Chicken paired with lobster; veal meatballs braised with cuttlefish; rice dishes that blend shellfish and chicken: these are some of the most classic examples of mar i muntanya, a style of Catalan cooking that blends proteins from the sea and the land. Although a hallmark of Catalan cuisine, these dishes are getting increasingly harder to find, especially in Barcelona. But at La Pubilla, a restaurant in the city’s Gràcia neighborhood, the tradition lives on.
Originally opened in 1912, nearly a century later La Pubilla was taken over by chef Alexis Peñalver and today is considered a reference for modern Catalan cuisine. The restaurant’s lunchtime menu includes a mar i muntanya de la setmana, “surf and turf of the week,” typically a dish rooted in this Catalan tradition but with a contemporary tweak or two.
Recent examples include terrina de peu i morro amb pop i parmentier, a terrine of pig face and foot—a Catalan specialty—seared until crispy, and served on a bed of mashed potatoes, garnished with chunks of tender octopus; and panxeta rostida amb calmars i ceba confitada, roast bacon with squid and confit onions.
The mar i muntanya is always present on La Pubilla’s excellent value set lunch, along with other dishes that tend to revolve around offal or other off-cuts – the emphasis being on cuina catalana & de mercat, “Catalan & market cuisine,” convenient given that it’s located directly across from Mercat de la Llibertat. It’s also one of a dwindling number of places in Barcelona that continues to serve esmorzar de forquilla, “fork breakfast,” essentially a hearty, meaty way to start the day.
