Few Toronto spaces are as transportive as this one.
Walk through the heavy wood doors and you feel almost as if you’re in Barcelona’s Old City, sitting beneath breathtaking overhead carpentry evocative of Gaudi. While you’re here, you might as well order an injudicious number of pintxos and tapas. Surrender to the Catalonian way. The skewered snacks and small plates might feature Blackbird baguette beneath creamy stracciatella and the vinegared anchovies called boquerones; cured mackerel hunks you dunk in rosemary-garlic olive oil; or a standout take on classic patatas bravas — thinly layered slices of potato packed into golden, domino-sized pavé and drizzled with aioli. Larger dishes include a pair of curled, grilled Moroccan octopus tentacles, which run from blackened and crispy at one end to pleasantly chewy; they’re great with their accompanying red pepper sofrito.
There’s also a hamburguesa made with house-made, sherry-spiked botifarra sausage and served with two olives on top; after a few of the vermouth spritzes here, it looks like they might be winking at you.
Yes, the drinks menu is extensive; don’t ignore the sensational non-alcoholic riff on the red wine and cola refresher called kalimotxo.
