My all-time favorite lunch bowl

aka the bowl from Bohl

Are you into savory porridge?

I sure am. When I lived in Berkeley, a small but exquisite café called Bartavelle (which has since then changed location and menu) used to serve one, a savory oatmeal with gomasio and sesame oil, if I remember correctly, and an egg on top. I loved it.

Asians have been doing it for years: congee can be prepared very simply if you are recovering for illness, or with more toppings for bolder flavors. When I go to Japan, okayu is one of my favorite foods to find; there are still some places that serve it traditional style, which I seek out when I am in Kyoto.

Moving back to Spain meant returning to a culture where there people rarely have more than coffee and a pastry for breakfast. My reasoning is this: dinner is so late here, that when people get up to go to work they have no appetite, and use the coffee and sugar as a quick energy boost. They don’t get hungry until mid-morning (which in Spain means around 11am), when they go on their coffee break for “second breakfast”, another coffee and a filling bocadillo, a sandwich served in a baguette -with the bread rubbed with tomato, of course- usually filled with cheese, some kind of charcuterie, or an omelette.

However, in recent years, due to the massive rise in tourism, Barcelona is now a hotspots for brunch places. You won’t usually see locals there, at least not eating brunch as you probably understand it. One of these first brunch spots is close to where I work downtown, and it’s called Bohl. It opened around 2014, I had just moved back and at the time I was doing menu consulting with Gloria, the owner of Enlagloria Salad House, which was then a grad school project, and now a successful chain. I took Gloria to Bohl for inspiration, and so wanted to include a savory porridge on her menu. I think it seemed too exotic to her back then (I wonder whether current versions of the menu include any?), and it didn’t fly.

In Barcelona, the restaurant scene is quite active, and new places open (and close) all the time. Fortunately for me, Bohl is still there and strong, and the Mom’s Asian Bowl is beloved by many. During the winter months, I try to go have it once a week, but have also gotten quite good at reproducing my own -perfected to my liking- version of it at well.

I taught this nourishing recipe at two of my recent online classes (one with 18 Reasons and one for the Cancer Support Community), and the response was unanimously favorable, both inside my house -my dear cameraman told me he was salivating as it came together, and devoured it within seconds both times- and on the other side of the screen.

I have made it for good friends who loved it so much, they requested the recipe to try to reproduce it in turn, even though they do not really cook much. It’s simple to make, but oh so satisfying.