The chef at Bart Burger Gastronòmic – winner of Joc de Cartes and a member of the Colectivo Sabors de l’Horta – reinterprets samfaina on his autumn welcome menu.
If there is one dish from the vegetable garden that best represents seasonal cooking and making the most of leftovers, it is samfaina. This ‘humble’ symphony of colours, textures and flavours is currently taking centre stage at Toni Romero’s restaurant in Sant Boi. As a member of the Colectivo Sabors de l’Horta, the chef is joining the ‘Temps de Samfaina’ campaign, promoted by the Baix Llobregat Tourism Consortium, which aims to celebrate local produce, rural life and regional cuisine, championing the fresh, seasonal ingredients from the Baix Llobregat Agricultural Park.
Thus, in the kitchen of Bart Burger Gastronòmic (C/Miguel de Cervantes, 2, Sant Boi de Llobregat), the latest seasonal vegetables from the market garden – such as tomatoes, aubergines, courgettes, onions and peppers – take centre stage to shine – with the burger’s permission – on the new ‘Temps de Samfaina’ gourmet menu, with which the chef welcomes in autumn.
But as has become customary, the winner of *Joc de Cartes* goes beyond this humble recipe and celebrates the richness of the vegetable garden and seasonal cuisine in every dish of the new gastronomic offering. For although samfaina takes centre stage, vegetables feature throughout the entire menu (including the dessert), from aubergines and onions to carrots, all used and reinterpreted through Romero’s unique lens.
A menu with the vegetable garden as its starting point
The “Temps de samfaina” menu begins with aubergine yoghurt with smoked sardines, a creative and succulent bite in which the vegetable takes on a new dimension and is paired with the intense, briny flavour of the sardines.
This is followed by the undisputed star of the menu: rigatoni stuffed with samfaina and cod pil pil. A combination in which this traditional vegetable dish is transformed into a pasta filling and served with a seafood-based sauce, demonstrating, once again, the chef’s ability to translate the produce and dishes most closely linked to the region into his own gastronomic language.
And, of course, the burger couldn’t be missing: the dish that has become one of the hallmarks of Bart Burger Gastronòmic. On this occasion, Toni Romero presents an Angus rib burger, slow-cooked and glazed with honey and kimchi, pickled onion and a saffron and coriander aioli. A dish in which vegetables feature once again – this time in the form of pickled onion – and which stays true to the chef’s philosophy of bringing haute cuisine to an informal setting.
The feast culminates with a creation bearing the hallmark of his partner and master pastry chef, María Piñero: a carrot cake ingot, accompanied by a buttercream with orange and cinnamon. Here, the carrot – another produce from the vegetable garden – takes centre stage as the sweet star of a dessert that brings the menu, built around locally sourced produce, to a close.
A menu with which the chef once again demonstrates how haute cuisine can also be served on a slice of bread. Indeed, four years after the former chef of Racó d’en Cesc struck out on his own, Toni Romero continues to run one of the most unique establishments in the Baix Llobregat. The chef remains as enthusiastic as ever – if not more so – and is keen to “keep trying to create things that don’t exist, and offer dishes that no one had ever imagined before”, he emphasises.
A passion for locally sourced produce
For Toni Romero, using locally sourced and seasonal produce is not an exception but yet another example of his approach to cooking: taking locally sourced produce as his starting point and letting his imagination take it as far as it will go (which is by no means ‘close’). His connection to his surroundings and the produce they yield goes far beyond simply knowing the producer, buying directly from them and cooking with their produce.
Toni Romero’s commitment to the source (producers and ingredients) is unwavering. A close friend and collaborator of the farmer Lluís Solanas, who served as president of the Cooperativa Agrària Santboiana for two decades, Toni not only buys almost all the produce from the vegetable garden that finds its way into his kitchen directly and without intermediaries but also works closely with local farmers to revive and make the most of the land’s bounty. Thus, for example, the Sant Boi artichoke and the ‘pota blava’ chicken have become true muses of his cuisine.
In fact, as well as behind the stoves, it is in the fields where he feels most at home. His quest for the best flavour, for authenticity and roots, and his desire to bring ‘zero-kilometre’ produce to his tables, has driven him to revive forgotten local crops. This is how, together with the producer Arnau Vidal, he has revived an Arbequina olive grove – which had been abandoned for years – from which he produces his own extra virgin olive oil, Les Ràfoles.
And this is also how he has managed to breathe new life into the apple trees that once dotted the countryside around Sant Boi: upon discovering that these fruit trees had disappeared from his town – despite the continued celebration of the ‘fadrí’, the traditional dessert made from that fruit – he persuaded the Sant Boi Agricultural Cooperative to replant 500 trees. Projects with roots, quite literally, which Toni pursues with the same passion with which he cooks.
Because at Bart Burger Gastronòmic, everything is made with passion and purpose, and everything (or almost everything) bears the hallmark of local sourcing and craftsmanship. Thus, the chef is involved in baking the bread, brews his own beer and has launched his own range of kombuchas, in collaboration with Mercabarna and the Barcelona Institute of Gastronomy and Catering. And as a lover of fermented foods, he could not overlook another star product: cheese. For the past two years, he has been collaborating with Mar Rufat, from the Camins del Nord cheese dairy in Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, on the production of various cheeses. “We’re always experimenting to create cheeses with different nuances; for example, we’ve already successfully launched an artichoke cheese, as well as some ‘emborrados’,” says the chef.
From Racó d’en Cesc to winning ‘Joc de Cartes’
What Toni Romero wants to convey through his cooking, above all else, is his passion for ingredients. This obsession has guided him like a beacon ever since he left his role at Racó d’en Cesc behind. A chapter in his professional life that came to a close with thirty years of experience under his belt, but which, far from being left behind, forms the foundation upon which he has built his own venture.
He wanted to leave behind the demands of Barcelona’s fine-dining scene to find more “peace and quiet”. However, not only has the chef not slowed down, but he has actually flourished even more. Through his more “rogue and rock-’n’-roll” approach at Bart Burger Gastronòmic, he has demonstrated that haute cuisine does not need grand settings.
This was also recognised by the judging panel of *Joc de Cartes*, the popular TV3 programme presented by Marc Ribas, which in February 2026 chose him as the winner of an episode dedicated to the Baix Llobregat artichoke. This award confirmed that, despite leaving behind the lavish dining rooms and luxury tableware, Toni Romero proves that talent knows no bounds.
Source: ACEVEDO COM
