In 1959, Andrés Iborra and Carmen Vicente opened a small bar in the neighborhood of Poble Sec with a simple, local cuisine, specialized in rice and good eastern Mediterranean cuisine. With Carmen as chef preparing classics from her culture, Elche garnered incredible fame thanks to the “furandulero” movement, which made the theaters on Parallel Avenue the cultural hub during that time.
Levantine (eastern Mediterranean) rice and noodles are his secret; rossejat noodles with prawns and rockfish lapping in aioli, rice encrusted chicken and sausage with melted Elche-style egg, black rice with squid and artichokes, rice and crawfish with prawns, cod and paella ceps or mixed paella parellada are the keys to its success. In addition, you can also enjoy some of the freshest Mediterranean-cod fish baked with mild aioli, monkfish in sauce or sole fillets in cream with julienne leeks, traditional bone-in leg of lamb, grilled ribs of lamb or baked goat.
Eating in Elche, along with enjoying a serving of one of the best rice dishes in Barcelona, you receive a double serving of history and tradition.
Elche
Calle Vila i Vilà, 71. Barcelona
T 93 441 30 89
HOURS: 13:00 to 16:00 and 19:00 to 00:00.
Price: 35 euros.
Text: Alba Yáñez
Photos: Beatriz Janer.
Translation: Brett Piron