Drinking Like Fish

Remember when Gimlet was the only place to get a cocktail in Born? Now you can't swing a dead cat without hitting somebody shaking a cosmo or mixing a mojito - for crying out loud, even a revamped Casa Delfín has gotten in on the act - as the cobblestoned hood has turned into a set from Sex & The City.

I enjoyed that show as much as any other girl but, like last year's movie version, it all now seems a bit, well, anno 2002. So when Cata 9, the NY-style cocktail bar, closed, I wasn't exactly shocked. But I'm happy to report that I've been pleasantly surprised by what's taken its place.

At a first glance, Big Fish looks like yet another formula-driven place - a formula that includes an interior by Lazaro Rosa-Violán, sushi and, sure enough, cocktails - but, as the name allures to, the fish is what really does set it apart. Would you expect any less when the owner is a professional fishmonger?

It's the brainchild of Joan Soler, who already combined the selling of fish with sampling of fishy dishes at his shop across from Mercat Galvany in Sant Gervasi. So it's cocktails and sushi, alright, but also more traditional dishes and the focus being on the quality of the raw materials. So 2009.

Big Fish
Comercial 9, Born - 93 268 1728
Tuesday-Saturday 13:30-16, 20:30-24h (until 03h Fri-Sat)
Average price EUR 40, lunch menu EUR 14

By SNo