C/Torrent de l'Olla, 78 :
Fontana, Diagonal 
: Joanic 
: 
As another night's mid-week boozing (that is to say, tireless drinkbarcelona research) drew to a close, we decided to pop into Elsa for a cheeky, and in fact completely unnecessary, final drink. Little we were to know that within this local Gracia bar lurked a Mexican film crew (if the term "crew" doesn’t overly flatter this amateur 2-man outfit) who were making a documentary about the bar and its apparently famous landlady, the former Cuban singing sensation Elsa. After a stilted and mercilessly brief "interview" in which I repeatedly slurred that I knew zilch about the bar other than that it always seems to stay open a crucial 30mins after all other bars in Gracia close, the blonde ex-diva rewarded us with possibly the fattest shots of whiskey I'd ever seen. The interview had clearly moved Elsa (though whether it was to tears or to vomit remains to be seen) and she decided it was time for a song, something I'm told she does regularly. The bar hushed, I sensed the cameraman silently glide into position over my left shoulder and Elsa proceeded to belt out, sin microfono, a song which sounded like the Spanish equivalent of "My Way", in a passionate acapella manner reminiscent of Barry's rendition of "Mustang Sally" in Extras. After 30 seconds or so of biting my lip and trying desperately not to giggle like a little girl, it gradually dawned on me that she was actually really rather good. The song ended with a round of applause and even provoked an encore. The two Mexican documentarians assured us they would be there filming for the next few weeks collecting vox-pop opinions on Elsa, so this otherwise bog-standard bar is the perfect place to go if you fancy grabbing your 15mins of fame or simply having a last-gasp cubata and shooting your shedded mouth off.
Paul
