Escalivada is Catalonia's smoke-grilled vegetable salad: aubergine, peppers and onions cooked over flame until charred, peeled, sliced, dressed only with olive oil and salt.
Where to eat it: 3 restaurants across 1 city.
Escalivada (Catalan for 'cooked in the embers') goes back to medieval Catalan farm cooking, when vegetables were cooked in the dying embers of the fire overnight. The dish appears in 18th-century Catalan cookbooks: aubergines, red peppers and onions roasted whole until the skin chars, then peeled and sliced. The dressing is austere: only olive oil, salt and (optionally) an anchovy or sliced garlic on top. Barcelona's bistros run it as a summer starter from May to October, the vegetables straight from the Boqueria. Casa Amalia, Mont Bar and Bar del Pla all run textbook versions; modern rooms like Disfrutar deconstruct it into a tasting course.
Tip from the editors. Cook the vegetables on a real fire if you can; the smoke is half the flavour. Let them rest after cooking to make peeling easier.
This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.
Casa Amalia in Barcelona's Eixample is a 1950s neighbourhood dining room where bacallà a la llauna and esqueixada sit on the carte every weekday lunch.
Signature: Esqueixada, Bacalla a la llauna
Order: The esqueixada starter and the bacallà a la llauna oven dish.
Tip: Closed Sunday and Monday. The 19 euro menu del dia at lunch is the value pick.
Mont Bar in Barcelona's Eixample is Iván Castro's tapas-counter-with-a-Michelin-star: tasting plates over a wooden bar with an obsessive natural-wine list.
Signature: Tasting menu, Iberico pluma
Order: Whichever tasting menu they call; the wine pairing is the move.
Tip: Counter seats book 4 weeks ahead. Tue-Sat dinner only. Closed Sun-Mon.
Bar del Pla in Barcelona's Born is the locals' counter on Montcada that draws the chef trade for the modernised tapas and natural-wine pours.
Signature: Beef carpaccio with truffle, Iberico pork cheeks
Order: The beef carpaccio with truffle and the slow-cooked Iberico cheeks.
Tip: Open daily lunch and dinner; book the bar over the back room. Walk-up after 22:30 is the easier slot.
More cities are in research. Want escalivada covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.