Eating Art in Barcelona
Artist Pablo Picasso spent most of his adult life in Paris, but he is said to have considered Barcelona, where he lived and studied art in his teenage years at the turn of the 20th century, his true home.
During September, Mandarin Oriental, Barcelona is offering a special package, Picasso’s Kitchen Barcelona Experience, to pay tribute to the man and his art – much of which features food – through events associated with the celebrated painter.
A walking tour starting at the hotel takes in the area where the young Picasso lived, his local restaurant, the art school where he studied and Carrer Avinyo – one of the city’s most stylish streets and the inspiration for his famous Cubist painting Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. It ends with a VIP visit to the Picasso’s Kitchen exhibition at the Picasso Museum, which is featuring some 180 works of art from around the world.
September offers visitors to the Spanish city
a treat for the stomach and the soul.
Back at the hotel, the chefs have been busy with their own Picasso-themed treats. Gastronomic adviser and seven-Michelinstarred chef Carme Ruscalleda has created for Blanc restaurant a southern Spanish dish called Salmorejo, from Picasso’s birthplace. At the two-Michelin-starred restaurant, Moments, chef Raul Balam is serving guests Pigmentos Picassianos petit fours. Meanwhile, mixologists at Banker’s Bar have created a cocktail named 1.623KM “Ruta Picassiana de Mougins a Malaga”, which is the number of kilometres separating the cities where Picasso was born and died.
Picasso’s Kitchen Barcelona Experience is priced from €2,500 (S$3,950) for two people and includes two nights’ accommodation with breakfast; a special cava welcome; the 1.623KM cocktail at the bar and lunch or dinner, paired with wines, at Blanc restaurant. The package also includes the walking tour and an exclusive museum visit.
A walking tour takes in Carrer Avinyo – one of the city’s most stylish streets and the inspiration
for Picasso’s famous Cubist painting Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.