{"id":1758,"date":"2015-02-09T17:27:14","date_gmt":"2015-02-09T16:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/barcelonina.com\/?p=1758"},"modified":"2018-03-16T21:22:59","modified_gmt":"2018-03-16T20:22:59","slug":"the-set-portes-restaurant-the-history-on-a-tablecloth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.barcelonina.com\/en\/blog\/the-set-portes-restaurant-the-history-on-a-tablecloth\/","title":{"rendered":"The Set Portes restaurant: the history on a tablecloth"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"logoLet’s start with the popular wisdom: there are eight doors instead of seven in this building promoted by the millionaire Josep Xifr\u00e9 i Cases<\/strong> in the Isabel II avenue<\/strong>. We are in Barcelona<\/strong>, circa 1830, nearby the harbor when this successful businessman decides to locate in the city his home and his company. Mister Xifr\u00e9 had made his fortune in Cuba, increasing it in New York. He was an \u201cindiano\u201d and his taste and vision of the world are reflected in the design of the once the most modern house in Barcelona. To make it more cosmopolitan, he decided to open the Caf\u00e8 de les 7 Portes<\/strong> (seven doors). Ok, seven, but just because the eighth was for the employees.<\/p>\n

The arquitects Josep Buixareu<\/strong> and Francesc Vila<\/strong> were chosen by M. Xif\u0155e to build the house. It was made at the top of a big portico made with ionic columns and many terracotta reliefs about the fortune of the owner, well known sailors and mythological figures. The location, next to the old stock market, the Mail building and the Fish Market, has been always been connected with the prosperity in Barcelona. Besides this famous Caf\u00e9, its store were the home of many shops.<\/p>\n

The journalist Josep Maria Carandell<\/strong>, fascinated by the history of the building, states that the portico was built following masonic ideas<\/strong> and the pointed at several mathematic and scientific symbols sculpted in the board.<\/p>\n

Let’s focus on the restaurant’s history. The first owner was Mister Josep Cuyas<\/strong>, who left the business to one of his servers, Joan Biscamps<\/strong>, who left it to Bertomeu Grau<\/strong>. At the beginning of the XX century, the place became very popular thanks to the board games and other social activities like billiard. It was even a singing Caf\u00e9<\/strong>. Today, we can still read ANTIGUO CAF\u00c8 Y BILLARES (Old Caf\u00e9 and billiards).
\nThe store was extended buying and for the International exhibition of 1929<\/strong>, the Morera<\/strong> assumed the direction to make it a gastronomic spot in the city. Many politicians, journalist, writers and artists were loyal customers until the couple retired.<\/p>\n

\"anys<\/a>To ensure its survival, the category of this restaurant needed to be supported by another historical family. Some say a group of traders convinced the owner of the old Fonda Europa<\/strong>, Paco Parellada<\/strong>, to take care of the 7 Portes<\/strong>. He did so in 1942, helped by his daughter Carme Parellada and his son-in-law Joan Sol\u00e9. From that moment, the fame and prestige of this spot has increased day by day. Nowadays, the owner Francesc Sol\u00e9 Parellada<\/strong>, celebrates the 175th anniversary<\/strong> of the 7 Portes which still is a referent in Barcelona. This singular restaurant is filled by tourist everyday but it still keeps its local atmosphere and preserves the Catalan traditions<\/strong>: Eastern, Saint George day, the Merc\u00e8, Saint John…Some employees have been there for over 40 years and its piano, its rooms, the famous signatures in the walls, its paintings…talk about the history of the city. For the one writing this lines, is the place were her parents celebrated their first wedding anniversary. Cheers!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let’s start with the popular wisdom: there are eight doors instead of seven in this building promoted by the millionaire Josep Xifr\u00e9 i Cases in the Isabel II avenue. We are in Barcelona, circa 1830, nearby the harbor when this successful businessman decides to locate in the city his home and his company. Mister Xifr\u00e9 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[274],"tags":[308,309,310,311],"yst_prominent_words":[4867,8171,879,3271,925,8976,8165,8161,1673,8156,8169,2694,8167,8154,8158,4641,6530,8163,2405,8153],"class_list":["post-1758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eat-and-drink","tag-restauants-barcelona","tag-set-portes-barcelona-en","tag-set-portes-restaurant","tag-set-portes-restaurant-in-barcelona"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.barcelonina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.barcelonina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.barcelonina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.barcelonina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.barcelonina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.barcelonina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.barcelonina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.barcelonina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.barcelonina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.barcelonina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1758"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.barcelonina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=1758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}