by Tara Stevens

December 1, 2008

Les Corts has never had much going on when it comes to eating out. There’s a perfectly good but somewhat soulless food court at L’Illa shopping mall, and La Tertulia, a cosy bistro tucked away on the quietest plaça in town: Plaça de la Carmen. Now, happily for shoppers, there’s Fragments Café.

Fragments is a play on words. To translate, it’s a place split into four quite distinct spaces. Two terraces, one on one of Barcelona’s prettiest places with a country-style church and pastel-coloured townhouses; the other out back in a private garden, a colmado (deli) style tapas bar with high tables and tiled floors and a sleek restaurant in the middle.

The food is also a mix of eating concepts, all a cut above the norm. Tapas at the bar ranges from tender chunks of smoky salmon and local anchovies with onion confit, to huge wheels of parmesan served drizzled with balsamic vinegar, and Italian style sweet and hot round red peppers stuffed with spiced tuna paste or goat’s cheese. And of course patatas braves, which, like every other tapas bar worth its salt, is the house special. The restaurant meanwhile offers sturdier fare of revueltos (scrambled eggs) with ceps and foie, pasta with truffles, juicy burgers and steaks cooked on a hot stone and cherry crumble to finish.

Much of the wine is available by the glass with a weekly line-up showcasing the variety of Spanish regions; a meaty red from Montsant, a fresh and lively white from Rioja, delicate sweet wine from the Empordà. There’s also the darkly herbal Yzaguirre vermut, perfect for getting your head together while the Christmas shoppers seethe through L’Illa, which is just minutes away.

And so this self-described ‘pequeña joya’ of the neighbourhood achieves what it sets out to be: a class act in a neighbourhood that needed a reason to visit it.

by Tara Stevens

December 1, 2008

Latest Comments

  • Fragments Café

    We ate there recently and were extremely disappointed with the experience.. Service was extremely unprofessional and bordered on rudeness from one of the staff. The pasta was dry and we had to ask for oils to make it any way edible. The Bravas got very mixed reviews as well. Expensive.Definitely the inner patio must be a wonderful place for a coffee or vermut but we would not go back for food-we also have tried Bangok Café and really liked it.

    Posted by Susy November 14, 2010 20:57:16

  • Fragments Café

    My husband and I have been twice with our two young daughters, and we thought the place had lots of potential in many ways (food, terraces, location, etc), but as Jo said above, it is over-priced; and the garden terrace lacked love and care (to put it gently) and the staff also lacked the right attitude of love and care that would have encouraged us to become regular customers. Our friends from the neighborhood feel the same way about their experience, so I know that it's not just us. In sum, although it has not become a family favorite, it's a "cool" place to try out, especially when the weather is good and you can get a table on one of the terraces; and I have heard that the weekday lunchtime "menú" is a good value. It also looks like a cool place for hanging out after work or on the weekends to "see and be seen" if you know what I mean!

    Posted by diana April 06, 2010 14:49:52

  • Fragments cafe

    There are much better places to eat in Les Corts thn Fragments. For example, the bangkok cafe, vinopolis, negro, central cafe, etc.

    Fragments has a nice garden out back but in general the food is overpriced and not that satisfying. It also gets smoky inside so is not suitable to sit inside with kids like others places in the area.

    Posted by Jo June 05, 2009 16:00:58

Add your thoughts

  

All comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

restaurant directory big

Thursday

May 24, 2012

Friday

May 25, 2012

Saturday

May 26, 2012

Sunday

May 27, 2012

Monday

May 28, 2012

Tuesday

May 29, 2012

Wednesday

May 30, 2012

bar guide big