Petit Comitè (Gaig)

Two tables over, a grandmother was explaining a stew to her grandson with the seriousness other cities save for football, and half the dining room was quietly listening in. This is the crowd at Petit Comitè: people who grew up on this cooking and have come to make sure nobody has ruined it. Nobody has. Carles Gaig's name carries a whole lineage of Catalan kitchens, and this Eixample room honours the stews and market plates the tradition is built on, polished without being embalmed. It is comfortable, a little grand around the edges, yet what arrives stays closer to a family Sunday than the linen suggests. Everyone shares, everyone argues, everyone compares the dish to somebody's mother's version, and the kitchen survives the comparison. A few visits a year feels right to me, ideally with people who will fight over the last spoonful.