There are people who know ham, and then there is Manuel López. If you are from Barcelona, it is almost certain that you have passed in front of his legacy: the mythical Reserva Ibérica stand in La Boqueria, a family business with more than 35 years of history.
Manuel is no newcomer. He is a “tuner” of hams, a sort of sommelier of Iberian ham. He grew up among pata negra hams and, at the age of 14, he was already slicing them like an expert at the family stand in the Boqueria market.
Thousands of jewels from Guijuelo, Jabugo or Extremadura have passed through his hands since his childhood. He is a guy who, as he tells his story, decided to leave a job in China to bet on tradition and found his own brand of ham sales and export, Reserva Ibérica, whose store in Barcelona, a temple of Iberian ham, has branches that reach Japan.
Now, this love for the product has taken another leap forward. López has opened The Kitchen Barcelona, his new gastronomic space in the heart of Eixample (right next to his store on Rambla Catalunya).
The man who whispered to the hams
The premises, located at number 258 Aragón street, is not an ordinary restaurant. It is the logical consequence of a life dedicated to ham. It is an elegant space, yes, but where the absolute protagonist is a counter of Iberian hiccups that takes the hiccups away.
The Kitchen ‘s idea is to close the circle: from the pasture to the plate, without intermediaries and with the utmost respect for the product. Exactly as he does: Manuel López travels several times a year to the Andalusian and Extremaduran pastures to select the pig’s feet that will be cured over the next few years, accompanying the ham from the time it is still a pig until it is stuffed, becoming, as he is called, a ham tuner, an expert who regulates the hams during their drying processes to achieve the maximum expression of their pieces.
From this knowledge is born the store, Reserva Ibérica, and now also this restaurant , The Kitchen, where the hams are just one more part of the experience of traveling, as the saying goes, through all that is usable in the pig.
And what do you eat? (Quick summary)
Obviously, you don’t come here to look for foam or spherification. You come to eat product in capital letters.The start is mandatory: tasting of 100% Iberian Acorn-fed Ham, with three origins (Guijuelo, Extremadura, Jabugo) that allow you to enjoy the nuances that give the different characteristics of each region.
Then we tasted the tapas. Ham croquettes (with bechamel infused in the bones themselves), the best of the menu and some homemade bravas, candied and spicy.
But the main course comes next. Few people know that Iberian pork is comparable to veal, almost confusing: a deep maroon color and a flavor that makes you not understand. If you go, forget the cheeks stew, which hides the flavors, and order the prey: it is difficult to differentiate it from a veal loin. Well cooked and cooked to perfection, it is a delight.
The Iberian ham at the beginning and the prey at the end are the square of this Iberian circle, a journey through just a little of what Manuel knows , the ham tuner, the Iberian sommelier, the man who has gone from cutting hams for mothers in the Boqueria, to become an expert who travels the world explaining how to understand one of the products (we say it without fear of exaggeration), the most magical in the world.