I traveled to Barcelona for about a week at the end of May 2009. I got to eat a lot of great food, and I managed to get some good recommendations for places to eat from friends who had traveled there (mostly Eric, one of my most trusted culinary advisors), a local whom I met here in New York (thanks Pablo) and some expats I met while in Barcelona itself.
Here’s most of an email that I sent to a friend of my sister who will be traveling there soon:
From my blog post, the best, absolute must-do Tapas places are:
- Quimet & Quimet, Poble Sec – 5 generations of Tapas.
- El Vaso de Oro, Barceloneta (by the beach) – very crowded with locals
- Pinotxo, in the Boqueria off of La Rambla
I didn’t go to these places, but they are also highly recommended for Tapas.
- Inopia, Poble Sec – Ferran Adria’s brother’s place. Go early as it gets very crowded and has long lines.
- Bar Mut is supposed to be an old-school tapas place with a zinc bar. I believe it is located in Eixample.
Go to Tapioles 53 for dinner. I went for lunch, and it was very basic (salads, sandwiches), but still delicious. They cook a fixed menu in a casual but intimate setting. In the back of the place is a cool photo gallery and photo bookstore. It is tiny so book early. The owner is an Australian woman who can also give you other recommendations for places to go. I didn’t get her name, unfortunately.
She and a Welsh food writer we met at Tapioles, Tara, recommended Embat, saying it was the best value with the best food in Barcelona. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to go here.
We tried and failed to go to Inopia three times! The first couple of times we tried to go for lunch, only to realize that they weren’t open for lunch (after the 2nd try). I blame jetlag for the first time we didn’t realize that “19:00″ opening time meant evening (the last time, we went too late. The place was open but the line was so long, we were told we wouldn’t have a chance to get in). Thankfully, we were given some good advice for a good lunch place by a guy who was hanging around outside of inopia after our first try. He walked us around the corner to El Raco de l’Aguir, a restaurant serving what I believe was Catalan cooking with a twist and special ingredients. My favorites were the two rice dishes we got to share–a black rice with seafood, and another dish with special rice grown in a river in central Spain. The room was comfortable, and the service, while non-English speaking, was friendly and gracious.
We also went to Toc, which was recommended by the Tapioles people. It is modern Catalan cuisine. I liked it but it didn’t blow me away. It is a husband and wife team. Wife is front of the house, husband is in the kitchen. It, and most other restaurants in barcelona, was basically empty when we went on a friday night. Spanish people aren’t eating out these days — the economy is suffering.
I had a reservation at Commerç24, which is a molecular gastronomy place that has been open for several years. We were dissuaded by the locals from going here, because they say it’s inconsistent. Still, it was the place most recommended to me by americans.
For a more expensive meal, Can Ravell is supposed to be amazing. I was recommended to me both by the Tapioles people and Eric, so this is on my list of places to go on my next trip to Barcelona.
Some more traditional places that you see in the guidebooks are Cal Pep and its sister restaurant, Passadis del Pep. I went to the latter. It was great — no ordering, just plates and plates and plates of seafood. You can see pictures of that in my flickr set, Barcelona Food.
Mark Bittman, the new york times food writer, says the best sandwich in the world can be found at Cafe Viena. There are a bunch of them in the city, but the most central is the location off of La Rambla, connected to the Opera House. It’s a pata negra sandwich, but if you get the English menu, it’s clearly marked as the “Mark Bittman” sandwich. I had 2 of them during the 6 days I was there.
For Paella on the beach, I was recommended a couple of places:
- Villoro, on Juan de Barbo, all the way down at the end, by the beach. Get the Arroz negre and the Paella Mariscada. Go early, like no later than 1:30 as the waits are very long.
- Pablo recommended El Cangrejo Loco (the crazy crab). He said, “make a reservation and make sure you book a table in the upper floor to enjoy the view of the sea and the beach.”
Pablo also suggested also going to the wine bar in St. Catherine’s Market (Merkat Santa Caterina). I didn’t get a chance to eat here, but the Market itself was recently restored and is architecturally interesting. It is located down the street from the Gothic Cathedral, though I think it may be considered to be in the El Born neighborhood.
If you get a chance to do stuff out of town, I went to Sitges, which is a beach town about 30 minutes by train from Barcelona. It was great. You can also go to Montserrat, which I missed, but some friends went to. They really enjoyed it. And further afield, Pablo recommended Cadaques. He said it’s “a good choice is cadaques, a beautiful little town north of barcelona where Picasso spent periods of his life looking for inspiration. Nearer, if you look for a less busy beach, go south to Casteldefells or Gava, about 20 mins driving, pretty big beaches.”
