3 minute read
» Cover Story
LO RAPITENC
FROME’S FLAVOUR OF SPAIN
Advertisement
When Lo Rapitenc opened its doors on Cheap Street in 2021, it didn’t take long for this exceptional Spanish deli and café to win over the hearts and stomachs of local food enthusiasts. Owned by husband and wife team, Marc and Alice, Lo Rapitenc was born from a combination of nostalgia for the food of Marc’s Spanish homeland, and the time offered during the pandemic to turn their much discussed dream into a reality.
“The opening of a deli is something that has been brewing for years. I really enjoy cooking traditional Catalan/Spanish food and Alice always encouraged me to open something related to food, but we never stopped and talked seriously about the possibility of owning our own business. Things started getting serious during the pandemic, and we decided to go for it and find premises to open Lo Rapitenc. We spent nearly a year planning the name and what we would sell in our little shop.”
As always in Frome, you’ll find the best information comes from discussions with other locals, and this was definitely the case when Marc was looking for premises. “It was thanks to Hannah from Ramshack Barbers that we found what is now Lo Rapitenc, when she told me that Sagebury Cheese was planning on selling the building. After initial contact, the owner got in touch to say that the new landlords really liked my business idea and they’d like to talk to me.”
Growing up in Spain, food was a big part of Marc’s life, and the dishes of his childhood have stayed with him, and inspire him today.
“My passion for food started when I opened Lo Rapitenc, but before then it was pure love, memories and experiences. The dish that takes me to a very special memory is eel stew (we don’t do it at Lo Rapitenc). My granddad and I were the only ones in our big family who liked eel, and every Christmas I used to take him to buy fresh eel at a place he worked as a fisherman, then he would cook it and we both would eat together on Christmas Day. Sadly he passed away three years ago, at ninety-six, and I haven’t eaten any more eel since.
Photography © Sarah Gichie
“My cousin Victor, a fisherman and onboard cook, does the most delicious fish stews that you can imagine (after the ones my granddad did!). Fish dishes really remind me of my home town. You grow up eating fish and seafood at home, and when you are older you go out for vermut (a tapas meal between brunch and lunch), still eating the same food but now with friends. We used to skip college to go for breakfast, which included dishes like cod in tomato sauce or fried eggs with chips and lamb chops, finished off with a carajillo (coffee with alcohol).
“Some of my favourite foods that we sell in the shop include piquillo peppers, a special small red pepper from the Basque country that has been slow roasted and that has a really smoky flavour, the extra virgin olive oil, harvested and pressed 20km from home, and the five varieties of rice, some of them farmed by my good friend Carril on my homeland.
“We serve traditional Spanish/Catalan dishes - one of my favourites is the croquetas, made by our brilliant chefs Lucy and James. The flavour changes almost on a daily basis. We use all sorts of ingredients, but my favourite ones are Iberico ham or piquillo peppers. We also have classic dishes like broken eggs or escalivada, dishes that my granny used to cook for all our cousins every time we slept over. We also serve a selection of wines, sherries and beers, including Estrella Damm.”
This July, Lo Rapitenc are hosting two events as part of Frome Festival, and will be open almost every night while the festival is on (excluding Sundays, Mondays and July 2nd). You can also find Marc at the Frome Independent (just opposite the Blue Boar) serving their famous BBQ chorizo brioche bun.
Tuesday to Saturday 10am – 4pm (tapas from midday until 3pm) Friday 6pm – 10pm (and soon to open Saturday 6pm – 10pm)
