Photo courtesy of Parking Pita
I never would have imagined that the best falafel to pass my lips would have been prepared inside a former parking garage. At Parking Pita, a wood-fuelled pizza oven—shared with the popular Parking Pizza inside a reclaimed interior parking lot—churns out chewy and delicious, slow-fermented pitta bread, ready to be stuffed with various delights from the Arab Levant and devoured at a single, communal table that seats around 20 people.
The intimate dining area of Parking Pita is situated in a narrow space, separated from the larger Parking Pizza, with high ceilings, skylights and parking spaces still painted on the cement floor. At Parking Pita you cannot order pizza, and vice versa, and although the pizza at this now famous spot is excellent, Parking Pizza diners are missing out on flavour-packed dishes such as the roasted cauliflower with curry, thyme, pistachio and Parmesan, and charred leeks dusted with paprika and served fork-tender (calçot lovers will appreciate this similar preparation).
The menu at Parking Pita is simple, which is a beautiful thing. With nine starters (all vegetarian, and a few vegan if you ask them to skip the cheese or egg) and five main courses, founders Marcos Armenteras and Berta Bernat avoid complication. To allow their kitchen to evolve with the changing seasons and to guarantee the quality of each plate, the menu revolves around great ingredients and expert use of seasoning.
Photo courtesy of Parking Pita
The starters, from the cauliflower and leeks to fresh, herby tabbouleh and smoky, roasted aubergine, are all shareable. The main attraction and namesake of Parking Pita comes in two styles: ‘open’ and ‘closed’ pittas. The closed pittas are pockets of housemade bread, baked in the pizza oven, that are both delicate and durable (no broken pittas and messy hands here). Stuffed with moist and crispy fried falafel or organic, tandoori-style chicken, this popular street food might look familiar to some, but comparing these nuanced pittas to your typical late-night kebab is borderline criminal. There are no mystery meats or health-threatening phosphates in sight, and their artisanal bread puts cardboard pittas, dusty pan turco rolls and austere dürüm wraps to shame.
The ‘open’ pittas are offered with three choices of fillings: roasted aubergine with poached egg, grilled lamb (slow-cooked lamb saddle and leg), or slow- cooked veal with ras el hanout spice and curry. Made with care, served with style and topped with pickled onions and cucumbers, tahini and yoghurt sauces, coriander and rocket leaves, and spicy harissa paste (little touches that go a long way)—this might just be the best kebab in Barcelona.