Can Fabes: The Story of a Visionary Traditionalist and his Catalan Restaurant

“You must be local to become universal“ – the crew of Catalan restaurant Can Fabes abides by their maxim.

When Santi Santamaria founded the restaurant in 1981 he aimed to celebrate his love for the Catalan region around Barcelona and its people by creating edible masterpieces. Using only traditional and local ingredients and adapting them to Nouvelle Cuisine, Santamaria was the first Catalan chef to receive Michelin’s highest accolade, three stars. If this wasn’t already impressive enough, it should also be mentioned that Santi never attended a cooking school. Originally, the autodidact and former craftsman opened Can Fabes as an informal bistro out of his parent’s home, a 300-year –old-building in San Celoni, a small town only 32miles northeast of the city of Barcelona. From ist humble beginnings this little bistro was destined to become one of Spains greatest restaurants.

Dishes such as Steamed pork neck on potato mousse with caviar, Bacalao-tripe with salchicha and blood sausage or Suckling lamb from the Pyrenees with apricot and scented curds reflect the rustic lifestyle of this mediterranean region. With his often savory and simple fare meals Santi directly took on the booming molecular cuisine that star-chef Ferran Adriàs, is practicing only a few miles away in his famous gourmet lab El Bulli.

When Santi Santamaria died from a heart attack at the age of 53 in February 2011 the culinary world not only lost one of their best chefs, but also a pioneer whose idea of returning to traditional and local food was cutting-edge and visionary. Today more and more chefs and restaurants are following his footsteps and discover long-forgotten produce and recipes and interpret them in many exciting new ways.

Santi’s partner  and chef Xavier Pellicer and daughter Regina continue Santi’s legacy and lead Can Fabes and his other six restaurants according to his belief.

When visiting Barcelona Can Fabes is an excellent choice to get a taste for this incredibly culinary part of Spain and will get you closer to the Catalan history and its people.

Located an easy stroll from Can Fabes, White Line Hotels edit Hotel Omm is another Catalan original not to be missed. For a full weekend of culinary delights, book a table at Moo Restaurant the following evening for more fresh interpretations of Catalan classics.

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Contributing writer: Julia Schröder

Images: http://www.canfabes.com/, except last photo, Javier Lastras

Living On The Edge: Barcelona: HOTEL OMM’S INSIDER TIPS

Confident, cosmopolitan, and both seamlessly and firmly woven into the local cloth — who better to ask than White Line Hotels edit Hotel Omm where to go for an experience that is deliciously “Barcelona”? Perhaps you? Drop us a line. Tell us which alleyways you slip down when in the Catalonian Capital. Did you find a fab boutique on an evening stroll? Wine so exquisite you had a case shipped home? Or wanted to? Tapas that excited your taste buds and thrilled your eyes? Give us your insider tips and you could be off to Barcelona to enjoy your favorites all over again!

To get your memories jogged, and that little piece the city of Barcelona owns in your heart pounding, here’s how Hotel Omm lives on the edge:

Vinçon is a hyper-stylish design shop created in an incredible former flat on Passeig de Gracia, right by La Pedrera. It is one of the most representative and singular establishments in the city. This prestigious company sells contemporary products for the home. Passeig de Gràcia, 96

La Manual Alpargatera. Classic, handmade espadrilles in all shades. Even Hollywood stars like Michael Douglas und Penélope Cruz wear them. C/ Avinyó, 7

Vila Viniteca. This may be one of the most charming promenades in the city to find the best wines at a great price and one of the largest wine lists in Barcelona. Also have delicatessen products. C/ Agullers 7

Bar Lobo. Lunch, tapas and drinks bar in the Raval close to Las Ramblas. Two floors with views to the street and terrace. A perfect place to stop for a snack after a walk through the neighbourhood or for dinner after the theatre or cinema. Market cooking with fresh produce, breakfasts and teas. Pintor Fortuny, 3

Quimet y Quimet. Many consider this the best tapas bar in the city. Quim is a master of montaditos offering original and bold combinations of high-quality ingredients. It is sure to be an authentic experience, where four generations of Quimets have been serving delicious tapas, good wine, cava and good company. It also has one of the best-stocked wine cellars in the city. Poeta Cabanyes, 25

Granja Viader. Opened in 1870, this is one of the oldest tea rooms in the city. Joan Viader invented the chocolate drink “Cacaolat”, knows as the first mass-produced blended chocolat milk beverage in Spain. Try the traditional sweet accompanied by honey, cuajada, condensed milk or all kind of pastries. The experience acquires another dimension if you take it in slowly. Xuclà, 4

Colmado Quilez. This is one of the most renowned grocer’s in the city. Since 1908 is it an essential stop on any gourmet’s itinerary. The shop stock more than 5,000 listing of national and international sparkling and still wines. The local maintains the feeling of times past. Rambla de Catalunya, 63

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Photos (top): Granja Viader, Vila Viniteca (top right), Vicon (bottom right)

Photos (bottom): La Manual Alpargatera, Quimet y Quimet (top right), Bar Lobo (bottom right)

Living On The Edge: A Lover From Catalonia

After exploring every nook and cranny of Vienna throughout the last month, we just couldn’t wait to do it again. Set your sights now on a new lover, one that sizzles with an intense fiery demure, full of cultural spiciness that oozes sophistication on the edge. Welcome to LIVING ON THE EDGE #5: BARCELONA.

Even if you, like us, have been there time and time again  – it holds well with the likes of New York, Berlin, London and Tokyo as a “have to go & get my fix”.  A worldly bolthole that bubbles with delicious localness and prowess.

Sun, surf + mountains cocoon this city that darts between rich Catalonian heritage punctuated by edgy art installations, brash architecture and the good life – this then is put back on the leash with rooted traditions + a healthy ethos of slow living which mingle with regional delicacies that scent each street.

Like the perfect lover – Barcelona has a youthful intensity which is both stunning + captivating, being totally irresistible – mysterious whilst being very familiar – ummm, Catalan born ‘n bred, hola.

White Line Hotels edit Hotel OMM is no stranger to the insider – confident and firmly in the hands of locals, it  sets the pace to which others follow. Luxurious in context, fresh in interpretation, the hotel is a modern classic with smoky soft lounge tones and bold extracts.

Favoured by the ever present creative scene, this is not a tourist haven, it is precisely Catalan – richly cosmopolitan and ever so fascinating  – guests mingle seamlessly, the place echoes Barcelona’ness.

WIN A WEEKEND IN BARCELONA – drop us a tip of your insider fav hang outs for the city and you could win a fab weekend for two – with or without your lover.

Three Works by Hans-Peter Feldmann, or a Feldmann Triptych to Collecting?

As much as I love an exhibition title that expands on a thought, or gives a further piece of information to unlock hidden secrets in the work, there’s also something to be said for a more direct, no-frills approach. Tres Obres de Hans-Peter Feldmann (Three Works by Hans-Peter Feldmann) is one such title, but is the directness somewhat deceiving? Trios and trilogies, after all, have long held a mythic or holy position in society (the three graces, The Father, The Son and the Holy Ghost, the original Star Wars trilogy). Or, could it be that the exhibition really is just three works by Hans-Peter Feldmann, without the weight of meaning of three, the magic number?

Feldmann’s practice is generally built on collecting, ordering, and re-presenting. These three works, whether you see them singularly or as a collection among themselves, are no exception to that generality. To start with the triptych within the trio, Seated women in paintings uses the classic triptych form, but resembles more the pin-board of an obsessive than the usual alter pieces for which the form is usually reserved – once again, a case of threes falling in the realm of the holy and mythical. It begs the question, however, if collecting raises its objects to the status of the holy. If you’ve ever known an avid collector, or spent enough time on Ebay, that question might be easier to answer.

Rounding out the trio of works in the exhibition are Bookshelves, a large scale 5-panel photograph of the artists’ own bookshelves, and Amateur photos held by hand, a series of 28 photographs of the artist holding pieces of his collection of found photographs. Here our pleasure as the viewer is not in appreciating the collection, but in the peering into the life and mind of who collected it; they serve as two voyeuristic side-panels to the centerpiece of Seated women in paintings in a greater triptych alter piece to collecting itself.

The exhibition is running at Barcelona’s Projecte SD until the 10th of September. While you’re collecting memories, and maybe some souvenirs, be sure to check out White Line Hotels edit Hotel Omm. More than just a name, here you’ll have all peace to you need to meditate on life’s greater questions, or just chill out by the rooftop pool.

Photos: www.projectesd.com

Barcelona: Download, Remix, Copy, Share

Copyright in the digital age is tricky business. When is it legal to use a great picture you found on Flickr? Can you do a public screening of a film from Daily Motion? Luckily, for artists and their audiences Creative Commons gives a bit of flexibility to the old “All Rights Reserved” standard. CC allows artists to decide which rights they reserve, and which they’re more flexible on, letting other artists to remix and share the work they started. Known as “Some Rights Reserved” the movement has helped build a rich domain of intellectual property.

BccN, the first film festival celebrating Creative Commons will be held this week in Barcelona. With over 10 million registered works, Spain is the leader in creative commons licenses. The film festival will present over 800 minutes of international film in 3 venues under the motto of “copy this festival”. That’s right you can download, remix, redistribute, and project the works at the festival anywhere in the world, for free.

Some of the international entries include the premiere of “Die Beauty” from Stina Bergman. The much raved about film is the feverish story of five redheaded girls living in a small village, exploring friendship, alienation and family ties. “iCopiad malditos” (Copy, Damn!), was the first work in CC financed by Spanish public television and explores the problems of copyright in filmmaking. Also premiering is Vincent Moon’s emotionally potent “An Island,” a documentary about the Danish band Efterklang.

A focus on the local during the “Made in Barcelona” short film competition will promote Barcelona-based filmmakers, with the winner being chosen by the audience. The projects presented at the festival demonstrate pioneering technologies, heralding the author’s rights to ownership and distribution.

Although there are 3 venues taking part in the festival the Institut Français of Barcelona will be screening the films. It’s just a few minutes walk down the Avenue Diagonal from White Line Hotels edit Hotel Omm. The hotel combines a cosy atmosphere with creative design, achieving a light and airy space to combat the heated pulse of the city.