Catalan restaurants in Europe
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La Llar De Foc
For a hearty sit-down meal at rock-bottom prices, the ‘Hearth’ is hard to beat. At lunch, it has a €9 menú del día. You could start with a mixed salad or empanadita (big slice of tuna pie), followed by chicken in a mild curry sauce or costellas (ribs). Go for flan for dessert, as the ice creams are on a stick.
reviewed
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Can Lluís
Three generations have kept this spick and span old-time classic in business since 1929. Beneath the olive-green beams in the back dining room you can see the spot where an anarchist’s bomb went off in 1946, killing the then owner. Expect fresh fish and seafood. The llenguado (sole) is oven cooked with whisky and raisins.
reviewed
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Restaurant Roig Robí
This is an altar to refined traditional cooking. Try the textures de carxofes amb vieires a la plantxa (artichokes with grilled scallops) for the delicate scent of artichoke wafting over the prized shellfish. The restaurant also does several seafood-and-rice dishes and offers half portions for those with less of an appetite.
reviewed
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Casa Sansa
Here's another highly popular spot – or rather two adjacent places. Choose the older, more southerly one, its walls scarcely visible beneath photos of the famous and less famous who have enjoyed its fine Catalan cuisine.
reviewed
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Pla de la Garsa
This 17th-century house is the ideal location for a romantic candlelit dinner. Timber beams, anarchically scattered tables and soft ambient music combine to make an enchanting setting over two floors for traditional, hearty Catalan cooking, with dishes such as timbal de botifarra negra (a black pudding dish with mushrooms).
reviewed
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Aq
This is a bubbly designer haunt with stark colour contrasts (black, lemon and cream linen), slick lines and intriguing plays on traditional cooking, such as ventresca de tonyina amb ceba caramelitzada, tomáquet, formatge de cabra i olives (tuna belly meat with caramelised onion, tomato, goat’s cheese and olives).
reviewed
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Agut
Deep in the Gothic labyrinth lies this classic eatery. A series of cosy dining areas is connected by broad arches while, high up, the walls are tightly lined by artworks. There’s art in what the kitchen serves up too, from the oak-grilled meat to a succulent variety of seafood offerings, like the cassoleta de rap a l’all cremat amb cloïsses (monkfish with browned garlic and clams).
reviewed
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Tibet
This Catalan restaurant, nestled in a semi-rustic setting not far from Park Güell, has as much to do with Tibet as this author does with Outer Mongolia. For 50 years it has been sizzling meat on the grill and dishing up snails, one of the house specialities.
reviewed
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Can Culleretes
Founded in 1786, Barcelona's oldest restaurant is still going strong, with tourists and locals flocking to enjoy its rambling interior, old-fashioned tile-filled decor, and enormous helpings of traditional Catalan food. The multicourse lunch specials (€12.80) are a good value.
reviewed
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Envalira
You might not notice the modest entrance to this delicious relic, surrounded as it is by cool hang-outs, Lebanese eateries and grunge bars. Head for the 1950s time-warp dining room out the back. Serious waiters deliver all sorts of seafood and rice dishes to your table, from arròs a la milanesa (savoury rice with chicken, pork and a light cheese gratin) to a bullit de lluç (slice of white hake boiled with herb-laced rice and a handful of clams).
reviewed
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Casa Leopoldo
Long hidden in the slum alleys of El Raval, this was writer Manuel Vázquez Montalbán’s favourite restaurant. Several rambling dining areas in this 1929 classic have magnificent tiled walls and exposed beam ceilings. The mostly seafood menu is extensive and the wine list strong. The excellent value fixed menu, called Menú de la Fonda, includes all of the house classics.
reviewed
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Taverna la Llesca
The name of the game is hearty servings of meat (which you can temper with a little salad if you want), washed down with some red (preferably not the house wine!). A good option is entrecot de vedella (beef entrecôte), best done with pepper.
reviewed
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L’Alqueria
This smart minimalist arrocería serves the finest arrós negre (rice cooked in cuttlefish ink) and arrós a la Catalan in the city, as well as around 20 other superbly executed rice dishes, including paellas. Eat your heart out, Valencia! It’s wise to book ahead for dinner.
reviewed
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Sant Pau
reviewed
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Restaurant el Cafetí
This diminutive eatery is filled with antique furniture and offers traditional local cooking, with one or two unorthodox variations. Paella and other rice dishes dominate. It is down an arcade just off Carrer de Sant Rafael.
reviewed
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Taverna Can Margarit
For decades this former wine store has been dishing out dinner to often raucous groups. Traditional Catalan cooking is the name of the game. Surrounded by aged wine barrels, take your place at old tables and benches and perhaps order the conejo a la jumillana (fried rabbit served with garlic, onion, bay leaves, rosemary, mint, thyme and oregano).
reviewed
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Bar Joan
Along with the popular Cuines de Santa Caterina, there are a couple of bar-eateries in the Mercat de Santa Caterina. Bar Joan is known especially to locals for its arròs negre (cuttlefish-ink rice) on Tuesdays at lunchtime. It’s a simple spot, but it always fills up with hungry passers-by, black rice or no black rice.
reviewed
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El Palau del Baró
The Baron’s palace provides a romantic, sumptuous 18th-century mansion setting. Dishes are served with aplomb, and range from paella and arròs negre to the likes of the sublime grilled llom de tonyina fresca (seared tuna steak).
reviewed
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Restaurant Albereda
Elegant Albereda, one of the town's top restaurants, dishes up stunning Catalan cuisine that you could be mistaken for thinking is art rather than mere food. The menu changes with the seasons.
reviewed
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Goliard
This quiet diner is a haven of exquisite designer cooking at modest prices. Try the filete de canguro con vinagreta de curry (a kangaroo fillet in a curry vinaigrette). Book ahead.
reviewed
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Fonda Caner
Hotel Rosa's Fonda Caner specialises in hearty Catalan dishes.
reviewed
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Pilar
This compact, family-run place is where locals come for some of the best rice dishes and fideuá in town; the latter arrives crowned with rock lobster and other gifts of the sea.
reviewed
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La Tomaquera
The waiters shout and rush about this classic place, while carafes of wine are sloshed about the long wooden tables. You can’t book, so it’s first in, first seated (queues are the norm). Try the house speciality of snails or go for hearty meat dishes. The occasional seafood option, such as cassola de cigales (crayfish hotpot) might also tempt. And cash is king.
reviewed
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La Llavor dels Orígens
In this treasure chest of Catalan regional products, the shop shelves groan under the weight of bottles and packets of goodies. It also has a long menu of smallish dishes, such as sopa de carbassa i castanyes (pumpkin and chestnut soup) or mandonguilles amb albergìnies (rissoles with aubergine), that you can mix and match over wine by the glass.
reviewed
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Els Quatre Gats
Once the lair of Barcelona's modernista artists, Els Quatre Gats exudes charm with its colourful tile and timberwork (and portraits of some of its former customers). To sample the atmosphere, a drink in the bar will suffice. Otherwise head out to the rear dining courtyard, where the 1st-floor veranda is the ideal spot to enjoy standard Catalan fare.
reviewed