Lluerna

Lluerna is a Mediterranean market-cooking restaurant on Avinguda Pallaresa in Santa Coloma de Gramenet, just north of Barcelona. Chef Víctor Quintillà runs it with his wife, the sommelier Mar Gómez.

Quintillà worked in several fine-dining kitchens before he and Gómez opened Lluerna in 2001, when he was in his mid-twenties. They chose to stay in their home town rather than move into Barcelona, buying their first premises on Rafael Casanovas and reshaping them over the years. The restaurant later moved to its present address on Avinguda Pallaresa. It won a Michelin star in 2012 and has also been recognized with a Green Star for its work on sustainability.

Lluerna was one of the first restaurants around Barcelona to follow the Slow Food philosophy. Quintillà buys directly from local producers and follows each product's origin closely: vegetables from a farmer in Santa Coloma itself, fish from a fisherman in Barceloneta and chicken from the Penedès. Spring menus have included cannelloni of roast Penedès rooster, a morel rice with creamed morels, peas from the Maresme with sea urchins and clams, and bluefin tuna belly from L'Ametlla de Mar. Suckling lamb of the Ripollesa breed is roasted, and a poularde from Casals comes cooked two ways.

Gómez builds the wine list, and a small private room doubles as a tasting room. The main space has a minimalist look, while the kitchen is wide and full of daylight. In the restaurant the couple has also developed a circular-economy project, and nearby they run Verat, a tapas bar. A Michelin-starred table in a working-class town outside the capital shows how far local sourcing can carry a kitchen.