Speakeasy Review

Overall rating: 91

Food rating: 85

Speakeasy: Great place to eat in Barcelona

I was in Barcelona for a conference two years ago, and a group of us ended up at Speakeasy. Two years later, the same conference was again being held in Barcelona. Those of us who had gone before talked up the restaurant and 15 people ended up going there for dinner.

Speakeasy calls itself a "clandestine" restaurant befitting its (US) prohibition-era name. To get there, you go into the bar "Dry Martini", and walk through a door in the back, past the kitchen, and then through another door:

At that point, you are in a beautiful hidden dining room:

Bottles of alcohol line the walls, appropriate for a speakeasy:

When we were there two years ago, the experience was fantastic. We were in a private room, the food was spectacular, and the drinks were great.

On this recent visit, the food was very good, but not really amazing, but the overall experience was again wonderful. Because of the large crowd, we had a restricted tasting menu with eight "snacks" we all received, plus a limited choice of mains and deserts.

The snacks started with a mascarpone and tomato profiterole that was tasty, followed by two small mussels served with onions that was a bit overwhelmed by the onions but good. A shrimp croquette prepared with squid ink was interesting and good, while a ham croquette was pretty standard. A ham and tomato flat bread was tasty, a crusty bread and cheese plate was very good, and a prawn was tasty but again standard. Overall the snacks were very nice but nothing outstanding.

A parmigiana cream dish before the main course was small and very rich but quite good. For a main, many of us tried the suckling pig prepared with mango and avocado, which was the most interesting sounding of the mains:

It was prepared so that the skin was crispy and the meat was soft. It was quite fatty as you might expect, and was good but not outstanding. I also tried an Angus fillet that again was quite good:

Many of us got a cocktail before dinner (I mention this because we ended up also getting cocktails paired with dinner). Our waiter recommended a passion fruit mojito, but this was overly sweet. For the paired cocktails, we got an apple martini (gin) that was excellent, some form of gin gimlet that was prepared with separate layers so that you could mix it yourself, which was very good, and a mango drink with gin that was wonderful and very interesting tasting. But for all the gin (not my favorite alcohol) the drinks were great. Overall there was probably not that much alcohol in each drink (and the drinks were small for these pairings), since we were all able to walk out after the meal.

There were also two kinds of nice bread served with the meal.

The dessert options were Catalan custard cream or cheesecake with mango ice cream:

I ordered the former, but got to also have the latter (minus the ice cream) when a friend was too full to eat more.

The cheesecake was really excellent. The Catalan cream, in contrast, was one of the best desserts I've ever eaten. It was fluffy and light, with textures of fruit within it, and the tastes were perfectly balanced. Just amazing.

Dinner was expensive, but we had a lot of cocktails. Overall it was $140 per person including tax and a low tip (we're in Spain). Prices in Barcelona are not high for pretty good food, but for the experience of a restaurant like this once every two years, it seemed worth it, if not exactly a good value.

Overall, if you're looking for a fun place to eat in Barcelona and are willing to pay the expense, I would definitely go to Speakeasy. We all pretty much made plans to come again if the conference happens in Barcelona in the future. The food was only good, but the location was wonderful, the drinks were great, and the Catalan custard cream was amazing. I think this restaurant received the largest increase from "food rating" to "overall rating" of all the reviews I have posted.

Sarma Review

Overall rating: 86

Food rating: 85

Sarma: Middle Eastern tapas in Somerville

Sarma is the new restaurant from Ana Sortun and Cassie Piuma. Their Inman Square restaurant Oleana has some of the best food in Boston, and so Sarma has opened to a lot of expectations and with a lot of buzz.

Four of us went out to Sarma knowing that we would want to share multiple small plates. Most dishes with individual pieces are aimed at three people, but for an additional charge you can get a fourth piece. The basic structure of ordering small dishes that arrive in no particular order is quite similar to Myers+Chang and Ribelle. I'm not sure what I think of this trend, as the lack of an order leads to a loss of progression of the meal, and while I'm sure this is freeing for the staff, I'm not convinced it leads to as nice a dining experience. Three plates per person, plus additional specials that circulate like dim sum (we got three of these) was plenty of food for our group.

Sarma is located in the Gilman Square area of Somerville, a place I'm not sure I'd ever been before. On street parking was a bit tight but could be found. The restaurant itself is light and spacious, but quickly filled up and was fairly noisy. There is seating at a bar surrounding the opening to the kitchen.

We ordered drinks to start, and the specialty cocktails were excellent. Almost immediately, a food special came around (sesame fried chicken) that was delicious. Warm Middle Eastern bread came next that was good but not all that interesting.

We had many plates, some of which were excellent (hot dates, bay scallops, braised beef crepe), some of which were quite good (pumpkin fritters, fava bean paté, Brussels' sprouts bravas, mushroom lamejun, fatoush), and some of which were dull or only okay (Harissa BBQ duck, chicken wings [a special], lamb ribs).

Overall, the dishes were fairly heavy on cream sauces and many had similar spicing, but mostly it was an enjoyable meal with good food. The dessert menu is limited, and we decided not to have dessert.

The waitstaff were attentive and helpful, and our waiter somehow remembered the entire table's orders without writing anything down.

Prices were reasonable. For a group of four, including three mixed drinks and one beer and with tax but before tip, the meal cost $200.

Our small group was split on whether we would come back. Sarma is a long drive for us, and that would make it unlikely I'd plan a dinner there again, but if I were meeting someone who made reservations there I would definitely look forward to the meal. Overall, though, the meals we've had at Oleana have been much more exciting, despite the tight quarters and noise at that restaurant.