At the corner of Sudring and Brüderstraße is Badalona, a tapas and cava bar. For so many months, I've always walked passed it but it was always closed or I was on my way to dinner elsewhere. That evening, it was the perfect venue for a very poignant time in my life.
I wanted to have croquetas de bacalao but they didn't have that evening so S and I just had a serving of croquetas de jamon instead. I couldn't taste the jamon let alone find it inside the tiny croqueta. But it was okay. I loved the ambiance. Later on, S had some torta de papas, then we ordered calamares a la plancha and chorizo de merguez, which is not actually Spanish but French - S' favorite, apparently. With this, S had Belgian beer and I had white wine. I know, I didn't even ask where it was from or what kind. I didn't want to think.
But Badalona was just as I hoped it would be. A small space with few tables and bar stools, dim lights, big windows, lots of properly dressed yuppie-looking people -- non-students. And pintxos, cava, beer, wine, tapas and bocadillos but not in a traditional Spanish setting like those in Madrid. Certainly, it was very Barcelona - the interiors were cosmopolitan but the actual food was authentic. And the server who attended to us was trilingual - German, Spanish, and English. He was very attentive until the place got full. A gentle reminder by the bar from S was all that was needed.
And apart from the food and ambiance, I remember it most because earlier in the evening, Motown and 70's disco was played, later on, it was subtle electro. By the time we left, it was Johnny Cash. That was my queue to exit.
Badalona Brüderstraße 2, 44787 Bochum; Öffnungszeiten: täglich 17 bis 24 Uhr
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