Get down and dirty with Calçots and a Calçotada in Sitges… anyone??

So what exactly is a Calçotada??

You pull a big group of friends/family together usually outdoors but also in restaurants, you get dirty, you wear a bib, you drink some wine, you have fun and you eat Calçots followed by barbequed meat or traditional Catalan fare of beans and butifarra and dear reader is officially a Calçotada!

Eaten only during the Winter months and only in Catalunia, a calçot is basically and great big spring onion, the eating of which is an experience all by itself. Even adults wear bibs to avoid the thick tasty romesco sauce falling on their clothes as the Calçot is dropped into their mouth from a height.

Some say it is all about the sauce but in truth the sauce would be nothing without the humble onion.

A lover of Calçots could eat about 25-30 calçots in one sitting and this is just the first course.

There is no way to avoid getting dirty as to eat these BBQd onions involves peeling off the burned outer layers with your hands before dipping in the sauce. There is a high risk of sauce falling on your face or on your clothes, hence the bib but all in all despite the risks of humiliation and mess a calçotada should not be missed if you are in Sitges during the Winter months.

Of course while many people will organise their own get together outdoors, you don’t have to actually be invited to an official Calçotada in order to partake as many restaurants especially the more traditional Catalan restaurants will offer this as part of their menu.

Our favourite places around Sitges to eat Calçots are:

Can Lloses: www.canlloses.com which is on the road towards Olivella and has some nice countryside views

Les Piques: www.posada-piques.com where the owner Juan will even give you a tour of the kitchen and explain how many Calçots they need to cook in order to keep the masses content.