One of the best bars in the world recently opened in the Raval, it is Dead End Paradise, specifically in Valldonzella, 30. A place, modern and close, stylish and casual, perfect for all audiences.
Jad Ballout is the owner of this fantastic drinking place, which we cannot talk about without knowing the story behind its opening. Prior to this site, Jad had a bar in Beirut which was called Electric Bing Sutt-it made it to the top 50 in the world in 2019. But on August 4, 2020, the terrible explosion in the port of Beirut reduced his cocktail bar to just rubble.
Fortunately Jad and the rest of the employees made the kill, and three days after the event bartender friends around the world began raising money through events and their bottled drinks. In this way, and in a very short time, they managed to raise around 40,000 euros.
With the money, Jad and his partners made the decision not to reopen Electric Bing Sutt in Beirut, but to open a new bar: Dead End Paradise, meaning that this is a bar born out of solidarity, and its Lebanese identity, as explained by its owner.
Dead End Paradise: a bar with Mediterranean affinity
The Dead En Paradise in Barcelona was recently inaugurated by him and his head cocktail bar manager, Jade Ismael, who after the explosion went to work in Switzerland and has now settled in Barcelona, precisely for this project, he said in an interview:
“Barcelona is very similar to the Lebanese and Mediterranean lifestyle. At the same time it is a very international city that is growing rapidly in the cocktail scene.”
Jad Ballout defines the drinks of his new bar as very “experimental, but without snobbery”, very close to the consumer and easy to assimilate, as far as texture and taste are concerned. Therefore, he took the opportunity to flaunt his spectacular liquid tomato bread cocktail created from vodka and malt whiskey that is infused with bread and clarified. Its flavor has sweet notes, thanks to its tomato confit and the olive oil that gives it a slightly greasy touch at the end. He says it is simply delicious.
The inspiration for the flavors comes from the things they have discovered in Barcelona. And it stands out, for example, the Icy Pink, which is a cocktail with churros -or rather with churros syrup-. A drink inspired by a day at the rambla.
You definitely have to visit this place, a place that amazes with its glass windows, its spiral staircase, its open bar and, of course, its spectacular atmosphere and drinks.
