Meson Jesus: Jesus loves you, but maybe not on Thursday night

14th March, Barcelona
Meson Jesus in Barcelona was one of the accidental finds that fills a need. It is in a side alley of a street off Ramblas. It does not have a web presence, and I offer a link to help you find it, because find it you must.
https://plus.google.com/117807445704919269451/about?gl=uk&hl=en
The books say it is open all day, but at the moment, it is open for lunch and officially from 8pm. I went banging on the door half an hour before, and they opened up.

This is a Catalan restaurant for locals that has been discovered by tourists. The big thing is that you can get a three course meal including wine and bread for 13.5 Euros. In the past the cooking has been traditional, but the menu on my visit was regrettably simple. I cannot say whether it will change on a daily basis or what you will find there. But don't worry.

Included in the menu is drink, and you actually get your own half bottle of half decent red wine, and a dish of nuts and some bread. The interior is rustic and might be called a little touristy, but you don't get many tourists, because they either won't find it without planning or an accident, and I guess quite a few of them are put off by the name and the somewhat spartan kitsch looks. On the wall are local works of art including pencil sketches on paper table mats presumably by someone who drew for his supper.
I had the meat soup to start, which was like a hot chicken broth with bits in it.

It does not look very exciting here, but it was clearly home made, and tasted local. In the hope that I might be served a local chorizo, I requested sausage and chips next:

The surprise was that it was no surprise, but it was freshly cooked, with the chips cooked in olive oil, the sausage was a tasty pork type sausage, but I am uncertain of its provenance, and there was a strip of pepper. It may look plain, but it tasted wonderful. All of this scored an 8.7 on the CHOF scale which is unusual for Spain. There was no printed desert list, so I stopped when they got to something I know, creme Catalan

Again, a home made desert, possibly corrupted by the whipped cream from a spray.

Maybe I was simply too early, as the notice in the window said open at 8 and I was there about half an hour before, but during my stay up until about 9 pm, there were no other diners, which was a surprise, as the restaurant is well reviewed elsewhere and there have always been other diners when I have been there twice before. You can see that Sr and Mrs Ruiz (as Jesus Ruiz is the name of the restauranteur) don't look very happy in this pose surveying their empty establishment

But a better face was put on when I asked him to pose:

It is the crisis says Mrs Ruiz. The fact is that this restaurant deserves to be popular (it may be more populous at lunchtime), and I would hate it to close. So when you go to Barcelona, remember that Jesus loves you, have an excellent meal for not a lot of money and tell them that NorthLondoner sent you.