To Be brings the best of southern Italian food to Barcelona – mainly that of Naples, which is where chef Raffaella Pisani hails from. The menu includes the pizza 'fritta' (fried pizza) — a classic Neapolitan street food — and the pizza 'bianca', which can be ordered with oil, salt and rosemary. A simple but delicious starter of speck (lightly smoked South Tyrolean ham) is accompanied by a superb gorgonzola, one of the great European cheeses, and walnuts.
The pasta menu is another forte. The 'agnolini', handmade by Pisani, is served with butter and sage. They are excellent, as are the ravioli filled with exquisite ricotta and served with an artichoke sauce – although the intensity of the sauce can prevent you from fully appreciating the elegance of the home-made pasta and its filling. The desserts are also prepared by Pisani herself. The chef has her own way of serving 'cannoli siciliani', tubular shells of fried pastry dough filled with sweet ricotta: she presents them in two halves, so that diners can share one, dipping the fried dough into the magnificent filling, the result of a fusion of Arab and Swiss influences.