Rafa Zafra, chef of the Amar restaurant in Barcelona where the Obama, Springsteen and Spielberg couples dined last night, is overjoyed this Friday after such a special service.
"It was incredible.
As much as I dream about it, I would not have imagined bringing together three such important people and their wives, ”he says excitedly.
Although security personnel had previously asked them not to take photos of the moment, it was Barack Obama who, after dinner, went to the kitchen to congratulate the chef "on one of the most impressive meals of his life" and asked the staff if they wanted to be photographed with them.
The result was the photo that has been running on the networks since dawn, published by the head of the room, Pol Perelló.
After visiting the Sagrada Familia, tonight, the Obamas and the Spielbergs will attend the Springsteen concert,
Barack Obama visits the Sagrada Familia, this Friday in Barcelona.Albert Garcia
Until Thursday afternoon they had no news in the Palace restaurant of what such honorable diners would have.
It was the chef José Andrés who called his colleague Zafra to reserve a table for them.
He advised that there were six of them and they would be late because the flight landed at almost eleven o'clock in Barcelona.
They showed up at the Palace Hotel restaurant at midnight, when the rest of the diners had already left.
So they had the kitchen and the service at their disposal, in a luxury restaurant that opened in the spring of 2022 with a gastronomy based on the product, fish and seafood.
They looked at the menu and they liked everything, says Zafra, who prepared a tasting for them where the classics of the house were not lacking.
They started with starters such as butter and caviar toast, Bulli prawn carpaccio, anchovies and puff pastry coca with avocado and then main dishes such as peas with espardenyes and truffle,
Santa
Pau beans with Iberian bacon and tuna morrillo , the sole a la meunière or the red prawns from Roses.
The chef highlights "his simplicity and kindness" and recalls that they found everything "
amazing
".
Former US President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, landed in Barcelona on Thursday to attend the first concert of singer Bruce Springsteen's European tour tonight.
Also in town is film director Steven Spielberg, who arrived in a car behind the Obamas' vehicle.
Springsteen landed last Wednesday and is staying in the same establishment as the Obamas and Spielberg.
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Barack Obama travels to Barcelona to attend the Bruce Springsteen concert this Friday
A large security deployment last night at the gates of the luxurious hotel on Gran Via -the former Ritz- indicated that it was not a normal day in this establishment.
A row of black cars was parked in the taxi and bus lane, in front of the hotel, for a few hours, while the police diverted traffic on two sections of the avenue.
Drivers and plainclothes policemen occupied the vehicles.
A while later, Pol Perelló, the restaurant's head waiter, posted a photo on Instagram confirming that the Obamas, Spielberg and Springsteen had dined there.
Obama walking through the Born neighborhood of Barcelona before entering the Moco museum, this Friday.Albert Garcia
Walk through the MOCO and the Sagrada Familia before the concert
While the American musician has been resting in the luxury hotel embedded in the Tibidabo park, the Obamas and Spielberg have made various cultural visits to the city.
They left Greater Florida at 12 noon escorted by various local and regional police units, leaving dozens of Springsteen fans at the hotel gates with albums, books and guitars in search of an autograph.
One of them, Pilar Peragón, has attended all of his concerts since 1988. “Another 30 years would pass and I would continue coming because I love it.
Ever since they lent me a vinyl of his at the age of 16 and I discovered it, he is my idol, ”she says.
The MOCO museum, in the heart of the city, has been the first stop for Americans.
The African-American portrait artist Kehinde Wiley was one of the exhibited artists that Obama liked the most during his visit, according to the center's spokeswoman, Cristina Llado.
In fact, he photographed it five years ago.
Almost an hour later, around 1:00 p.m., Obama greeted the onlookers behind the police cordon both at the exit of the museum and at the entrance to the Sagrada Família.
Former US President Barack Obama participates in the unveiling of portraits of the former president and his wife, Michelle Obama, created by painter Kehinde Wiley, at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, in Washington DC, on February 12, 2018. SHAWN THEW (EFE)
Spielberg shot several of his films in Spain at the end of the eighties, such as
Indiana Jones
or
The Empire of the
Sun.
At that time, precisely, Obama, at the age of 27, made a brief stay in Barcelona.
The will of the former president, his wife and the filmmaker is to be located at the foot of the track during the concert, in a safe capsule that they will prepare for them.
The group has declined to follow the concert from the box, where some authorities are expected to attend.
The three of them will be escorted into and out of the concert, the moments that are normally the most difficult to manage for security.
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Photogallery |
Obama, another tourist during his trip to Barcelona
The 2023 tour marks the return of Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band live, since their 14-month world tour
The River Tour
ended in Australia in February 2017 .
In relation to the new tour, Springsteen has stated that, after six years, "I can't wait to see our incredible and loyal fans again."
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