Restaurants in Barcelona
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A
Cafè Zurich
It doesn’t have the atmosphere of the cafe of the same name that once occupied this prime spot, but not even the hardest of hearts can deny the location is impeccable. Pull up an outdoor pew for the human circus that is Plaça de Catalunya, or huddle over a paper on the mezzanine on a winter’s day. In summer it stays open as late as 1am.
reviewed
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B
Elisabets
This unassuming restaurant is popular for no-nonsense local fare. The walls are lined with old radio sets and the menú del día (€10.75) varies daily. If you prefer a la carta, try the ragú de jabalí (wild boar stew) and finish with mel i mató. Those with a late hunger on Friday nights can probably get a meal here as late as 1am.
reviewed
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C
Escribà
Antoni Escribà carries forward a family tradition (since 1906) of melting barcelonins’ hearts with remarkable pastries and criminal chocolate creations. Try the Easter bunyols de xocolata (little round pastry balls filled with chocolate cream). Escribà has another branch in a Modernista setting at La Rambla de Sant Josep 83.
reviewed
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D
Bar Celta
Bar Celta specialises in pulpo (octopus) and other seaside delights from Galicia. The waiters waste no time in serving up bottles of crisp white Ribeiro wine to wash down the raciones (large servings of tapas).
reviewed
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E
Speakeasy
This clandestine restaurant lurks behind the Dry Martini (p). You will be shown a door through the open kitchen area to the ‘storeroom’, lined with hundreds of bottles of backlit, quality tipples. Dark decorative tones, a few works of art, low lighting, light jazz music and smooth service complete the setting. What’s on the menu depends on the markets and the cook’s whim. A tempting option is the creamy burrata di Puglia con yemas de espárragos blancos y jamón Joselito (a huge hunk of mozzarella from southern Italy with white asparagus hearts and strips of high-quality cured ham).
reviewed
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F
Casa Amalia
This restaurant is popular for its hearty Catalan cooking using fresh produce, mainly sourced from the busy market next door. The orange and white decorated joint has split level dining that makes the most of its space. On Thursdays during winter it offers the Catalan mountain classic, escudella. Otherwise, you might try light variations on local cuisine, such as the bacallà al allioli de poma (cod in an apple-based aioli sauce). The four-course menú del día is exceptional lunchtime value at €12.
reviewed
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Cerveseria Catalana
The ‘Catalan Brewery’ is good for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Come in for your morning coffee and croissant, or wait until lunch to enjoy choosing from the abundance of tapas and montaditos (canapés). You can sit at the bar, on the pavement terrace or in the restaurant at the back. The variety of hot tapas, salads and other snacks draws a well-dressed crowd of locals and outsiders. It has expanded the premises to deal with demand.
reviewed
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H
Monty Café
Italian-run and nicely laid back, this cafe with terracotta floor, art on the walls and classic marble-top tables has a series of varied, secondhand lounges down one side and a bar at the back. Great for coffee, a long list of teas and cocktails, it also offers food, from pasta to bruschette. It’s a great place to lounge around over your laptop.
reviewed
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Inopia
Albert Adrià, brother of star chef Ferran, has his hands full with this constantly busy gourmet-tapas temple. Select a pintxo de cuixa de pollastre a l’ast (chunk of rotisserie chicken thigh) or the lightly fried, tempura-style vegetables. Wash down with house red or Moritz beer.
reviewed
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Crusto
A French-inspired bakery and pastry shop, the wonderful perfume of freshly baked bread, baguettes, croissants and countless pastries will be enough to convince you that it’s worth pulling up a stool here for a long and tasty breakfast.
reviewed
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K
Shunka
Shunka is a cut above Barcelona's Oriental average. The presence of Japanese punters is reassuring, and the open-plan kitchen also inspires confidence - you can keep an eye on what they're doing with your tempura and sashimi.
reviewed
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El Racò d’En Freixa
On a quiet residential street deep in the Zona Alta, this hushed designer hideaway offers all sorts of little surprises from one of Spain’s top chefs, Ramon Freixa. Let’s see: what about the Big Duck, a hamburger of duck meat served with bread made of cereals, crystallised red onion and frozen mustard, for a starter? You can follow with one of six seafood options. A coolly elegant place, with clean cream-hued lines and flawless service, it’s little wonder Freixa has a Michelin star and has twice been voted Spain’s chef of the year by the country’s Gourmetour good food guide.
reviewed
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M
José Luis
Welcome to Madrid! Long established in the Spanish capital, the Barcelona branch occupies a privileged spot. It is said this place introduced the montadito (delicious little canapés) to Barcelona. Pick and choose from these and a long list of pinchos and raciones, including the all-time Madrid favourite, callos (tripe). Otherwise you could sit down in the elliptical basement for a classy meal served by brisk waiters in black jackets and bow ties. Mains of fish and meat come in at about €20. You can also opt for morning bocadillos at the bar.
reviewed
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Restaurant Evo
For a five-star dining experience beneath a transparent UFO-style dome, 105m above ground, grab a cab to Restaurant Evo, located in Hotel Hesperia Tower in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat. This is gourmet dining literally under the stars (of which one comes from Michelin). Lean lines dictate decor, with lacquer-finished tables, low white chairs and the inside of the dome lit up. The high point is the presentation of Mediterranean market cooking (say, the consomé de faisà amb els seus raviolis de foie i tòfona negra – a pheasant consommé with foie-gras ravioli and black truffle).
reviewed
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O
Mitsui
For a city that until the early 1990s barely counted a couple of Japanese restaurants, Barcelona has turned Japanese. Or rather Sino-Japanese. The bulk of the cheaper Japanese eateries now scattered across the city are Chinese run and often not bad value, even if the quality may fail to satisfy more discerning palates. A popular formula is the all-you-can-eat option, where you may take endless portions of sushi and sashimi, grilled seafood and vegetables (they are grilled in front of you), salads, Chinese-style dumplings and an awful lot more. Typical of the genre is Mitsui.
reviewed
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Via Veneto
Dalí used to regularly waltz into this high-society eatery after it opened in 1967. The vaguely art-deco setting (note the oval mirrors), orange-rose tablecloths, leather chairs and fine cutlery may cater to more conservative souls, but the painter was here for the kitchen exploits. Catalan dishes dominate and the mouth waters at the mere mention of, say, rodaballo al horno con espárragos blancos, alcachofas y navajas del Delta del Ebro (oven-cooked turbot with white asparagus, artichokes and razor clams). The service is so good you barely notice the waiters’ presence.
reviewed
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Q
Cal Boter
A classic eatery that draws families and noisy groups of pals for cargols a la llauna (snails sautéed in a tin dish), filet de bou a la crema de foie (a thick clump of tender beef drowned in an orange and foie gras sauce), and other Catalan specialities, including curious mar i muntanya (surf and turf) combinations like bolets i gambes (mushrooms and prawns). Finish with a xarrup de llimona amb mar de cava (lemon sorbet drowned in cava ). The menú del día (lunch Tuesday to Friday) comes in at a good-humoured €9.80.
reviewed
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Dolso
There is a good reason for saying ‘no’ to dessert in nearby restaurants and coming here for the final dish of the evening. A constantly changing menu of sugary delights, from standards such as tiramisu to concoctions like the nemesi de chocolate (a chocolate pastry with cream of passion fruit), makes dessert in this laid-back spot a great temptation. A small selection of savoury dishes, such as the coques (a kind of open toasted broad baguette with toppings like goat cheese with honey and nuts) means that you can contemplate a full meal.
reviewed
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S
Embat
Enthusiastic young chefs turn out beautifully presented dishes in this basement eatery, whose brown and cream decor might not enchant all comers. You can eat three courses for around €20 to €25 at lunch, indulging perhaps in raviolis de pollo amb bacon i calabassó (chicken ravioli bathed in a sauce of finely chopped bacon, zucchini and other vegetables) followed by melt-in-the-mouth lluç amb pa amb tomàquet, carxofes i maionesa de peres (a thick cut of hake on a tomato-drenched clump of bread dressed with artichoke slices and a pear mayonnaise).
reviewed
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Coure
The minimalist decor gives away that a chef with avant-garde ideas is at work in his laboratory-kitchen. The end results are far from over the top, leaning to nicely elaborated dishes such as the cochinillo ibérico con manzana al horno (oven-roasted suckling pig with apple). The set lunch menu (€18) is a great-value sample, popular with office workers all over the area. There’s also a tasting menu at €45. A curtain of copper chains hides the dining area from the bar in the entrance (the name is a play on words, meaning both ‘copper’ and ‘to cook’).
reviewed
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Noti
Once home to the Noticiero Universal newspaper, Noti has an ample dining room plastered with mirrors that seem to multiply the steely designer tables. Try a peix fresc salvatge de la Boqueria, a la planxa, amb carbassó en ratatouille, mantega muntada de llimona (fresh fish from the Boqueria market with ratatouille of courgette and lemon butter) or perhaps a meat dish – anything from steak tartare to chicken curry. Start the evening with the cocktail of the day at the bar. It has lunch menus from €14 to €24, and an evening set menu at €36.
reviewed
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El Sortidor
Step back in history. Hot food has been dished up here since 1908. The ceramic-fronted fridge, tiled floor and bar seem to have changed little since then – but appearances can deceive. Turin-born Flavio runs this place, and offers a typical menú del día that isn’t that typical – how many Catalans have eaten handmade pappardelle (a broad ribbon pasta from Italy)? On Friday nights he serves up couscous and live Irish music. And on other nights he’ll only open for a reservation of 20 or more!
reviewed
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Bodega Sepúlveda
This tavern has been showering dishes (which they like to call tapas) on its happy diners since 1952. The main dining area is out the back and downstairs, with a small, low-ceilinged nonsmoking area upstairs. The range of dishes is a little overwhelming and mixes traditional (cold meats, cheeses and Catalan faves like cap i pota, a dish of chunks of fatty beef in gravy) with more surprising options like carpaccio de calabacín con bacalao y parmesán (thin zucchini slices draped in cod and parmesan cheese). You can hang out until 1am.
reviewed
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L’Havana
Little has changed in this cavernous, family-run place since it opened in the 1940s. The front dining area, with frosted glass windows, Modernista design touches and spaciously spread tables, is a touch more severe than the better-lit rear area. A great starter is the combinat, with three mussels, a smidge of amanida russa (potato salad), esqueixada and more. Meat and fish options follow, and the calamars farcits (stuffed calamari) are filling. Round off with homemade crema catalana.
reviewed
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Y
Cafè de l’Acadèmia
Expect a mix of traditional dishes with the occasional creative twist. At lunchtime, local Ajuntament (town hall) office workers pounce on the menú del día (for €14, or €9.80 at the bar). In the evening it is rather more romantic, as soft lighting emphasises the intimacy of the timber ceiling and wooden decor. Offerings range from chuletón (huge T-bone steak) for two to guatlla farcida de foie d’ànec i botifarra amb salsa de ceps (quail stuffed with duck foie gras and sausage with a mushroom sauce).
reviewed
