Pepa Pla - 8.5

There’s no two ways about it: Pepa Pla is a good-looking restaurant (wolf whistles). It has high ceilings, low-hanging lights, black metal accents, and walls adorned with bookshelves (it used to be a bookshop!). My friend and I showed up early-ish (8PM) on a Saturday without a reservation, and were told they were all booked but that we could grab two seats at the bar.

The menu is made up of small plates designed to be shared. They have a few simple starters, like tinned fish, olives, ham, etc, and the rest are more elaborate fusion dishes. They pull influences from all over the world, with their menu featuring a Japanese pancake, Argentinian chimichurri, Peruvian ceviche, among other things.

They have a great organic wine list, and we each started with a glass of white recommended by the bartender (we just described what we wanted – a dry white wine that’s not too acidic).

We started with pan con tomate, which was notably fun because they brought us the raw ingredients (bread, garlic, olive oil, salt, and a tomato) and had us make it ourselves.

Next up we had a mushroom, wasabi and strawberry salad. THIS WAS AMAZING! I completely forgot to take a picture because we were so eager to try it (rightfully so). The mushrooms were sliced super thin, and the combination of the meaty mushrooms with the acidic strawberries and tangy wasabi was unreal – I’ve honestly never had anything like it. I love going to restaurants and finding a dish that you’ve never imagined and have never seen anywhere else – I think that’s one of the best parts of eating out. This is a must-order!

After that we got one of the specials of the day – a beet and tomato salad with shaved almonds. This was another spectacular dish. The vegetables were so fresh and juicy that I found myself super excited to eat this salad!! After this and the previous dish I feel confident that you should order at least one vegetable dish at Pepa Pla. These people know what they’re doing.

Then we tried the pizza Okonomiyaki, which is a Japanese-style pancake with a mayonnaise-based sauce on top. To be honest, this is probably the only dish that I wouldn’t order again. The okonomiyaki was pretty thick and stuffed with vegetables, and I felt like there was way too much sauce on top and I was trying to eat around it. My friend really liked this one though, so maybe it’s just me?

We decided to go for 2 desserts because we just couldn’t decide. We got a chocolate cake, which was tasty, dense and flavorful, but honestly the star of the show was this deconstructed “cheesecake” below. In the middle was a ball of the creamiest goat cheese you can imagine, topped with graham cracker crumbs and a divine red fruit sauce. My friend and I both ignored the poor chocolate cake after this cheesecake came out, but I don’t regret it at all.

Overall, I loved Pepa Pla. Our bill came out to 26€ each, and for what we ate, I feel like it was well worth it. It was a really fun restaurant experience, and the food kept us on our toes. I would love to go back and see what else they have on their menu!

address: c/ aribau, 41

price: 25-30€ per person

website: http://www.pepapla.cat/

good for: date night, catching up with friends