Before visiting Spain, I searched in advance for a good café that serves Crema Catalana, one of the traditional Catalan desserts. I found that the café where I initially planned to have churros also serves good Crema Catalana. So, I visited there for two consecutive days and enjoyed both 🙂 The café’s name is GRANJA LA PALLARESA. In Spain, “Granja” refers to a type of café that mainly serves hot chocolate and churros.
At the entrance, there are food samples on display—it reminds me of Japanese cafés!
The interior has many tables and chairs. Small tables usually have 3-4 chairs, and the seating arrangements are quite close to each other.
There is also a kitchen near the entrance.
The café gets very crowded past noon, making it quite noisy. If you prefer a calmer atmosphere, I recommend visiting in the morning. They open at 9 a.m.
Here is the menu. One side is in English, and the other side is in French. When I visited in the morning, I noticed there were no menus on the tables, probably because many customers were locals. Interestingly, there was no Spanish menu—I suppose locals don’t need one! The staff understands simple English, so if there is no menu at your table, you can just say, “Menu, please.” Oh, and the English menu also includes some other languages. Credit cards are accepted.
This is Catalan cream.
Crema Catalana is a traditional dessert from Catalonia, similar to the French crème brûlée. In fact, some say it is the origin of crème brûlée, but I am not sure about that. Traditionally, Crema Catalana is eaten on Saint Joseph’s Day (March 19th).
Its surface is caramelized and hardened, giving it a crunchy texture.
When I cracked it with a spoon, the smooth custard cream inside appeared. The custard had a subtle orange flavor, making it light and refreshing. Unlike crème brûlée, it does not contain fresh cream, resulting in a less rich taste.
I paired it with coffee. Since Crema Catalana was quite generous in portion, I refreshed my palate with coffee while eating.
In the morning, many locals come here for breakfast. Unlike the busy atmosphere later in the day, the morning ambiance is much more relaxed.
In Japan, churros are usually covered with sugar, but in Spain, they are not very sweet and are typically eaten with hot chocolate. I heard that locals dip churros into the hot chocolate before eating. So, I decided to order hot chocolate with churros as well. This café offers three types of hot chocolate: Spanish chocolate, French chocolate, and Swiss chocolate.
The standard option is Spanish chocolate—just regular hot chocolate. Initially, I planned to order that, but then I noticed a woman next to me enjoying hot chocolate topped with whipped cream. I asked her what it was, and she told me it was “Swiss chocolate.” So, I decided to order that instead!
Spanish chocolate and Swiss chocolate have small portion and normal portion.
So, I ordered Small Swiss chocolate. Of course, with Churros. Four churros was served with swiss chocolate.
Look at it ! Hearty whipped cream entirely covered the surface of cup !
The churros were cold because they had been made a long time ago. But hot chocolate was so tasty, and churros coated with hot chocolate and whipped cream was good.
Hot chocolate was not drink. It’s like spreads. Though it looked extremely sweet, unexpectedly it wasn’t too sweet. Whipped cream wasn’t very sweet, too (it’s like Starbucks’). I ate it up soon. Delicious. I should have a normal portion. If you like sweet one, they serve it with sugar.
About
Name Granja La Pallaresa
Open Morning, Evening through night
Reservation Unavailable
Credit card Available
URL Website, Instagram
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