Barcino

Regardless of the generation to which you belong ? whether you?re fresh from the university mill giving the rat race a try or looking for a night away from the hyperactive laughter of your kids at home ? you have probably spent more than a couple hours at Barcino, gulping glasses of wine under the inebriated illusion that they are bottles of crimson water, and munching on slivers of cheese in an attempt to satisfy the salty cravings of your alcohol-doused taste buds. Understandably of course, because wine never goes out of style; remember, even Jesus made sure there was wine at that wedding. It?s comes as no surprise either that even Manila?s younger set has taken a liking to wine, because ? let?s face it ? ours is a generation that doesn?t mind getting sloshed with five bottles of isopropyl alcohol as long as we look sophisticated and cultured while holding our wine glasses. Having been named the best enoteca at the Manila?s Best Kept Restaurant Secrets Awards in 2008, it?s quite clear that Barcino has managed to etch out its niche as the favorite Friday night haunt for the young and young at heart alike.

Like the rest of Manila, our trips to Barcino were mainly in search of alcohol, so we initially felt uneasy sitting down to dinner in the same table our friends usually occupy until 3:00 AM as they unwind after work. We felt even more uncomfortable with the dimmed lighting; perhaps Barcino is going for the atmosphere of a wine cave? At any rate, all qualms we had regarding the place were put to rest as soon as our first dish was laid on our table. Appropriately named Potato Bomb, our appetizer was two fist-sized, deep-fried balls of mashed potato and spicy chorizo, and strewn with spicy sauce. As a warning to the faint of heart, the chorizo and sauce in this dish are so spicy that even the mashed potatoes aren?t enough to drown out the heat. If you tried the Potato Bomb in recent weeks, expect something considerably hotter, because the kind chefs at Barcino deemed it wise to amplify the heat level of these giant croquettes. And we?re in concurrence.

We tried the Empanada Vegetales, which are little pouches stuffed generously with spinach and feta. Don?t expect empanadas like Red Ribbon?s, because these are more like the ones your grandmother makes. Or if your family doesn?t have an empanada recipe, comparing these empanadas to Sanlo?s Famous Empanadas should put things in perspective. Now we?re the kind of people who would rather have a big juicy steak than a salad, so we didn?t expect to enjoy these empanadas. But boy were we wrong. The empanadas were crisp and a little flaky, and the vegetable stuffing was flavorful. The sizeable bits of feta in the stuffing complemented the freshness of the spinach nicely.

As a testament to the freshness of Barcino?s ingredients, the Brochetas de Atun must be ordered. We were told that the tuna in this dish was so fresh that it was brought to the restaurant that same morning and that the chef spent a considerable amount of time painstakingly portioning out the humongous slab of fish. Lightly grilled on a kebab skewer, the tuna has a very clean and citrusy taste that is complemented well by the refreshing tomato salsa served alongside it. 

Our main entree was, obviously, Paella Valenciana. If you?ve tried Alba?s or Casa Armas? paella, the chances of you enjoying Barcino?s version are very slim, because the latter?s tastes like java rice with an extra helping of tomato paste to paint it that bright orange color. While it was topped generously with shrimp, chorizo, chicken and peas, the dish didn?t have that rich taste obtained from cooking the rice together with the different meats. The dish wasn?t much fun to eat either because it was served in a ceramic bowl rather than the usual paellera, thus eliminating the fun of scraping the bottom of the paellera for toasted rice. To be fair though, we were told by one of the chefs that they are still in the process of experimenting with new Paella recipes, so we?d be more than delighted to give the dish a second chance once the new version is unveiled.

For dessert, we had the Delicia de Chocolat, which is Barcino?s version of molten dark chocolate cake. Whether you have a sweet tooth or not, you?re sure to enjoy this dessert because after all, who doesn?t get a kick out of seeing rich, hot chocolate slowly ooze out from the core of a miniature chocolate cake? This dessert is definitely a must-try, enough said.

Seeing that Barcino is after all a wine cellar, we sought the advice of the chef and had a bottle each of Jean Perico Demi-Sec and Borsao Seleccion, both less than 700 Pesos. We?re the farthest things from connoisseurs, but our semi-discriminating palettes agree that these wines are worth bringing out the bottle opener for. We especially liked the very reasonably priced Borsao Seleccion, which has become our new default choice when at Barcino. Besides, when our flawed twenty-something yuppie reasoning tells us that it?s 625 Pesos for an alcohol content of 13.5%, what?s not to love?

We were surprised to see that the place has dropped its prices considerably, making it a pretty decent dinner spot that won?t burn holes through your pockets. Admittedly, we avoided ordering a lot of tapas in the past, because the servings were a too small considering their price. But now, with most dishes costing less than 200 Pesos, we would be idiots to pair our wines with nothing more than Salsiccion.

If you?ve ever tried to get a table at Barcino at midnight on a Friday night, you?d know that this is a futile exercise, because each of its branches is packed to the brim most of the week. And with the innovative ideas and new dishes designed by the place?s young chefs, you can undoubtedly expect getting a table to be twice as difficult, even on a Tuedsay. So if you?re fortunate enough to score a table, we highly recommend that you do away with the Altozano and instead get a Potato Bomb. Besides, the latter has more fire than you can possibly ignite with the pure alcohol that is Altozano.