The rush of the times forces us to summarize complex concepts and yes, Alapar is a Mediterranean izakaya because it is a Japanese tapas bar with owners in the kitchen and in the dining room and Mediterranean touches in some of the dishes. But a restaurant is a complex gear and in Alapar we liked that it was that, a restaurant in capital letters where the proposal takes care of all the corners because it oozes the love that Vicky Macarone and Jaume Marambio have put in each of those corners, who remember very easily how they sanded with their hands (and the help of Vicky’s father), the woods that now give a Japanese touch to the place.
The same wood frames the sushi bar that presides over the Alapar, where Jaume prepares, one by one, the nigiris, with the hypnotic technique that crushes the rice balls with wet fingers. Seven movements at a time to leave the rice ready to be topped with, for example, toro and ponzu or eel and teriyaki sauce. In a service with a full restaurant, a dozen tables, a dozen nigiris per menu, there is no piece that does not pass through his hands.
Asian nigiris, Mediterranean stews.
Alapar is not the only place of the couple. Some time ago we told you about Varmuteo, the house of 20 vermouths. This Jap-Mediterranean is almost opposite, and here they prepare, in fact, dishes like the sunomono of their mackerel, a dish that reminds, by that mixture of influences, the Sea and mountain pork with scallop and pork broth with a tremendous maki de peu de porc, which comes at the end of the menu.
At the beginning comes a discovery: the Mushipan, a bread that we did not know we needed and that is based on a Japanese sweet bun, but here it is crowned with a tuna tartar and wasabi emulsion that gives a wonderful contrast.
The grace of the menu, what makes it an izakaya, is that cadence between classic or contemporary nigiris alternating with “tapas” of Mediterranean air, such as grilled portobello with miso and ceps black pepper sauce or mullet in its suquet.
Everything, as I said before, is served like a silent Japanese sushi bar, but with the warmth of a Mediterranean house, the essence of this place.
📍 C/ Lleida 5, 08004 Barcelona
Tasting menu 89€.