Quick Bites: Bellavista del Jardín del Norte

I don’t have a favourite restaurant. My favourite restaurant would be one in which everything I love to eat is combined under one roof.” These are the words of Juan Carlos Iglesias, one of the three Iglesias brothers—a famous family of Barcelona restaurateurs, originally from Galicia. As he and I sit in the high-ceilinged dining room of the brothers’ newest restaurant, Bellavista del Jardín del Norte, he explained that the wide-ranging and exciting gastronomy concept for this vast restaurant space boils down to the idea that it is considered as a pueblo (village), where the roads of different cuisines and cultures intersect. This ‘village’ includes seating areas modelled after a news stand, a barbershop, a grocery store, a church and a neighbourhood bar. 

The Iglesias brothers have been behind the creation of some of Barcelona’s most famous restaurants, including Tickets (and the rest of the Adrià restaurants), Espai Kru and Cañota. This time, they have moved away from their ‘empire’ along Avinguda del Paral·lel to Carrer d’Enric Granados in the Eixample, and joined forces with another famous name: Messi. Rodrigo Messi, along with siblings Leo and María Sol, reached out to the Iglesias brothers to bring this colourful and creative project to life. 

Bellavista del Jardín del Norte is a 1,000-square-metre space that serves everything from authentic breakfasts, classic tapas and vermouth, to an extensive raw bar offering, many preparations of succulent bluefin tuna—the parpatana (collar bone) cut was incredible—eccentric dishes, like warm turbot with pickled vegetables and spicy Peruvian chalaca sauce, and even a couple of Argentinean specialties, including dulce de leche desserts and pounded beef Milanesa.

In addition to a menu that is dizzying in its variety, Bellavista del Jardín del Norte has many other draws that have already had people pouring in since they opened in July, namely the vintage video game machines (200 games, all free), board games and vinyl records in the Foosball-themed ‘Bar del Pueblo’ area of the restaurant, and the private upstairs dining/viewing areas, each equipped with massive television screens and Playstation consoles for football viewing parties, lunch meetings or celebrations. 

Bellavista North Garden.  Enric Granados 86-88. Tel . 93 856 2949. Opening times: Monday-Friday 9 am-11.30 pm. Saturday-Sunday 10 am-11-30pm.