La Cuina d’En Garriga

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Helena Garriga and her husband Olivier Guilland are the owners of La Cuina d’En Garriga, a store/bistro that is so nice you’ll want to stay from breakfast until dinner.

It’s been 6 years since they first opened, at first just as a store with a lot to offer: a bakery with good bread that lasts all week, fruits and vegetables, dairy products, wines, dry goods and a great selection of kitchenware. With all these high quality products and an unbeatable location, it was only a matter of time before they expanded. “My husband is in charge of the menu, and we like simple cooking where the food is the focus,” explains Helena.

“People told me I was the first person to sell tomatoes along Paseo de Gracia,” Helena tells us. The tomatoes are amazing and you can try them with basil, oil and fresh Italian cheese brought in every week.

Throughout the entire place you’ll see a clear sign of their family identity: El Sifón – “I spent the first two years of my life in a sifón factory. Throughout that time we brought many home to add to our family heirlooms. In 1876 Augistí Garriga Mundet, a pharmacist and my grandfather’s grandfather, discovered a tool in Paris that helped alleviate indigestion: a carbonated water sifón. He was the first to bring this discovery to Girona.” Helena shares this story with us, explaining the history between sifones and her family.

Their menu has some amazing items on offer, like the lentils with foie gras, carrots, celery and ginger, the macaroni with Comté cheese and Iberian bacon, the roast beef sirloin served cold with mustard and the wild salmon with lemon and ginger.

We have to make special mention of their dishes made with eggs from Calaf, featured in their omelette with botifarra sausage and beans or the more authentic “rotos” (fried with a broken yolk) with roasted potatoes and a meat of your choice.

They’re open every day, and on Sundays from 10am-5pm they have started to do esmorzars de forquilla, a kind of Catalonian brunch that requires a knife and fork (as well as an appetite). The truffled brie Bikini sandwich, scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, veal fricassee and toast with hummus, avocado and arugula are some of the delicious ways you can make the most of your Sunday.