Bar Nuri - Review - El Poblenou - Barcelona - The Infatuation

"Catalans love a hearty stew, and none more so than mandonguilles amb sipia, or meatballs and cuttlefish. The one at Bar Nuri, a loud, boisterous bar beloved by Poble Nou locals for a casual mid-week dinner, is a minced meat affair, with beef, pork, and the secret ingredient pork jowl to make the softest, juiciest balls you’ll ever taste. As for the cuttlefish, they’re so tender you’d imagine they hadn’t done a hard day’s work in their lives. Mar i montanya translates as sea and mountain (or surf n’ turf) and refers to where the ingredients in many classic Catalan recipes come from. Barcelona’s tapas menus are full of these (like white beans with baby calamari or rice topped with squid and morcilla or pork ribs and red shrimp), but mandonguilles amb sipia is the one that makes us go all dewy-eyed. RESERVE A TABLE" - Isabelle Kliger