I recently published a post of my top picks in Barcelona after my month here so far. Well, I have another suggested stopoff during your next visit here: Sesamo. Tucked down a side street a little out of the way (well, off the tourist track), it’s worth making the trip (and perfect on your way back into the centre if you’ve just visited Montjuic castle).
Sésamo
Carrer de Sant Antoni Abat, 52
Nearest Metro: Paral-lel
Website (Facebook)
Tel: +34 934 41 64 11
Sesamo looks like a traditional Spanish bar/restaurant, serving dishes you might expect at a typical Barcelona establishment or a standard vegetarian restaurant – like pan amb tomaquet (bread rubbed with tomato and olive oil) or mushroom puff pastry (which I daresay sounds British – or rather like typical British vegetarian fare!).
But then the waiter hauls out a giant chalkboard menu of the day’s specials and you are presented with a variety of exotic foods – and unusual (and unusually enticing) twists on typical Spanish fare. Sesamo don’t just do gazpacho – they do tomato and smoked watermelon gazpacho.
They don’t just serve pimientos de padron (a typical tapas dish of peppers fried in olive oil with large chunks of salt). They serve pimientos de padron with chilli powder, lime and sea salt.
And Sesamo don’t just do some namby-pamby cauliflower curry. Oh no. They roast a whole bloody cauliflower, spear it with a knife, and then coat it in tahini sauce, chilli and coriander salsa, pine nuts and pomegranate seeds and present it to you. It might be the size of your head, but goddamnit it, you will probably polish off the whole thing (at least I did).
The only downside to Sesamo is that their vegan dessert menu is sorely lacking. They had a very extensive dessert menu the day I was there that must have contained 10 or 15 dishes, only 2 or 3 of which were vegan. I was too stuffed full of cauliflower to contemplate dessert (there’s a sentence I never thought I’d say) but my suggestion would be to go to any ice cream place locally. Most gelato places in Barcelona offer some dairy-free ice creams (ask for sin leche/productos lacteos) and they are generally delicious.
Get yourself to Barcelona. And Sesamo.
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4 thoughts on “Restaurant Review: Sesamo, Barcelona”
… that cauliflower. Just, that cauliflower. Wow.
I know, right?!?!
You’re not wrong about eating the whole cauliflower – I love roasted cauli, and sticking an enormous spike through it just makes it look even cooler. I’m still impressed that you could get two or three vegan desserts – I’d be impressed if London restaurants did even that!
I love cauliflower but I’ve never had so much at once or basically on its own – but my god, what an experience! Although I suspect if you stick a spike in just about anything it will up its coolness factor by at least ten ;)