El Rectangle - A Confident Newcomer
El Rectangle has quickly made a name for itself in Barcelona, with its young team of chefs and ambitious approach to gastronomy. Martí Badia, Carlos Arocha, and Marcos López have all gathered experience in great restaurants in the city, and have now come together in this exciting new project in Sant Antoni.
El Rectangle, Barcelona. Photo © Barcelona Food Experience.
The space is compact but cleverly laid out, with a few tables, and a bar with high stools. If you can, grab a seat at the bar: it’s where all the action happens, and you get to watch the chefs give each dish its final touch. One of the highlights in the kitchen is the robata grill, where many of the dishes are cooked to order.
El Rectangle, Barcelona. Photo © Barcelona Food Experience.
The menu is seasonal and inventive, with a serious focus on using ingredients creatively and consciously. While you’ll find familiar items like gildas, croquetas, bravas and ensaladilla rusa, they’re far from traditional. The gilda, for example, comes with their own house-pickled cucumber and a dressing made from leftover fresh herbs from other dishes, repurposed to reduce waste. The croqueta is made using broth from chicken carcasses that have been used for other preparations. There’s a thoughtful zero-waste mindset at play here, and it shows.
El Rectangle, Barcelona. Photo © Barcelona Food Experience.
The mains are built for sharing, with the structure of each dish listed simply by its main components: think “burrata, fig, dried fruit” or “maitake, leek, lemon.” It’s exciting to discover what form these combinations take when they land on the table. The menu is refreshingly short, and it’s best experienced with a few friends so you can try as much as possible.
El Rectangle, Barcelona. Photo © Barcelona Food Experience.
We loved the burrata with fig and dried fruit: quite addictive to be honest. The chicken meatballs with hoisin sauce and the katsu sando with demi-glace and egg yolk were both showstoppers. The kind of dishes that make you want to lick the plate clean. There are solid vegetarian options too, if that’s more your thing.
El Rectangle, Barcelona. Photo © Barcelona Food Experience.
The energy in the space is magnetic, especially around the bar. It’s the kind of place where you want to stay for a while. The wine list adds to the charm: interesting bottles and wines by the glass, all carefully chosen. El Rectangle is an impressive and genuinely exciting addition to the Barcelona food scene: a young team with talent and drive, humility and pride, and an atmosphere that feels fresh, warm, and very current. Easily one of the coolest new openings in the city this year.
El Rectangle, Carrer de Sepúlveda, 23, 08015 Barcelona (Sant Antoni).
Want to keep track of good places in Barcelona?
I save all the restaurants, bars, bakeries, and cafés I genuinely recommend in one place, so they’re easy to find when you’re out and about.
