Nacional with Paseo de Gracia as in the interior of the restaurant, with more than 3.000m2.
Custumers will be able to enjoy a Christmas light switch-on with more than 450.000 leds that will be shining until the first week of January.
Can any beef meat be subjected to these processes?
The answer is no, not all meat can be subjected to a long ageing process without losing properties and becoming inedible. It is a process to which only old cow and ox animals, carefully reared and fed, can be subjected. Are we clear what they are? Veal meat comes from young animals, up to a year old, of either sex. Here experts warn that at this age veal from heifers is better, although this is not normally indicated when we buy it.
In La Braseria of El Nacional Barcelona we serve a large selection of starters and meat, to have with salad or vegetable side dishes, and some basic fish dishes
This culinary space offers a very special dish for snails lovers.
Bover snails, “El Nacional”-style
Snails have become a very present meal in Mediterranean cuisine. They offer numerous nutritional properties and provide few calories, making them a healthy and nutritious food.
The meat restaurant of the gastronomic multispace located in Paseo de Gracia, has a special recipe dedicated to this product, baptized as Bover snails, “El Nacional” -style. Served in their juices, finished in the charcoal oven, which gives them a roasted touch, and of course, with the essential alioli garlic sauce. A banquet for those who don’t mind getting their fingers dirty or who do not want meat.
Gastronomy and history come together creating a unique and emblematic concept for the city
A place with many lives
With over 3,000 square metres of space, the restaurant is in a venue with a lot of soul. The emblematic building that now houses El Nacional Barcelona, was formerly used as a café theatre, leather factory, car dealership and a private garage.
In the last third of the nineteenth century, when industrialisation was in full swing, that the space that now houses El Nacional Barcelona, came to life. Official documents certify that on May 21st, 1870, the Teatro Español was inaugurated; a project carried out by the architect Antoni Rovira i Trias, winner of the municipal contest of the Pla del Eixample. As can be seen in the photograph: on the facade overlooking the Paseo de Gracia you could read the name of the theatre.
Unknown author. Old Teatro Español, at Paseo de Gracia in Barcelona, demolished ca.1900; projected by Antoni Rovira i Trias [graphic document]. Barcelona
The theatre burns down
On the 18th of November of 1889 the Teatro Español burned down. This incident devastated the theatre in the early hours of the morning. In 1892 the theatre was rebuilt at the hand of the architect Ramón M. Ruidor, but this time under the name of Jardín Español. Concerts, zarzuelas, opera arias, raffles, fairs, etc. were held there. However, the venue did not enjoy the expected success and finally closed in 1900.
From cultural centre to manufacturing space
Later, the space gave life to a textile factory dedicated to leather tanning for shoes: the Tenería Moderna Franco-Española. The building continued to have a very slim and light roof that was unique; made with brick vaults with openings by way of skylights.
In another of the lives of this emblematic building, it was a high-end car dealership.
Dealership. Photos of our own archive
From dealership to garage
It is said, although there are no documents that certify it, that after the Civil War the space where El National is now found was used by Barcelona City Council as a food collection point.
What is known with total certainty is that later, the building became a private garage and remained operational until November 2013.
Private garage. Photos of our own archive
Subirats Bureau and El Nacional; a turning point for Barcelona
In June 2013, Subirats Bureau, a conglomerate with more than 40 years of history, founded by Joan Subirats, together with the entrepreneur Lluís Canadell, created Ocio Gastronómico Barcelona, S.L. with the aim of recovering this emblematic space and make it of value for the city. Therefore, on October 25th, El Nacional Barcelona opened its doors.
