By Sharon Biggar

Editor’s note: Our restaurant reviews are genuine, independent and undercover. We pay for our meals, accept no freebies, and do not tell the staff we are reviewers. That way, we experience each restaurant just like any other customer.

A year or so ago my Sunday morning ritual was a hard climb up Tibidabo, coast back down, before settling into the Brevet café on the corner of Carrer de Girona and Rambla Can Móra, for a well-earned cuppa. The gentle clack of the cycling shoes on the tiled floor, the snap of the helmet clasp, followed by the barista’s “the usual?”, which served as a combined greeting and order, was the prelude to sighs of satisfaction over the first sip. The coffee didn’t disappoint.

Unfortunately, Santa Quitèria did.

Brevet’s old corner has been reborn as a full restaurant serving Catalan Cuisine – grander, cooler, and yet somehow less “easy like a Sunday morning”.

To be fair, the decor is impressive, the kitchen larger than the average Barcelonian apartment. The bravas were genuinely excellent – exceptionally crisp, with a pleasurable crunch of potato against the smoothness of the sauce. The padrón peppers were tasty, and the sobrasada was a welcome addition to the tortilla. All topped off with an excellent white wine. On the plate and in the glass, no real complaints at all.

The menu, though, was another matter. It defeated me. And Google.

My Catalan is embarrassingly poor – I know, I know, I need to fix that – but I had a feeling that even if this menu was in English, I would still have struggled. Anyone know what “Sam de Pop” is? Google (somewhat unhelpfully) informed me I was welcome to eat “the father of Sam” but no thank you! When half the menu is a mystery, you default to the familiar – which explains our very sensible order of macarones, padrón peppers and tortilla.

Sam de Pop remains a mystery, and I can’t help feeling that might be our loss.

A restaurant is more than the food. Great food is table stakes (excuse the pun) and to earn a place in your regular rotation, a restaurant needs more: a menu that excites, an environment that inspires, a welcome that makes you feel at home. And here is where I had hoped Santa Quitèria would raise the bar.

Dare I say that the overall vibe leans towards pretentious? It’s the kind of place that’s trying so hard to be “cool” it makes you wonder if you are.

Brevet knew its regulars, its coffee, and what Sunday mornings were for. Santa Quitèria has set its sights higher. The food is fancier, the decor more impressive, the space more open – and yet?

Santa Quitèria

Rambla Can Móra, 5

Open from 8:30 to 00:00, 7 days a week

santaquiteria.cat