Els Encants is the kind of magical, exciting market where we arrive having in mind exactly what we need, but after a few hours immersed among objects and voices, we emerge with a bag full of items we never knew we needed or that we could even find.
This flea market is one of the oldest, still functioning ones of its kind in Europe. Its current incarnation is the combination of two different street fairs, one of which began in the 13th century with the purpose of selling the property of the deceased to pay debts and provide some money for widows, and another market that began in the 19th century. Both public markets auctioned off used furniture, objects and clothes. The vendors loudly advertise their merchandise – to sell al-cante or en-cante means something like “in loud voice” – and that’s how the market got its name.
After the 1929 World’s Fair in Barcelona, the two markets became a single fair in Glorias Square. In 2013, the fair and its 500 vendors moved to a new building, which still maintains the familiar feeling of a street market while providing protection from inclement weather. One of the building’s major innovations was to integrate much more interesting and ambitious culinary fare into the market than the sandwiches, beers and cafeterias that came before. The top floor is populated with long communal tables and benches in front of a wide variety of restaurant stalls offering takeaway made from excellent ingredients. There’s everything from fried fish and squid to high-quality burgers and steak tartare, pintxos with jamón ibérico, sandwiches made with some of Barcelona’s best bread and, of course, good vermut and cava at nearly every counter.
One of our favorite vendors is El Fogó de la Terra, a chef-driven operation that uses top-notch ingredients sourced from within a 150-km radius – especially produce from Tárrega, in the province of Lleida, which we mentioned in our write-up about the popular street food festival EatStreet. This small stall is part of Albert Marimón’s bigger project, Fogons de Fores. Marimón owns other restaurants, such as La Cava, in Tárrega, and was named Chef of the Year 2013 in Catalonia.
The stall’s head chef is Rodrigo Correa, and the house specialties are meat (veal, pork and even horse) preparations and stellar spicy potatoes. Besides these, there are seasonal specialties, including gazpacho, salads and vegan burgers. The regular burgers here are excellent and perhaps a bit unconventional: Veal from small Catalan farms, chopped and mixed in the kitchen with just enough fat to imbue the patty with lots of flavor and juiciness, cooked perfectly, placed on toasted thick-sliced bread and topped with caramelized onion and handmade mustard form la Conca de Barberá. We also love the steak tartars and the patata brava – one piece of steamed potato topped with spicy sauce and allioli, smoky oil and some black volcanic salt. The patata estrellada adds caramelized onions, Duroc ham and a quail egg to the mix.
Another great stall, located in a corner of the top floor, is Stop&Mos, run by Jacqueline Dunfoy and Antoni Pampalona. It specializes in pintxos, such as egg and chorizo, escalivada (eggplant with onions) and anchovies, as well as hot and cold sandwiches made with the wonderful bread of Forn Baluard. Slices of black beer bread or the traditional Catalan coca del Mossén might form the foundation for roast beef, a burger, Catalan cold cuts (chorizo, fuet, sobrassada de Mallorca, butifarras, etc.), Iberian ham, cheeses, omelets and vegetables.
Just next door is Gall Encantat, a stall specializing in poultry dishes – besides chicken, there’s magret duck and foie gras, croquettes, sandwiches, salads and much more. Mónica, the woman in charge of the stall, also makes homey pies for sale.
On the other side of the top-floor space is Peixet als Encants, owned by one of the partners of the well-known Kiosko Universal in La Boquería. Here, the seafood and fish on offer include fried anchovies and squid, a delectable seafood fideuà with especially well-cooked pasta, grilled sardines, mussels a la marinera, fish soups and other freshly prepared specialties.
The flea market itself offers all kinds of fascinating objects for perusal, and the best way to fuel up for looking through it all is to head up to the top floor for a bite and a drink and a view over Agbar Tower.
Published on July 30, 2015
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