These Were Our 7 Favourite Places To Eat In Barcelona

I don’t think there can be any question that Barcelona is a fantastic food city, but just like choosing a hotel, choosing where to eat can be exceptionally overwhelming. So, from tapas bars to brunch spots, old school Catalonian restaurants to modern European spots here are the 7 best places we ate in Barcelona.

El Xampanyet

Ever since the night I arrived in Logroño City in 2014 as a freshly minted food writer to be taken on a tapas tour of all the best bars around our hotel, I’ve had a soft spot for tapas-style dishes served with a glass of something local in Spanish bars rustic to luxe. El Xampanyet was the best spot (we could get into – barely anywhere takes reservations, so be prepared to queue for the popular spots!) we tried with a simple menu of dishes presented at the bar, which, like we did, you can jump some of the queue if you’re willing to stand up at it. Get the tortilla (without chorizo, you’ll be asked) and the Pan con Tomate along with a glass of the local white or Cava if you’re planning on heading somewhere else next, move onto what looks good from the seafood laid out in front of you if you’re planning on staying a while.

Ca L’Estevet

Ca L’Estevet is the place to go in Barcelona if you’re looking for old school, no frills Catalonian dishes. I can’t reiterate enough that you need to book, but you can do so, in English, on their website. If you don’t want to split a bottle of wine (get the Verdejo) the menu does not list wine by the glass, but plenty of other tables were drinking it, so ask. If you don’t want bread and the lovely little local olives say so because they’ll otherwise come automatically and you’ll be charged (but I recommend getting them) and otherwise helpfully on their website they’ve taken pictures of everything on the menu if you’re not sure of the translations.

We started with some excellent roasted vegetables with even better anchovies (because we said we were sharing the dish they instead assembled it into two mini portions on separate plates, it’s that kind of place!) followed by the beef meatballs and melt-in-your-mouth braised cuttlefish (I’d recommend sharing this one because it’s delicious, but a bit rich for just one person) and the top notch grilled local Catalan sausage with slow cooked white kidney beans. To finish they’ve got an excellent selection of traditional Catalan desserts I remember from childhood summers: both the nougat ice cream and the creme caramel were simple and tasted just like I remember them!

Mar i Terra

Mar i Terra is a slightly fancier seafood restaurant on Rambla de Catalunya, the slightly more up-market street at the top (as you walk away from the beach) of La Rambla. In general it’s a great place to look for lunch if you want to move away from the press of tourists, but Mar i Terra is a place to linger. Not pictured we had some excellent wine after our beers, along with a tastes-as-good-as-it-looks plate of local seafood pasta, Catalan-style cod pan fried in spices and served with tender white beans, and a cheesecake to share. Just to flag through you’re paying a premium for the great food: proportionate to what we ordered, it was the most expensive food we had in Barcelona, but worth it – you’d not blink at the prices if you’re used to eating out in other major cities like London.

Arume

We visited Arume on a whim, and it was another excellent choice for modern Spanish eating. After some top notch Catalan sausage croquettes with chipotle aioli, I ate an entire sharing seafood paella by myself (it was that good!) and J had some beautifully cooked Iberico pork (but get the paella, and if seafood is not your think, their duck one looks fantastic too!) We visited on the last night of our trip, and it was the first place that actually allowed me to order an entire paella to myself without someone to share it with. Odd because I was willing to pay for the whole thing at the other places I tried to get it, I was just told it had to be for two people! So, if you’re a very hungry solo traveller hankering after fresh, local seafood, and flavoursome, perfectly cooked rice Arume is the place to be. Plus, I couldn’t eat it but J informs me their smoked local cheese cheesecake was curiously good too, like a dessert-meets-cheeseboard way to end the meal.

Hotel Casa Sagnier

For the second leg of our Barcelona trip we stayed at Hotel Casa Sagnier, and whilst I’ll have a hotel review up for you all soon, I want to note the food here as it’s both excellent and open to everyone!

On our first night at the hotel we booked the restaurant (but mid-week at a slightly earlier dinner time than the typical Spanish 8pm onwards walk-ins were still coming in) and shared a couple of great starters and mains (sharing dishes is not only normal, but expected in most Barcelona restaurants). Get the aubergine charred with cool burrata and toasted hazelnuts for a beautiful interplay of flavours, temperatures and textures, and the pasta arrabiata with local smoked cheese was great too.

I also had brunch one morning from their morning cafe menu on their across the street terrace and J can report good coffee, and I can report an excellent sourdough toast topped with good tomatoes, ripe avocado and whipped ricotta which was a lovely touch I must give a go at home!

Granvin

We stepped into Granvin for a long, leisurely lunch on a whim and it was absolutely excellent (and in case you don’t like the local Catalan sparkling water served everywhere that’s very heavy on the minerals it’s also worth noting they serve San Pellegrino!) An Italian restaurant with a Catalonian twist, we started with an excellent dish of charred and slow cooked aubergine with giant croutons, but also a slightly disappointing Patatas Bravas (a theme of all the ones we tried on the entire trip!)

Looking at both our own plates and around the restaurant unless there is a good looking risotto on the daily set menu, the pasta is where it is at at Granvin. My lingini with cherry tomatoes and clams was an excellent example of a classic dish (which also came in a portion so large I could not even finish it, so it might also be one to share) and J’s sausage and mushroom pasta also came in a super generous portion with a good flavour.

The Egg Lab

Like almost every other major European city brunch options are abound in Barcelona, and we fell head over heels for The Egg Lab which we first visited because it looked like a fun place to escape from the rain at breakfast time, and which we went to their second branch again a few days later, staying in another part of the city. Their dishes are fresh, creative and full of flavour and more exciting than anything I’ve had in London for a long time. J said the coffee both times was excellent and the Mexican Rancheros he ordered each time (shredded roasted roast chicken, beans, green thyme sauce, melted Mexican cheese, fried egg, avocado, Creole cream and Pico de Gallo) was one of the best breakfasts he’d had in ages.

I branched out a bit with two more excellent dishes, the first time ordering the quite mad (but wonderful) Kimchee Pancakes served chilled with teriyaki pancake syrup, pickled shaved fennel, avocado cream, toasted sesame seeds and cured quails eggs, and the second time their Korean Chicken Eggs Benedict (brioche topped with a green papaya and carrot salad, Korean fried chicken, poached eggs and Hollandaise sauce.

• Pin
• Tweet
• Share