Restaurants in Barcelona
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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.
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Hofmann
What’s cooking here are the trainee chefs, helped along by their instructors. Dishes are generally elegant renditions of classic Mediterranean food, followed by such delicious desserts that some people prefer a starter and two sweets, skipping the main course altogether.
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Sesamo
For 'food without beasts', this relaxed corner eatery attracts all sorts. Drop by for juices and pastries at breakfast, a three-course set lunch or dinner. Wafting electronica is almost soothing and nice touches include the home-baked bread and cakes.
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Torre d'Alta Mar
Head 75m skyward to the top of the Torre de Sant Sebastià and take a ringside seat for magnificent city and waterfront views while dining on first-rate seafood. Menu hits include creamy rice with grilled prawns; scallops with artichoke, asparagus and ham; and roasted monkfish. Prices are steep (a multicourse lunch runs €48) and would seem poor value apart from the fine vistas.
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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).
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Bilbao
It doesn’t look much from the outside, but Bilbao is a timeless classic, where reservations for dinner are imperative. The back dining room, with bottle-lined walls, stout timber tables and a yellow light evocative of a country tavern, will appeal to carnivores especially, although some fish dishes are also on offer. Consider opting for a chuletón (T-bone steak), accompanied with a good Spanish red wine.
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Casa Darío
Step into the timeless world of old-time silver service and ample helpings of the gifts of the sea. Opt for one of the set-menu feasts (€50) and you will be served endless rounds of seafood wonders. Meat eaters are catered for too and you can even order takeaway.
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Can Maño
You’ll need to be prepared to wait before being squeezed in at a packed table for a raucous night of raciones (posted on a board at the back) over a bottle of turbio – a cloudy white plonk. You can breakfast on gambes (prawns), too.
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Cata 1.81
A beautifully designed venue (with lots of small lights, some trapped in birdcages), this is the place to come for fine wines and dainty gourmet dishes like raviolis amb bacallà (salt-cod dumplings) or truita de patates i tòfona negre (thick potato tortilla with a delicate trace of black truffle). The best option is to choose from one of several tasting-menu options ranging from €28 to €45.
The cheapest option is the fixed lunchtime menu at €16. Since wines feature so highly here, let rip with the list of fine Spanish tipples.
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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.
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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.
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Casa Delfín
One of Barcelona's culinary delights, Casa Delfín is everything you dream of when you think of Catalan (and Mediterranean) cooking. Start with the tangy and sweet calçots (a cross between a leek and an onion; February and March only) or salt-strewn padron peppers, moving on to grilled sardines specked with parsley, then tackle the meaty monkfish roasted in white wine and garlic.
Or tease some mussels and clams out of their shells, all the while crunching on the Catalan coca flatbread – done here to perfection and smeared with tomatoes and olive oil. For the finale, choose the Eton Mess (the English owner Kate's only tribute to her homeland) – but keep in mind that the…
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Pla
One of Gòtic's long-standing favourites, Pla is a stylish, romantically lit medieval den (with a huge stone arch) where the cooks churn out such temptations as oxtail braised in red wine, seared tuna with roasted aubergine, and 'Thai-style' monkfish with prawns, lemongrass and apple foam. It has a tasting menu for €36 Sunday to Thursday.
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Bar Kasparo
Pull up a stainless-steel pew for terrace dining beneath vaults at this friendly Australian-run place, on the corner of a pleasant square with swings for kids. It does a sturdy line in snacks, mixed salads, filled rolls and hot dishes that change daily.
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Suquet de l’Almirall
At this family business run by one of the acolytes of Ferran Adrià’s El Bulli restaurant, the order of the day is top-class seafood. A good option is the pica pica marinera (seafood mix; €38) or you could opt for the tasting menu (€44).
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Cerveseria Brasseria Gallega
You could walk right by this modest establishment without giving it a second glance. If you did, you’d notice it was chock-full of locals immersed in animated banter and surrounded by plates of abundant Galician classics. The fresh pulpo a la gallega (spicy octopus chunks with potatoes) as starter confirms this place is a cut above the competition.
Waiters have little time for loitering, but always a quick quip. The setting is simple, the meat dishes succulent and the fideuà (similar to paella but with vermicelli noodles as the base) full of seafood flavour.
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Taktika Berri
Get in early because the bar teems with punters from far and wide, anxious to wrap their mouths around some of the best Basque tapas in town. The hot morsels are all snapped up as soon as they arrive from the kitchen, so keep your eyes peeled. The seated dining area out the back is also good. In the evening, it’s all over by about 10.30pm.
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D.O
A bright, perhaps overly lit spot, D.O serves vins i platillos (wine and little dishes). The accent is placed on the opportunity to taste various wines by the glass, accompanied by small dishes of anything from salads to seafood.
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Relais de Venise
There’s just one dish, a succulent beef entrecôte with a secret ‘sauce Porte-Maillot’ (named after the location of the original restaurant in Paris), chips and salad. It is served in slices and in two waves so that it doesn’t go cold.
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Santa Maria
Swing through the doors of this snazzy place for a smorgasbord of gourmet tapas. Beautifully decked out and always busy, Santa Maria turns out innovative and specialist creations ranging from falafel to fried plantain with mussels.
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La Rita
Locals line up to dine here, if only because the price-quality rapport is excellent. So join the queue to get inside this boisterous restaurant. You have a broad choice between classic local cooking and some more inventive dishes.
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El Paraguayo
Forget Catalan refinements, teasing tapas or avant-garde pretensions. Here the word is meat - great juicy slabs of the stuff. Tuck into all sorts of tasty cuts of beef, pork and other flesh in this little Latin American oasis.
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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.
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Foix De Sarrià
Since 1886 this exclusive pastry shop has been selling the most exquisite cakes and sweets. You can take them away or head out back to sip tea, coffee or hot chocolate while sampling the little cakes and other wizardry.
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Bar Pinotxo
Bar Pinotxo is arguably La Boqueria's, and even Barcelona's, best tapas bar. It sits among the half-dozen or so informal eateries within the market, and the popular owner, Juanito, might serve up chickpeas with a sweet sauce of pine nuts and raisins, a fantastically soft mix of potato and spinach sprinkled with coarse salt, baby soft baby squid with cannellini beans, or a quivering cube of caramel sweet pork belly.
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