Bar entertainment in Spain
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El Mojito
El Mojito is a modern temple to one of the favourite drinks of madrileños. In fact, it doesn’t really serve much else, but the price is right (€6) and the crowd is oh-so-cool and all dressed in black; the music (often live on Thursdays) is as Cuban as the mojitos. Space is always at a premium (the wall-to-ceiling mirrors make it look larger than it is).
reviewed
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B
Palau de Dalmases - Espai Barroc
Perhaps the most pretentious bar in town, this 'baroque space' occupies the ground floor of a handsome 15th-century palace. Like a Peter Greenaway set, it is often the stage for a little light baroque music or operetta - the perfect accompaniment to your outlandishly priced goblets of wine.
reviewed
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C
Maiden's
Maiden's (for heavy metal maniacs) offers boisterous beer and thumping tunes from 22:00 until about 03:00.
reviewed
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D
La Caseta del Migdia
The effort of getting to what is, to all intents and purposes, a simple chiringuito (makeshift cafe-bar) is well worth it. Walk below the walls of the Montjuïc castle along the dirt track or follow Passeig del Migdia (watch out for signs for the Mirador del Migdia). Stare out to sea over a beer or coffee by day. As sunset approaches the atmosphere changes, as lounge music (from samba to funk) wafts out over the hammocks. If the cocktails don’t inebriate you, the smell of the pines will. It also puts on BBQ food at lunch and crêpes after 4.30pm.
reviewed
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E
Djénné
Styling itself as a bar with a passion for travel, this bar could be a real find. The wall-sized mural of Mali’s Djenné market and photos from around the world give it something special, but the music is of a fairly standard, late-night bar variety – if only they’d play a few world music tunes, the cocktails would go down a treat. We wouldn’t travel all across town to get here, but if you’re on your way to or from Galileo Galilei, it’s worth a stop.
reviewed
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F
Kiosco la Cazalla
For decades from 1912, the Kiosco La Cazalla served passers-by beer, wine or a glass of morello cherry-based firewater known as cazalla. This little-known Andalucian beverage, often served with a few raisins floating in it, is an acquired taste (some Italians claim it is similar to sambuca). After years closed up, the hole in the wall just off La Rambla (claiming to be Barcelona’s smallest bar) is back in business. A shot of 50-proof cazalla costs €1.50.
reviewed
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G
Bar Ego
In terms of hipness and trendy places to go out, La Alameda is where it's at. The slightly run-down feeling of the area adds to the exclusivity and repels the more posh sevillanos, so the boho lot get to keep the place more or less to themselves. Bar Ego is a strange hybrid of a DJ bar, restaurant, clothes shop and art gallery, and strives for something completely different in predominantly traditional Seville. It's newly opened, Barcelona-hip, and original, and we are hoping it'll survive.
reviewed
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Barcelona Rouge
Decadence is the word that springs to mind in this bordello-red lounge–cocktail bar, with acid jazz, drum and bass and other soothing sounds drifting along in the background. No, you’re not addled with drink and drugs, the corridor leading out back to the bar really is that crooked. The walls are laden with heavy-framed paintings, dim lamps and mirrors, and no two chairs are alike. Stick to simple drinks, as the €10 glamour cocktails are on the watery side. It also offers sandwiches and snacks.
reviewed
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I
Sandset Chill-Out Lounge
Whether for your morning coffee or a weekend copa after midnight, Sandset is a welcome recent addition to Conde Duque’s emerging cachet. Upstairs is a lazy café with a sense of light and space (it serves great cakes and breakfasts to accompany your coffee), but it’s downstairs that wins prizes for imagination with tinkling water, sand on the floor, cushions, wicker beach furniture and sheeshas (€4) to smoke. It’s an eclectic mix, but it works.
reviewed
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J
El 44 Bar
An intimate bar experience tucked away on a quiet street that leads down towards the opera house, El 44 Bar ranks among our favourite little bars in the centre. The cocktails are well priced (€5 to €7) and original (including caipipretas, a Lisbon staple that riffs on the caipirinha with black rum). The music includes ’70s and ’80s and detours into lounge (Gotan Project seems a particular favourite), Brazilian jazz and deep house, picking up speed as the night wears on.
reviewed
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La Soléa
This long-standing flamenco bar has live flamenco of a much more improvised kind and which bears little resemblance to the tablao floor shows. Usually from around midnight, a knowledgeable crowd of flamenco insiders provides the closest flamenco comes to a jam session. Like any such session, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but when it does it has a soulful authenticity that more formal tablaos can’t quite match.
reviewed
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Bodega la Penúltima
There is a baroque semi-darkness about this dark timber and sunset-yellow place, which gives off airs of an old-time wine bar. In Spanish lore, one never drinks la última (the last one) as it is bad luck. Rather, it is always the ‘second last’ (penúltima) round. A mixed group crowds into the lumpy lounges around uneven tables at the back or huddles at the bar for endless second-last rounds of wine, beer or cocktails.
reviewed
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M
Santa Marta
Foreigners who have found seaside nirvana in Barcelona hang out in this chilled bar back from the beach. A curious crowd of Rastas, beach bums and switched-on dudes chat over light meals and beer inside or relax outside over a late breakfast. It has some tempting food too: a mix of local and Italian items, with a range of filled rolls (bocatas) for €5, or a dish of mozzarella di bufala (buffalo-milk cheese) for €8.
reviewed
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N
Lika Lounge
The publicity noise about Barcelona’s only ‘ice bar’ (a bar with a strip of ice to sit your drinks on) is a bit of a distraction. But this backstreet cocktail lounge is a low-lit, fashionable place to sip on creative combinations. The Pornstar Martini, with Cointreau, passionfruit and a side glass of cava, hits the spot. Through the back is a second smaller bar, and DJ sounds cover a broad, mainstream spectrum.
reviewed
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O
El Paraigua
A tiny chocolate box of dark tinted Modernisme, the ‘Umbrella’ has been serving up drinks since the 1960s. The turn-of-the-20th-century decor was transferred here from a shop knocked down elsewhere in the district and cobbled back together to create this cosy locale. Take a trip in time from Modernisme to medieval by heading downstairs to the brick and stone basement bar area. Part of the walls date to the 11th century.
reviewed
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Noise I Art
Step back into the 1980s in this retro den. Red, green and other primal colours dominate the decor in a place where you might encounter Boney M on the video music play. Drape yourself on the circular red lounge, have a light meal (served up on old LPs) at red-lit tables alongside floor-to-ceiling glass windows, or perch yourself at the bar. The daiquiris may not be the best you’ve ever had, but probably the biggest!
reviewed
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Q
Taverna La Violeta
They just don’t make bars like this anymore. A broad and sociable space with a pool room next door, this crumpled, cheerful bar was long something of a working-class meeting centre. Drinking goes on much as before at its mostly marble-topped tables, but the bulk of the punters are now of the student variety. The atmosphere is good-natured and rowdy, and you can pick up tapas and bocadillos (filled rolls).
reviewed
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R
La Fira
A designer bar with a difference. Wander in past distorting mirrors and ancient fairground attractions from Germany. Put in coins and listen to hens squawk. Speaking of squawking, the music swings wildly from whiffs of house through ’90s hits to Spanish pop classics. You can spend the earlier part of the night trying some of the bar’s shots – it claims to have 500 varieties (but we haven’t counted them up).
reviewed
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S
Toscano Antico
Bored with running the family Tuscan restaurant in Milan, the young Italian owners of Toscano have transported the classy Milanese aperitivo to Barcelona, mixing it with local energy. On the bar are snacks alla Milanese, to be taken (free) with generous cocktails. Let the bar staff fix you a special, unlisted concoction and grab one of the handful of tiny tables out back.
reviewed
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El Refugio de Madrid
Styling itself as a bastion of classic rock, this brick-lined bar keeps it simple with beer on tap, posters on the walls of its heroes (among them Jimi Hendrix and ZZ Top) and video clips running around the clock in the background. Unlike some Malasaña rock bars you won’t find too many heavy rockers here; it’s more filled with young, professional punters who love their rock.
reviewed
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Ars
An attractive cocktail lounge is squeezed like toothpaste into this long locale (that’s how they build things here!). Décor is predominantly white, with split levels (each level with its own bar) and a smattering of leather lounges and stools. Drinks are a little pricey but the casually cool 30-something crowd loves it. They offer wi-fi and sometimes have art exhibitions.
reviewed
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La Inquilina
This could just be our favourite bar in Lavapiés. It’s partly about the cool-and-casual vibe and partly its community spirit with deep roots in the Lavapiés soil. Contemporary artworks by budding local artists adorn the walls and you can either gather around the bar or take a table out the back. It’s a small slice of sophistication in a barrio not known for such characteristics.
reviewed
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W
La Confitería
This is a trip into the 19th century. Until the 1980s it was a confectioner’s shop, and although the original cabinets are now lined with booze, the look of the place has barely changed in its conversion into a laid-back bar. A quiet enough spot for a house vermut (€3; add your own soda) in the early evening, it fills with theatregoers and local partiers later at night.
reviewed
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Barraval
With its designer looks, greys, black and subtle lighting, this is a hard-to-categorize, all-in-one evening-out location split over two floors. Mediterranean fusion dishes reign in the early evening as people crowd in for dinner. From 11pm, DJs fill the air with mixes of jazz, funk, R&B, soul and Latin sounds. Wednesday nights there is a free snack buffet for tipplers.
reviewed
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Y
Alfa
Aficionados of good old-fashioned rock love this unchanging bar-cum-minidisco, a Gràcia classic. Records hang from the ceiling as if to remind you that most of the music comes from the pre-CD era, ’60s to ’80s and the occasional later intruder. Take up a stool for a drink and chat or head for the no-frills dance area just beyond. There’s another bar right up the back.
reviewed
