Carme Ruscalleda and Raül Balam, mother and son at the head of two spaces –Sant Pau Tokyo and Moments Barcelona (two Michelin stars)–, will reopen the historic Sant Pau on July 1 with a new approach and nomenclature: Cuina Sant Pau. This was confirmed by those attending Féminas 2022, the International Congress on Gastronomy, Women and the Rural Environment, held this week in Asturias. During their presentation, the culinary tandem related the illusion of bringing back to life the mother house that came to house three Michelin stars until its closure, in 2018. Then they wrote a point that, since they communicated the reopening at the beginning of the year, has been a full stop and not a final one.
However, the new Cuina Sant Pau, which will occupy the historic headquarters of the Sant Pol de Mar restaurant, is called to make a more informal cuisine that appeals to the roots of the original establishment from which Sant Pau was born: a grocery store in which prepared food to take away and in which fresh and seasonal products were also sold. The seasonality of the cuisine that Ruscalleda and Balam plan for this new stage will be very marked, according to the clues that they revealed on the congress stage.
Thus, Cuina Sant Pau will somehow collect the essence of a house in which, for its reopening, a historical nod will be made. “July 1 falls on a Friday and it was a Friday of July 1 when my mother opened Sant Pau 34 years ago,” explained Raül Balam. History will thus be present in the proposed menu that both have in mind: from the cannelloni that Carme Ruscalleda made in the beginning and for which customers would travel miles from Barcelona to take them home, to the iconic ‘tomato velvet’ that marked an era in haute cuisine for the Catalan chef.
The environment will be present, with a local product, but without radicalism. According to mother and son, there will be more casual dishes to share, restoring the festive spirit, the motivation to go to the Ruscalleda-Balam restaurant as a special occasion.
Sant Pau kitchen
Carrer Nou, 10. Sant Pol de Mar. Barcelona.
Expected opening date: July 1, 2022.
