You have to listen to Mariantònia Parellada’s pertinent speech to understand why she does not want to appear in the photos or have a leading role when talking about this house in Granollers, the Fonda Europa (Anselm Clavé, 1) that the travelers, the years and the good work from a family of great restaurateurs became an institution.
In the words of this thirty-year-old, eloquent lawyer who moved towards what they call Human Resources and ended up immersed in the family business to update the management of the inn, that DNA of the Parelladas appears; the natural intelligence and empathy inherited from genuine long-distance runners that she shares with her father, the helpful and charming Ramon Parella; with the professor Paco Solé Parellada (the friendly savant of 7 Portes, another institution) or Ada Parellada, genius and figure at the head of that Semproniana (the Roman name of Granollers, where she grew up on the Fonda), a house that has already celebrated 30 springs while raising his flag against waste.
Mariantònia always admired her father, more than 30 years in charge of the much missed Senyor Parellada who, as she says, ended up retiring. She admired him “for his vindication of the restaurant when it was not a commercial concept; for his way of understanding the hospitality industry from hospitality.” Because fondismo, she argues, “consists of shifting the focus to the diner’s experience and defending values, such as those popular prices so that it does not become something exclusive; how to go beyond the ego of the chef and his creativity to focus on the tastes of the clients and the preservation of traditional dishes. It consists of working in the service of something great,” says Mariantònia.
And his father, he explains to us, managed through discretion and cultural perseverance to make the kitchen of the houses public. The fondista, he tells us, “is like that orchestra conductor who makes the entire ensemble, the kitchen, the room, the diners, integrate into a perfect melody.”
This is how she tries to continue her work at the front of the house. And it has not been easy for her, because generational change is never easy for her. “Changes are always difficult and the secret to continuity is being willing to make them,” as she has done by renewing equipment and moving pieces (in between, the closure of Ca la Sila or the Barcelona-based Senyor Parellada). With a sense of humor, her father told her that he had tried to do a little worse in her last stage at the head of the inn so that her contribution could shine more. He knows that he has a lot of learning left to do, that there are difficult decisions that have to be made and that she (“my father finally passed the baton to me completely when he already trusted me”) has not hesitated to make. And, of course, there is a passion for that house whose spirit they feel fortunate to preserve.
Mariantònia’s first memories of Fonda Europa are from when, as children, her father took them to have breakfast some Thursdays before going to school. “I’ll order cap i pota,” she said, still enjoying one of the classics on the menu.
The restaurant’s job is to be attentive to the tastes of the diner and, if necessary, adapt quantities or recipes to new demands without losing the essence. The cannelloni continue to be extraordinary, as do the rice, the cap i pota, the meatballs with cuttlefish and pig’s feet, the Montseny lamb with twelve heads of garlic, which his father contributed to the menu of this place where they continue to remember the anecdote by Josep Pla, who thought he had fallen asleep when he came down from his room in the inn one morning to have breakfast and found the dining room full of people eating those hearty dishes to which from that moment on the term “esmorzars de forquilla” was assigned. The sea and mountain noodles are a contribution from Mariantònia, with whom continuity is safe. I wish the hospitality industry had many Mr. and Mrs. Parellada.