Buriti i K’Delícia: the essence of Brazilian cuisine in Barcelona | Gastronomy

Brazilians always leave the country. Above all, the accent, with its musicality, immediately reveals the origin of the migrants from the Latin American country. The mateix passes to the kitchen. The identity of the dishes and, above all, the presence of certain ingredients, accompanies taste and memory. Brazilian gastronomy, with its own culture, is influenced by influences from all over the world, the result of a country that has hosted immigrants from all continents for centuries. However, Brazilian cuisine tries to return to the six trends: it recovers native products, is inspired by the country’s biomes and tries to convey the feeling of food, however refined it is after its elaboration. In Barcelona, ​​​​​​​​Buriti and K’Delícia embody this return to traditional cuisine, each the old way.

Buriti, flavors of childhood

Buriti takes its name from an Amazonian palm, a symbol of abundance and life, very present in the gastronomy and landscape of northern and northern Brazil. The restaurant, directed by the owner Sara Lemos, includes two restaurants: one in Poblenou and another, with menus open for three months, in Sant Antoni. With a long career in Catalan cuisine, after having frequented Moments by Carme Rustcheda, the now disappeared Roca Moo by the Germans Roca or the classic Botafumeiro, Lemos will decide, after a trip to Bahia, to return to the recipes of his childhood, the ones he prepared when he returned home.

The chef will reflect authentic Brazilian cuisine in the menu, to recognize that the restaurant is excellent in a city close to the countryside, but poor in its flavors. The menu combines aperitifs, hot and cold dishes and desserts. The main dish is moqueca, a fish stew based on dendê oil, an extract of the fruit of the African palm, with intense aromas and flavors very typical of the north-east of the country, in Hi Ha Bahia.

The journey to Brazil, and above all to the Bahian culture, marked by the African legacy of slavery, continues in other dishes on the menu: acarajé, a massa de mongetes filled with prawns and fried with palm oil, served with sauce; Bobo, a cassava cream with coconut and shrimp; or the feijoada dels diumenges: black fesols with meat, white arròs, cabbage, taronja and cassava farofa. As for desserts, the pastry shop takes center stage with a parade of puddings, mousses and creams that demonstrate the most in-depth knowledge of what will happen to the pastry shop leader.

The atmosphere exudes Brazil for all its reasons: upbeat music, warm colors, good energy and good life. A small bar of rajoles and whips, grogue and tarong walls, maó vist and a privileged terrace overlooking the Sant Antoni market complete the scene.

K’Delícia, nutritious cuisine

A country that has gone through many family crises also reflects on the new way of cooking a concern that is more practical than aesthetic: nourishing and giving substance rather than enriching with flavour. In this context two ingredients are fundamental: arròs and fesols. Senzills, nutritius and omnipresent, constitute the nucleus of the Brazilian daily plat, the basis that accompanies gairebé any menjar and symbol of the llar and the shared taula.

K’Delícia translates this essence into the local format. In the menu of the day, vegetables and fesoli appear on the first course, while the side dishes are served on the second, in a natural adaptation to local customs. The menu could be any Brazilian family’s dinar between weekdays: steak parmigiana, stewed meat; fattened steak, arrebossat or mandonguilles, meat fritters and chicken with parmesan. Simple, abundant and colorful dishes, designed to comfort as well as nourish. The atmosphere smells of casa de l’àvia and the flavor forces you to hide on the platforms.