Food and drink blog

by Nadia Feddo

March 11, 2010

Right in the shadow of the Palau de la Música, this dark, tiny, slightly shambolic Italian restaurant is a world away from all the plasticky pizza and pasta chains on nearby Via Laietana. La Cucine Mandarosso is run by unbelievably sweet and friendly young Neapolitans and has only got about 10 tables—several of which are reliably filled with Italians, which is always a good sign. Apart from the natural stone walls, the decor is almost all food related with shelf upon shelf of wines, sweets and imported Italian products (all for sale) including high quality olive oil, coffee, pasta, tomatoes and anything else that makes you long to visit Naples.

The menú del día is always good here although the variety and presentation of dishes can sometimes be a little erratic: once a salad turned out to be two fist-sized balls of mozzarella di bufala and a tiny sprinkling of rocket leaves, which was more cheese than I’d normally eat in a week, let alone a single sitting; another time the only variation of pasta sauces was tomato and aubergine or tomato and aubergine and anchovy. However, plenty of other times they get it right, and you’ll be treated to Neapolitan classics such as fabulous bresaola, parmigiana di melanzane (aubergine pie with tomato sauce and fiordilatte), spaghetti alle vongole (with clams), peperoni ripieni (whole stuffed peppers) or scagliozzi (fried slices of polenta) along with a superlative range of homemade desserts—one of the house specialities is pastiera napoletana (a short crust pastry pie filled with ricotta di pecora and cooked wheat grains).

Aside from the meals, there are various small events (check the website for details) with evening DJ sets and live music. The latest innovation is that they now produce Italian pastry and cakes to take away: choose from cannoli siciliani, pasticiotto, panna nonno crescenzo, deliziosa (hazelnut biscuits with pear and pannacotta) and after around 6pm, they have hot sfogliatelle (shell-shaped filled pastries).

Le Cucine Mandarosso, C/ Verdaguer i Callis 4 (Sant Pere), Barcelona, tel. 93 269 0780 www.lecucinemandarosso.com

Lunch menú €10, à la carte €18-25.

Open: Tues-Fri, 9am-midnight; Saturday 10am-midnight; Sun 7.30pm-midnight.

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by Nadia Feddo

March 11, 2010

Latest Comments

  • economic and very good lunch

    I work near this restaurant and I eat there 3 or 4 times a week, I think that they don't make reservations for lunch, if is full they will take your name in a "waiting list", if people don't want to leave the table you will wait a little bit more. Anyways, for me is the best place to have a lunch!

    Posted by Carles March 19, 2010 12:10:42

  • my friendly local

    I feel I have to stick up for Cuccine Mandarosso - it is, liek the reviewer says, a bit shambolic, but I think bcnfoodie must have gotten unlucky because they hve always been friendly and pleasant whenever I have called to make a reservation and fed us very well and cheaply. It is my local and I eat there at least once a month, so I speak from experience.

    Posted by Jane K March 15, 2010 10:42:22

  • terrible experience - didn't even get a chance to sample

    This place is so disorganised and badly run, we had no opportunity to eat there. We phoned them at 12:45 to ask them if they were going to be open that day (having passed by and seen they weren't at the time). They said they were and that they'd open around 1:30. So we headed over at 2 and found it was already filling up. We were asked if we had a reservation - we said no (why hadn't we been offered to reserve when we phoned?) so we put our names and phone number down then. They said to come back in 45 minutes. So imagine our surprise when we returned in the 45 minutes to be told they couldn't seat us in the foreseeable future! Why take a name and phone number if your whole restaurant is reserved? Why couldn't they have phoned us, to save us a trip? Why couldn't they have been a little bit apologetic?? Try finding a restaurant that serves lunch after 3 in Barcelona! We were not happy! We will not be returning! And, with all the other restaurants to choose from in the city, we suggest you go somewhere else. 

If you want really really good Italian, try De Gustibus Italianae (Ricardo Calvo 13). Or if you end up stuck, like us, near the Palau de la Musica after lunch hours, Bodega La Palma ( la Palma de Sant Just 7) will warmly welcome you and serve you the best croquettas in the world - just like Grandma used to make!

    Posted by bcnfoodie March 14, 2010 10:48:54

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