COME by Paco Méndez

The street outside is workaday Sants-Montjuïc: shutters, a bus stop, no promises made. Inside, the volume of ideas jumps. Mexican flavour run through Barcelona product could easily be a stunt, and at COME it mostly is not; there is a genuine point of view, playful and loud in the right way, with more personality packed onto each plate than many kitchens manage across a whole menu. Worth knowing before you plan: most of the week this is a dinner, and the tasting format suits the dark hours, when you can hand over the pacing entirely. Monday is the exception, the one day lunch is on the table, and I would argue the brightness and the acidity read even better in daylight. Either way, trust the kitchen with the whole meal. I make it out this way a few times a year and it justifies every trip.