El Racó de Can Fabes

This dining experience was second to no other I’ve had before. While staying in Barcelona I took the 55 kilometer, 200 euro round trip cab ride out into this small town in the Catalan countryside to dine here and I have zero regrets. Maybe the best dish I’ve ever had in my life was the pork with caviar. It never occurred to me before that someone would ever combine the two. Therein was the concept behind Can Fabes. To combine the bounty of the local seas with the vegetation and livestock of the land. It was stunning, brilliant, and fabulous.

When my friend, Patrice, from Zurich, turned 50, his wife wanted to give him a surprise. When he came home from work one day, she handed him an envelope and a bag and told him to go to the airport. She did say where he was going or who he might go with. When he got to the airport he opened the envelope and found his boarding pass to Barcelona. I flew from Copenhagen to Barcelona and hid at the baggage claim exit and snapped pictures of the surprise on his face when I called him. A few minutes later we were joined by his friend Phillippe.
We took a taxi from Barcelona to San Celoni as the sun was setting. When he recognized where we were going, he broke out into a big smile. Con Fabes, you see, is that sort of restaurant. Not only did we have dinner reservations, we also had rooms booked above the restaurant so that after what promised to be a splendid dinner, we could wander up to our rooms and sleep the sleep of the good.
It was a splendid experience. After arriving and putting our things in our room we were seated at 930 PM. We would stay there, eating and drinking, until 1:30A. We chose the chefs menu which meant we were treated to one small treat after another. Who thought cavier atop a block of fatty pork would be the incredible rich explosion of flavor that it was. A single shrimp tail with a range of glazes and some small peas. I wasn’t sure I had the refined palate for such things but the dishes kept coming. We counted and took photos. I think we had seventeen plates, each one presented with a cover and not lifted until all three were placed and then they were lifted all at once. At some point the owner, Santi Santamaria, came out and spoke with us. Dessert courses came out as well and again, sometimes I was a little amused by the size of the serving in the center of these large plates. One dessert started as two raspberries, cut in half and arranged as four offset halves in a bowl. Then, the server poured in a cold soup of lychee fruit juice. It was eating a little bottle rocket of flavor. The juice with this sweet sort of creamy steadiness and then the raspberry would sort of explode with flavor.
We finished and were given a tour of the kitchen. It was beautiful and full of incredible giant blue enamel porcelain and stainless La Cornue ovens and vast clean stretches of countertop. The rooms were very comfortable and modern-​fancy with a teak-​framed tub and a strange wide stainless sink. The main thing was it was right there and that meant two things. It made for an easy stagger to bed and it meant another delicious adventure for breakfast.
I woke earlier than the others and wandered down to one of the most leisurely and delicious breakfasts I’ve ever had. It was laid out on this enormous table and all just for us. There were these artisanal cheeses and sausages. There was a giant plate of jamon iberico. There was yogurts and strawberries in clotted cream and I went, steady and slow, through it while I waited for the guys to join me.
After breakfast, we met with Santi again while he was at his desk. Patrice told him about my mother-​in-​law, Carmina, who fled Spain in the seventies and a little of her story. He signed this big book of his on Catalonian cooking and wrote a note to Carmina and when she came over from the US for Christmas I gave it to her. When we heard Santi died, on a trip to Singapore I think, she took the book out and read the passage he had written to her.
The restaurant remains. We drove by last year on a family trip up the coast. But Santi is gone and I’m not sure I’ll ever have a chance to return either.

Can Fabes existe desde el año 1981 llevado por el recientemente fallecido Santi Santamaria. Hoy en día el famoso chef Xavi Pellicer que se incorporó en el año 2010 como mano derecha de Santi S., está el frente de los fogones. Su esposa Àngels Serra y la hija de Santi, la Regina Santamaria mantienen el espiritu del famoso restaurador, que fué el primer cocinero en Catalunya en obtener la tercera estrella; ahora, Pellicer aspira a desarrollar su propia cocina basada en el buén producto de proximidad de cada estación del año. Existe un menu de 140 € sin bebidas que se compone de una decena de platos mas los aperitivos es una gozada y un placer para los sentidos.
Fuimos cuando el chef Santi Santamaría estaba en vida. En la 1a planta se podía fumar, y de hecho se veía gente fumando buenos puros en la sobremesa.
Hay otro menu por 80 € que se compone de entrante+plato+postre. Hay muchos platos para sugerir, por ejemplo, los raviolis de gambas a 54 € ó el solomillo de cerdo con morro por 49 €. Darse el gustazo por lo menos una vez en la vida en uno de los mejores restaurantes del mundo yo creo que vale la pena.

Un commentaire posthume malheureusement.
Un Menu dégustation qui n’en finit pas, voyant les plats se succédés, chacun délivrant la substance des produits choisi par Santi Santamaria dont l’accord est parfait.
La réalisation n’est pas seulement sans faute, elle transcende chaque produit, traité dans sa plus grande simplicité. Tout simplement la meilleur cuisine que nous ayons jamais mangé.
Juste un souci, chaque plat du menu qui en comptait un certain nombre, était un plat complet, ce qui fait que je n’ai pu finir les ris de veaux, qui était pourtant incomparables. Lorsqu’on lui en a fait la remarque en fin de repas le chef nous a dit, on sait on essaie de réduire les portion mais je n’y arrive pas.
L’amour de la cuisine transmis à ses convives.

It is very sad that Santi Santamaria has recently passed. Luckily we were able to visit his restaurant in Sant Celoni outside of Barcelona before that happened. Taking the RENFE north, it takes about 45 min from the Sants station in Barcelona proper. As we arrived in the sleepy little town, we took a short cab ride through the small village to the restaurant, which is a small oasis of fine dining in what is mostly an industrial town.
As we walk through the restaurant, some press are staging photoshoots in one of the auxilliary dining areas. As we sat and looked at the menus, we did what we always do, go for the tasting menu. You’ll have to excuse the translations but describing from memory is much harder than what they gave us in English:
THE ESSENCE OF SPRING
AMUSE BOUCHES
SCALLOPS WRAPPED IN PICKLED PORK NECKFAT
Local petits pois à la crème
WILD ASPARAGUS
Norway lobster, carbonara emulsion
SPIDER CRAB FROM GALICIA
Served as a crème brûlée with caviar sauce
FISH FRESH FROM THE MARKET
Morels, pine nut butter and pine oil
SUCKLING VEAL
Chamomile and spinach
CHEESE
STRAWBERRIES AND WINE
SWEET SPRING
PETITS FOURS
As you can tell, the descriptions aren’t quite there and with the language barrier it was hard to sometimes get things across. however the food was delicious as you’d expect from the 3 Star Michelin place. Given that the food warrants that, there were a few hiccups in the service. I think they had a hard time understanding my friends food allergies but in the end it worked out. It’s sad that one of the greats of Spanish cooking has passed but it’s worth the ride out, especially if you’re looking at the other parts of Catalonia in the north.

Es ist schon lange her dass wir dort gewesen sind, ist uns aber immer noch in sehr guter Erinnerung. Wunderschön eingerichtet mit Steinmauern und viel altem Holz. Ein sehr feiner Service. Santi Santimaria hat für uns gezaubert. Es gab eine große Steinplatte als Gruß aus der Küche mit 7 oder 8 verschiedenen Leckereien wie Hasenohren. Das Menu war vorzüglich. Weinkarte ist etwas teuer.