Jiribilla, Mexican, Sant Antoni

Jiribilla, Modern Mexican, Sant Antoni

Jiribilla opened a year ago. A large mostly windowless restaurant with heroic interior design efforts to mask their absence. Large woven lamps hang like heavy udders throughout the space. Someone clever went as far as to make tromp l’oeil clear silicone puddles in the floor with all manner of seaside debris suspended for eternity.

The food is Mexican of the high-end variety more than fairly priced. My friend and I peer at the menu, the font is thin and the light is weak. Our attentive waitress immediately notices and thinking it’s a language issue rather than age issue procures English menus. The Mexican names leave both of us in the dark. What are chocoyotas we wonder? A Mexican gnocchi of corn and flour it turns out. Fashioned we find out when we order in adorable Cherio shapes and served with a generous serving of black trompette mushrooms.

We are here in October and mushrooms are the seasonal theme. We order as many dishes with fughi as we can. Sauces are important and make an appearance in various forms. In two droppers on the table a black garlic and a hot red pepper one, later in two tiny stone bowls one of fermented jalapeno and another more potent one. My Mexican chilli and ingredient vocabulary is poor. My friend and I eat and enjoy but don’t often know the breakdown – rare for us.

There is a soft shell crab taco with a distinct but mysterious brown sauce beneath it. The tiradito of pez de limon (16€) (Hamachi) comes in a mouth puckering green gazpacho – aguachile style. It’s a clear favourite for me.

We try the Porc Chuc as a main. An exquisitely grilled and charred pork loin, tender and pink on the inside with chips so fat and rectangular they are stacked like that children’s wooden tower game.

All the servers are in navy blue but at some point, I notice an incongruous excel green behind the bar and I start to laugh.
“It’s Hugo!” I tell my friend.
“Who is Hugo?” she asks.
“Hugo is like Mr Smith in the Matrix. He’s proof that we are living is a simulation because he shows up everywhere.”
She waits perplexed for me to expand.
“I first met Hugo at Vila Viniteca when I used to take my small tour groups there. Then two years ago I was eating at Ikoya and he was the chef de sal there and now he seems to be here.”

The commotion prompts Hugo to come over.
“What are you doing here?”
“They call me over when they need help launching a project.”
“How come there are so many staff?” I ask. Barcelona has a distinctly low server-to-punter ratio, and the server bodies in this space feel foreign.
“Because that’s how many it takes moreover we pay a fair wage and still do well.”

Jiribilla refers to the Pacific wind that occurs regularly in Mexico. Catalan Chef Gerard Bellver spent two decades in Mexico before returning to his native country.

Jiribilla Mexican
C/ del Comte Borrell, 85
08015 Sant Antoni
www.jiribillabcn.com
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