Restaurant Hostal de la Placa, Cabrils

Artichokes with bellota ham (Source: own photo)

If, like me, you enjoy traditional restaurants with ironed white linen tablecloths, crystal glasses, and attentive well-trained waiters then Restaurant Hostal de la Placa might be the place for you.

Hostal de la Placa sits next to the church in the heart of Cabrils, a little village of modest size some 25 kilometres up the road from Barcelona. As the name suggests, Hostal de la Placa is a boutique hotel, but don’t let that put you off the restaurant. It is really a restaurant with a hotel attached, not the other way around. The hotel, I am told, is quite excellent, but the restaurant is next level!

When you arrive, you are ushered into a bright and warm and welcoming dining space with round tables and beautiful views over the village and the Mediterranean beyond. You immediately get the sense that this is a classy restaurant, albeit one where the reception is always warm, friendly, and unpretentious.

In other words, very Catalan.

Book in advance as the restaurant fills up fast, especially on weekends, when, it seems, all the good folk of Cabrils, a village that prides itself on the quality of its restaurants, congregate here to enjoy sumptuous lunches and dinners. The restaurant employs three young valets help guests park their cars, yet, despite its popularity, the restaurant never feels crowded nor is the service ever compromised.

What particularly appeals to me about Restaurant Hostal de la Placa is that this is a genuinely local restaurant. Almost all the guests here are repeat customers, mainly families from Cabrils and the neighbouring villages. I have never seen a tourist here.

I became a repeat customer almost right away. Once smitten by this place, it is difficult to keep away. I like the people, I like the food, and I like the formal, yet courteous and very friendly atmosphere. I take my friends here, my family.

The dueña always makes a point of visiting our table and happily makes recommendations. Restaurant Hostal de la Placa is big on local and seasonal fare, so it is always worth taking her recommendations seriously.

Red peppers with cod in  béchamel sauce (Source: own photo)

Today, she recommended the artichokes and red peppers stuffed with cod for starters. Unsurprisingly, the artichokes were to die for. The fleshy lower leaves and the heart of the immature flower were steamed and served with a sprinkle of olive oil and thin slices of jamon de bellota, the highest grade of Spanish ham, which comes from pigs that have eaten acorns in the mountains all their lives. The pealed red peppers were filled with cod in thick béchamel sauce, then baked in the oven and presented with white herb-scented velouté and a garnish consisting of dollops of black olive tapenade. Delicious.

Seared filet with mustard sauce (Source: own photo)

For main course, we choose meat. Fish is also excellent in this restaurant, but I often go for the meat, because no other country in Europe does meat better than Spain. Today, I chose the classic seared beef filet, which came with chips and a light mustard sauce. This is one of the permanent items on the menu for good reason; I have had this dish before and it never fails to impress. The centre of the filet was soft and tender, while the crust was hard and flavourful from a brief, but violent encounter with a red-hot skillet.

In general, you will find here, as in many other good Spanish restaurants, that meat is served very rare. The reason is simple: the quality of meat here is so extraordinarily high that it would be a shame to eat it any other way.

Ultra-slow-cooked pork (Source: own photo)

The other main was even an more traditional offering from the restaurant’s permanent menu: ultra-slow-cooked pork rib served with a rich brown coating on a bed of creamed potatoes. A really simple dish, yet so special. Pork here is in a class of its own. Tender to the point of falling apart, juicy, and with the subtlest of flavours and always expertly seasoned. As in all the best Spanish restaurants, the ingredients are being allowed to speak for themselves. The chefs understand their dishes must express to the fullest this country's unusual richness in culinary raw material.

We washed down our main courses with a bottle of Luis Cañas Crianza 2022, a quite conventional but delicious Rioja, which, like all crianzas had matured at least two years with a minimum of one year in a special oak barrel. My opinion is that Spanish wine, like Spanish food, is seriously underrated.

Tarte Tatin (Source: own photo) 

To end the meal on a sweet note, we ordered dessert and coffee. We chose the Tarte Tatin, a pastry base stacked high with dark apple, and a torrija served with a dollop of vanilla ice cream on top. Torrija is a Spanish secret, similar to French toast, but crusted with caramel and flavoured with cinnamon. Today, it was served on a rich crème anglaise.

Torrija (Source: own photo) 

Our cortados, which were served foamy with little biscuits on the side had been made from burnt ground coffee beans of a variety that left us with a hint of delightful bitterness in our mouthes.

Cortado, biscuit already eaten! (Source: own photo) 

Finally, we closed proceedings with a glass of Ratafia, the sweet Catalan liqueur made aromatic herbs, fruits, nuts, and spices, which has rapidly become a favourite of mine. Try it if you are ever in these parts!

The End