Inopia - Barcelona, Spain

Closed.

How does a restaurant opened by Albert Adria, the brother of Ferran Adria of El Bulli end up closing its doors? How does a restaurant that is always busy and always has people waiting outside end up closing its doors?

Inopia was one of the few tapas bars that we were lucky enough to eat at while in Barcelona. Inopia is a little more lively, brightly lit, and high energy than most tapas bars. The restaurant is so lively that there is a doorman/bouncer guy that controls the velvet rope.

The Eixample "Bomb" (3.50E)
Eixample is a part of Barcelona. Not sure what the correlation between Eixample the part of Barcelona and the Eixample "bomb" was, but this was a larger version of a croquette. This bomb was stuffed with meat and encased in potato, then fried to a crispy golden brown and topped and bottomed with an almost ketchupy like sauce and an aioli/mayonnaise sauce.

Tomato, burrata, olive, and microgreens
This was one of the specials for the day. Super fresh burrata topped with tomato, microgreens, and some sort of olive, then drizzled with olive oil. This was a super simple yet extremely fresh dish in all aspects.

Iberico ham, cheese, and truffle
Guess how big this sandwich is by looking at the picture? Subway foot long? Not even close. This sandwich was about the size of sharpened pencil and slightly wider than an AA battery. I guess I should have expected that, considering there was iberico ham and truffle in this sandwich. I wished this sandwich was a subway foot long. This was delicious!!!

Homemade Iberian ham croquettes (1.90E)
This croquette came to us fried to a perfect golden brown and nuclear hot, just the way I like it. I couldn't really taste the flavors of the Iberian ham all that much, but still really enjoyed this croquette.

Mini Inopia Burger (3.80E)
Judging from this picture, guess how big this burger was? 1/4 pound? 1/2 pound? Nope... this burger was slightly larger than a French macaron. The burger was cooked to a perfect medium rare/rare. This was one delicious burger and wished it was a 1/2 pound burger.

Pineapple with lime zest and sugar cane liquor (4.20E)
Since it was so warm in Barcelona during our time there, we wanted something refreshing for dessert. What's more refreshing than fresh pineapple. The pineapple had freshly zest lime skin and was then drizzled with a sugarcane liquor. I loved this dessert!! The zest of the lime really added a freshness and citrus kick to the pineapple and the sugarcane liquor added a bit of sweetness and depth to this dish.

By the time we finished eating, which was really early by Barecelonian standards, there were still long lines outside of the restaurant. Not sure why Inopia ended up closing its doors but I am sad to hear that the restaurant is closed. Word on the street is that the brothers are looking to open a few new restaurants in the Barcelona.