You're greeted by a blackboard with six craft beers, five of them Catalan. Beer is the official poison at Il Birrino, a small space that might puzzle you at first, because next to the list of beers there's another blackboard with pasta and starters. Craft beer and puttanesca? Yes, please! From a tiny space next to the bar, Emanuele de Angelis comes out: Italian, attentive and with an incredible ability to move around the matchbox kitchen. He's managed to make Il Birrino a perfect hybrid of a craft brewery and an Italian restaurant with home-made cooking.
You can stay for 20 minutes or two hours, but you will be back. First, because the selection of beers in rotation, although short, is impeccable and adaptable to different palates. Second, because the place is authentic, with its recycled decor and Italian bustle. And third, because Emanuele is one of the best cooks I've had the pleasure to cross paths with. He's more than adept when it comes to home-made stews and is a master of pasta: he makes it right there in front of you, armed with know-how. You'll only have one regret with Il Birrino: that you didn't discover it sooner.