Esqueixada is a Catalan summer salad: salt-cod, hand-shredded raw, with tomato, sweet onion, black olives, dressed with olive oil and a splash of red wine vinegar.
Where to eat it: 3 restaurants across 1 city.
Esqueixada (Catalan for 'torn') belongs to the wider Mediterranean cooking-without-fire summer tradition: the salt-cod is desalted in cold water for 24 hours, then shredded by hand rather than knifed. The dish belongs to the inland Catalan kitchens where salt-preserved bacallà was the working-class fish; Barcelona refined it into a sit-down summer starter by the 1900s. The canonical version layers shredded cod over halved cherry tomatoes, ribbons of sweet white onion, oil-cured black olives, and a few drops of olive oil and Pedro Ximenez vinegar. Casa Amalia and Can Vilaro both run the textbook plate; modern Catalan rooms like Mont Bar plate it with heirloom tomatoes.
Common allergens: Fish
Tip from the editors. Salt cod must be desalted for at least 24 hours; under-desalted cod ruins the dish. Buy desalted cod fresh from the Boqueria if you can.
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.
Can Vilaro in Barcelona's Sant Antoni has cooked Catalan working-class plates since 1948: cap i pota, botifarra amb mongetes, daily off-the-bone fish stew.
Signature: Cap i pota, Botifarra amb mongetes
Order: The botifarra amb mongetes and a glass of house red.
Tip: Closed Sundays. Cash easier than card. Lunch menu del dia is 13 euros.
Cerveseria Catalana in Barcelona's Eixample is the all-day tapas counter where every plate sits on the bar in glass cases. Order by pointing at sight.
Signature: Patatas bravas, Pulpo a la gallega
Order: The patatas bravas, the pulpo, the seared foie montadito.
Tip: No reservations; queue forms at 13:00. Get there at 12:30 for a counter seat or skip to 16:30 service.
More cities are in research. Want esqueixada covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.