Bar Raval’s mussels in can offer delicious taste of Spain
In a universe in which Nick Cave could be friends with Antoni Gaudi, Bar Raval is where they would hang out.
Bar Raval is the dark and dramatic tapas bar chef Grant van Gameren (Bar Isabel) opened in February in homage to the seedy El Raval district of Barcelona.
Customers in the College St. space spear their snacks with toothpicks whilst standing at beer barrels, having selected small plates on the bar or from the menu.
Bar Raval focuses on preserved seafood, including a $68 can of cockles imported from Spain. House-preserved mussels ($14) represent the Spanish love for these confervas at a more reasonable price.
The lightly pickled mussels, a cross between Gallo and Blue species from B.C.’s Saltspring Island, are shucked and cooked in escabeche — white-wine vinegar boiled with olive oil, smoked and sweet paprika, garlic, bay leaves, onions and Calabrian pepper paste.
The 20 or so mussels in each order are attractively ringed in a recycled can and topped with escabeched onions and a fried bay leaf.
These are not your supermarket canned mussels, crumbly and smoky. For one, they are not pressure canned to be shelf stable. (They do keep for a while under oil.)
For another, they aren’t smoked, infused instead with aromatic flavours and balanced acidity. The mussels are soft and succulent, still tasting of the sea. My only quibble? They are hard to eat with toothpicks.
Van Gameren says potato chips are the usual accompaniment to canned seafood in Spain. He uses Neal Brothers kettle chips for which the house-bottled “salsa aperitivo” — an angry-looking orange sauce brewed with smoked paprika and vermouth — is made. He has bad news. “We’ll probably be taking the mussels off the menu soon,” van Gameren says.
Try them while you can. Bar Raval, 505 College St. (at Palmerston Ave.), 647-344-8001, thisisbarraval.com. Open daily, 8 a.m. to 2 a.m.