We had done some shopping on Pg. de Gràcia and before we headed back to our AirBnB, I scouted out a some lunch options that were close by. We dropped into Batea without a reservation and fortunately there were only a few tables seated. Batea specializes in seafood, so that’s what we ordered. Trisha is allergic to shellfish, but there were plenty of other options.
Andrea and I started with the oysters. When we asked where they were from, they told us that they came in fresh at 4am morning from northern France. The oysters were definitely fresh and very briny and also a bit too big for Andrea to ingest. So I ate the other 5. We also ordered the Bread with codium seaweed butter served in a scallop shell.
Trisha ordered the Smoked Pork Croquette, but had the prawn tartar topping subbed with a bit of picahna. I ordered the escabeche mussels since I wanted to have an authentic one after having had a relatively mid version at Jaleo by José Andrés in Orlando a couple weeks ago. This was served on top of a blue corn toast round with roasted aubergine. Not surprisingly, this one was far more delicious with more layered flavors.
They had some amberjack specials…a ceviche and collar so we ordered both. The ceviche was very fresh (as one would hope) and the marinade was colorful and very flavorful. The collar was one of the best parts of the fish and was very tender.
I was hankering for some clams (since we never received the clams we had ordered at Cal Pep the previous night) so I ordered the Galician clams. These came in a delicious Agua de Lordes sauce. Andrea only ate 1 clam, Trisha is allergic, so more for me and I ate the entire bowl (less the one that Andrea ate).
Lastly, we ordered the Betanzos style omelette. It was loaded with Iberian pork, capers, and and pil pil sauce. True to it’s style it was slightly runny and also very tasty and a much more interesting and tasty omelette than last night.
Overall, another very solid place for lunch.
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