Barcelona Restaurant Recommendations

[Bux]

I think Wlifrid, Lizziee and I have all mentioned Ca L'Isidre, and it was Victor who first mentioned it to me several years ago.

[lizziee]

We all have good taste.

[Vanessa]

Thank you - that is a real motivation to help make a trip that should have been made long ago, especially as I have guaranteed free accommodation in Barcelona.

v

[Matthew Grant]

I've already printed it off ready for my trip in May! I'm going to try and attempt to replicate Bux's "one two culinary punches"

[Bux]

I fear those things are often very subjective and always wonder if it would work again for us, but roll with it.

[Rachel Perlow]

Robert, this all looks great, even though I haven't read though your entire original post. I am a little confused as to whether this trip has already taken place, or the above is your guide for a trip you are about to take. If the former, could you perhaps edit your post so that your comments after the trip appear different from the "guide", perhaps in italics or in a different color?

[robert brown]

Rachel, I compiled this for a trip I am soon to take. I'm sorry for any ambiguity or confusion. I will add to it when I return and put my experiences in italics or bold,as you suggest.

[herbacidal]

good job. i've been doing much the same with my travels.

not nearly so extensive, as trips tend to be short.

tended to be a combination of message boards, backed up with magazine and newspaper articles (which can be fine, if viewed in the right way), and restaurants' websites, etc.

someday i hope to be able to comment on my dinings with the same level of clarity.

[Wilfrid]

What fun. I was trying to remember which bits I wrote. I love El Portalon, but that doesn't look like one of my reports. Wish I was there now.

[Paul Bell]

A quick report about our recent trip to Barcelona (with the children) (apologies for spelling mistakes). First stop was Ca l’isidre for lunch, my first choice restaurant and one that Dawn was not convinced about until we had a look at the menu, having done so we decided to go in and they (just) managed to find us a table for lunch. It is a very nice place to sit, a sort of ‘formal bistro’ which follows through to everything else about the restaurant, service is formal but very friendly, food is very very well done classic/traditional Catalan food.

After an appetiser of anchovies and tomato bread, we had a parmesan risotto with black truffle (very good, smooth and quite rich, slightly more liquid than many Italian versions, still don’t get black truffles though). This was followed by roast baby goat with onions and white wine, tuna with tomatoes and cannelloni (a catalan version!) for the children. The goat was very good, it was the first time I had eaten it and I thought I might as well start here, I was expecting a tougher version of lamb, but it was very tender and much a much lighter meat than I was expecting, a sort of cross between lamb and pork? The tuna and cannelloni were both good (didn’t get a chance to try them)

For dessert the children had ice cream (vanilla and two types of chocolate), I had a chocolate brownie with chocolate cream and Dawn had a ‘palette’ of chocolate, four small glasses of chocolate mousse with different additions, coffee in one, banana in another. The desserts without exception were excellent. Petits four were also good especially the chocolate coated peppercorns which kept us amused when the children ate them.

The wine list was very good and reasonably priced, service was excellent throughout, they were very friendly with the children.

In the evening we went to Ateneu (thanks to Wilfrid for pointing us in the direction of this one). This was very enjoyable large portions, good tasty food sums it up really. We started with two sharing plates, one of sausage (slices of salami, blood sausage and a Spanish version of cotechino?) and one of goats cheese, this was an excellent and very large selection. Followed by black rice with prawns and cuttlefish also very tasty and very large, followed by roast lamb (excellent with a rosemary and balsamic vinegar sauce and really good sauté potatoes), two steaks with red wine sauce (one good, one thought it could have more flavour) and a pasta with spinach (good apparently). No room for dessert. Service was very friendly and the wine list was excellent both in terms of range and price.

The following day we travelled to Sant Celoni for lunch at El raco con fabes (see separate post) and had dinner at Espai Sucre. This is quite difficult to assess, possibly because of its nature as dessert restaurant. We started with a ‘salty’ plate of suquet with rockfish which was pleasant enough followed by the dessert tasting menus five courses for me three for Dawn and the children. The menus were:

Three courses

“Lichi soup with celery, apple and eucalyptus”

“Yogurt cake with tangerine and rhubarb”

“Hot chocolate with spices”

Five courses

“Cold tea soup with spices and fruits”

“Spicy milk, citrics and arugula”

“Manchego cheese tart with pineapple and thyme”

“Almond cake with coffee and leche merengada”

“Smoky tea cream with chocolate, black sesame and yogurt”

The individual dishes are quite difficult to describe as with so many they tend to blur into one a little, although the last three in the five course menu were very good. The cheese tart was a light thin spongy cheese tart with pineapple cream on top and backnotes of thyme. The almond cake was a small square of almond sponge cake surrounded by an intensely flavoured coffee cream with ‘leche merengada’ (a type of catalan milk) poured over the top. The smoky tea cream was an intensely flavoured (lapsong souchong) square (like a brownie) with a black sesame biscuit topped with natural yogurt. These were all very good.

Generally this a restaurant worth going to try, some of the desserts were excellent, some good a couple OK. We did not leave feeling as though we had eaten too much sugar as many of the desserts are not that sweet or are balanced by tart components such as yogurt or milk.

Service was excellent the wine list looked very good (for sweet wines) although we had a tasting of wine with each dessert.

On the final day we had lunch at Passadeis del Pep which was excellent. They bring several courses of fishy starters, we shared a large plate of jamon bellotta (sp), tiny clams, sea snails, grilled prawns and fried squid. The children then had fillet steak with chips (good but didn’t get any), while we continued with huge grilles prawns and Dublin bay prawns with onions. We then had the option to stop or to order a fish main course, you can have a choice of the fish they have cooked in the oven, grilled or Basque style (they also do lobster or ‘meat’), we had excellent grilled sole. To finish we had coffee and the children had creme catalana. With the coffee you are brought a selection of local liquers and they even have a couple of non-alcoholic ones for the children. Service was excellent, very friendly with the children, bit concerned when they asked if they supported Manchester and they failed to grasp the difference between QPR and Rangers but never mind.

Overall this was excellent, as you would expect fantastic seafood, a hugely enjoyable experience. If you want to go book early especially in the evening as the hotel said it was very difficult to get into, we just squeezed in at lunchtime.

Finally as we were flagging by now we finished off with tapas, excellent in La Tinaja, a great space and really good meaty tapas, followed (sadly) by deeply average tapas at Café de la Ribera.

Overall this was a really good and varied dining experience, with the must go to places being Ca L’Isidre, El Raco Con Fabes and Passadeis del Pep, Ateneu is an excellent stand by and we would certainly return and Espai Sucre is worth a visit for the experience alone.

Paul

[emiller444]

We will be going to Spain for the first time this fall. I have very recently discovered the egullet site and am an absolute novice at using it. I would greatly appreciate a list of recommendations in Madrid and Barcelona where we would find a good dinner for $30 or under. I really appreciate the help.

[victornet]

You are certainly in luck in Barcelona. I recommend buying the Time Out Barcelona eating and drinking guide - lots of good information. We ate quite cheaply at Tragrapido (in the eixample) connected to Tragaluz - wonderful main coulses for about 7 euro. And near the Modern Museum we had a fixed price lunch for 12 euros (wine included!) at Silenus - the level of culinary ambition was high, the meal enjoyable, but you could see they had to pick their ingredients carefully to meet the price pint. And there are all kinds of goodies in the markets. We didn't wait for a seat (much coveted) at Bar Pinotxo in the Boqueria and found lots of other good things to eat in the market.

[Bux]

emiller444, Barcelona and Madrid are fairly large cities and have scads of restaurants. I've had lots of good meals for less than $30 in each city, particularly at lunch, but few of them are worth recommending as restaurants worth crossing town for dinner. At that price range, as often as not, you're probably going to want to eat at a convenient restaurant. I find the Michelin Guia Roja as good as any in a search for inexpensive restaurants. It has special symbols for the best buys.

You mention that this is your first trip to Spain. Have you traveled elsewhere abroad and where are you coming from. This is a fairly international board with broad American, Canadian and UK representation. It's unfair to make generalizations, but sometimes knowing more about a person can help others in making recommendations. One of the things also worth noting about his site is that it attracts many gastronomes who are not so much devoted to eating well, but obsessed. They are often likely to plan their trip based on the restaurants they've heard or read about and then decide what kind of sightseeing they might add to the trip. What I used to say about Paris, I am now just as likely to say about Barcelona. Its restaurants and its food are among its greatest cultural assets.

At that price range, it may be more useful to learn about the food of Madrid and of Catalunya that to get specific recommendations. It's often possible to get a wonderful meal and a disappointing meal from the same restaurant depending on how and what one orders. Putting yourself in the hands of the waiter is always an option, but it works best at the most expensive destination restaurants. At those frequented by tourists, you'll often find the waiter recommending, not what's interesting, but what other tourists found satisfactory, which may, or may not be what you want. It's also a truism that the worst values in restaurants all over the world are found in the areas frequented by tourists.

One of the many delights of traveling Spain is the chance to grab a quick snack that's both tasty and inexpensive at the many tapas bars and cafes. If you're a light eater, it's also possible to put together a light meal from a selection of tapas. Be careful, small orders can add up, especially if you chose wisely and each dish whets your appetite for more. In Spain, my wife and I often have one gastronomic meal and just tapas for the other meal of the day. I have lots of small receipts from bars. I can't really use them to recommend a place because sometimes the cost of the "meal" is the sum of many stops.

Does your $30 figure include wine? Wine is inexpensive in Spain, by the way, and most of the very inexpensive wines are quite enjoyable, in my opinion. Anyway, our meals generally include at least a bottle. In Barcelona, I've recommended Can Majo. We had lunch there for 59 euros. Today that's going to run a bit more than $60 for two. As I recall, we skipped dessert, but our selections were from the more expensive items on the seafood menu. That's about the least expensive restaurant I'd go out of my way to eat in, in Barcelona and it's in an interesting area by the beach and the ports. I'm sure we'll go back there ourselves, especially for lunch although another member with impeccable taste was not overly pleased with his paella there.

In Madrid we've eaten well enough at that price, but I don't remember where. That's a sure sign I think I can do as well without a recommendation the next time. I will alert you to a chain of tapas bars. I believe they're called El Museo de Jamon, and naturally they specialize in ham and cured meats. The best grades of Iberico and Pata Negra hams are "bellota," which means nothing more than fed on an acorn diet. It does produce a superior product, but it can be very expensive. As this is your introduction to Spain, you can start with the more ordinary cured hams. Even they can be astounding. There are wonderful tapas bars hidden on back streets around the plaza Mayor, but you can almost be assured the food served on the plaza will be mediocre.

[emiller444]

I appreciate the help in my search for moderate restaurants in Barcelona and Spain. We are from the Boston, MA area and have travelled through France, Italy, and England, but this is our first trip to Spain. I do understand that this board is frequented by travellers devoted to food and, thus, was very glad to find it. We do enjoy fine(and expensive) restaurants when we travel - but not every night - our average trip is 3-4 weeks. I have found it relatively easy to locate "great" restaurants when we travel. Unfortunately, I have not been so lucky finding "good" restaurant recommendations for those other nights. We have had lots of poor or mediocre meals when we just randomly select a restaurant. We have had good luck getting restaurant recommendations on other travel boards for Italy and France, but the the Spain boards on those sites are relatively empty. I, too, love food and find the cuisine when we travel a big part of our enjoyment and hate wasting an evening on a bad dinner. We usually spend most of every day and evening walking and sightseeing and lunch for us is not much more than a snack, I hope this further explains why we are looking for moderate priced restaurants for dinner. Again, I was delighted to discover this board and greatly appreciate the help.

[shadow]

I'd appreciate information too--and if it is about spanish food in general , I would love that. I will be traveling to Madrid, Seville and Toledo in the second week of October. I'm going with my daughter--it's a very special trip for us to enjoy each other's company. I am 60, well traveled in North America, though I have only been to Italy in Europe. My daughter has been to many countries as a young girl--traveling cheap

We will only have a week--hope to maximize our siightseeing and eating---not necessarily in that order.

We will tend more to lunch for our main meal of the day--thinking that this is perhaps more " spanish". and tapas at night.

What did you love there that you could not get at home?

What tastes do you find unique to Spain?

And also--What experiences in Spain were the best for you?

I love small moments-views, people, gardens, art, and well.....food.I am looking forward to the answers of the participants on this board.

[Bux]

shadow, there are a couple of threads on Seville. I will only repeat here that as good as tapas are in Barcelona and Madrid, nothing compares to tapas in Andalucia. Seville is reputed to be the best place in Spain for tapas. We only spent a few days there early this spring, but I really enjoyed the tapas. Michelin recommends a few places as I'm sure most guide books do, but the variety is endless. I'm not at all sure that tapas aren't the way to go both at lunch and dinner in Sevilla. I'm also not sure it's more Spanish to eat a large lunch and just have tapas at night. I think that for the most part, many people do eat that way, but when the locals go out for dinner, they also do so late at night, although that too seems to be changing. We've made 9:30 reservations and found most people were already seated. Nevertheless, my wife and I often have a good lunch when traveling in Spain and then a light snack at a tapas bar in the evening.

The ham, sausages and cured meat products are incredible in Spain and the best can be incredibly expensive. The wine has improved immensely and the prices seem very reasonable. When I find the same wines in NY, the markup seems much higher than for French wines. You can get many of the cheeses here, but rarely do they have anywhere near the depth of flavor. Coffee -- if you love a good espresso, I've found Spanish bars offer the best in the world. I don't understand why many of the best restaurants are now serving Italian coffee brands. The coffee is often better in the little bars and cafes than in the multistarred restaurants. I'm less a fan of cafe con leche, but my wife will tell you it's reason to come to Spain. Beer, by the way, is very popular in Spain and frequently ordered as an aperitif before dinner. Only in Andalucia does it seem to be equaled by a fino sherry, or better yet a manzanilla, before dinner.

emiller444, I didn't mean to imply it was unreasonable to look for recommendations of moderate or even budget restaurants, only that people are often more eager to talk about the great meals they've had and to compare experiences at great restaurants. The focus here is much more on food than it is on travel and the conversations more naturally drift towards the destination restaurants, perhaps precisely because it's easier to develop a conversation about them on many levels.

I also find that, in spite of my obsession with eating well, I get hungry when I'm right by a museum I want to see after lunch or find myself dead tired at dinner time and want a place very near my hotel. The greatest danger in selecting those little meals at random, is that one is often in a tourist area if one is touring, particularly if one is visiting a place for the first time and seeing the highlights, and those areas have the highest concentration of mediocre restaurants. I know this from experiece. I may have a pocket full of personal recommendations culled from the web, but they're more often than not, not convenient. A good comprehensive guide such as Michelin comes very much in handy, especially with its Bib Gourmand designation. In Madrid these all seem to be restaurants serving three courses for 30 euros or less and are likely to be places serving traditional or typical dishes with some character. It's my first line of defense against selecting at random.

[onions]

I would try to avoid the "El Museo del Jamon" chain. They are too touristy and they are nor well known for its quality. To taste good quality ham or pork products try "Meson 5 Jotas". There are quite a few around, both in Madrid and Barcelona, and the quality of the ham is assured. Try some humble "fried eggs with fries and ham", a clear example that some simple dishes can't be beaten by complex food.

One of the best value for money restaurants in Madrid is Dantxari (915423524). For 30/40 Euros you will have some traditional dishes with great quality products. Booking advised.

For some quality tapas, visit C/ Cava Baja. A street near Plaza Mayor in Madrid, with countless bars with fine tapas. The bar of Casa Lucio (accross the street from the well known traditional restaurant) or Casa Lucas, are a must.

[Bux]

I would try to avoid the "El Museo del Jamon" chain. They are too touristy and they are nor well known for its quality.

Both of these statements may be true, but a first time visitor from the US to Spain, is not likely to be insulted by their offerings and may find it very accessible and a decent enough place to get one's bearings, especially when budget is an important factor. For reference, the Michelin lists the Meson Cinco Jotas chain, but not the Museo del Jamon. We'll have to try Meson Cinco Jotas next time. The last time we were in Madrid, the Museo was all too close and in our face after we checked into our hotel, and so much better than what we had on the airplane.

[c1628]

will arrive in Barcelone this sat at about 3pm, will stay 2 nights and leave monday morning. Have a reservation at El Raco Can Fabes on Sat night. Is it really worth driving there right off the plane, since they're not open Sunday? Any other recommendations? what about Sunday? Thinking of hitting a few really good tapa places, any suggestions?

Thanks.

[Bux]

What are you looking for in a restaurant? It's a three star restaurant and I haven't heard many people claim it has under performed. It is not the cutting edge creative food that is drawing attention in Catalunya, but it's excellent food. It would rate three stars if it were in Paris in my estimation. The question may be "are you going to be in shape to appreciate and enjoy the food?" Different people arrive in different conditions after a long flight. Will you be arriving after a long flight? We don't even know if you're coming from Australia, the UK or Paris.

There are a lot of posts here about Barcelona. it would probably pay to check them out as most people are not prone to go on repeating what they've said when they just came back from Barcelona with their meals fresh in their minds. You're also far more likely to get responses if you tell people what you're looking for in a restaurant. Do you want another place like Can Fabes or a more casual place? Do you want more cutting edge food or more traditional Catalan food?

[anil]

Sant Celoni (sp?) is a bit way off from Bartelona.... if you are familiar driving in catalunya, then by all means do .... not knowing where you'd be flying/arriving in from it is difficult to say....

re: sunday tapas .... I'd just suggest casual dining closeby to where you'd be staying overnight.

[c1628]

we're coming in from san francisco, so it's a long flight. we wanted to go to el bulli, but of course that's not possible. so i thought can fabes will be the second choice, since the chef is from el bulli. we wanted to try a really good restaurant in each of our spain destination. we will go to la broche in madrid, la alqueria in sevilla. so i guess the question is, is there another restaurant in the same caliber as can fabes that is closer to city center. what about comerc 24, may be too late to get a reservation.

[Bux]

i thought can fabes will be the second choice, since the chef is from el bulli.

I don't believe Santi Santamaria is from El Bulli. I'm not sure which restaurant had three stars first, but if I had to place a bet, I'd probably bet on Can Fabes. Could you be thinking of Can Roca. I'm not sure Juan Roca spent time at El Bulli either, but his style might be considered closer to Adria's. Can Roca is in Girona, much further away from Barcelona.

Can Fabes is a serious world class restaurant, but it's not in the vein of El Bulli. I should ask if you want to try the best restaurant in each area, or the one most inspired by Ferran Adria? Are you most concerned with style or caliber? What is your route and how are you traveling?

[c1628]

Obviously we'd like to try the best , if there's a best, in each city. That would probably mean the highest caliber restaurant. We're going from Barcelona to Sevilla, to Marbella, and to Madrid. We plan on going to a really nice, good restaurant in each city, then do tapas for the other nights. We also like very local restaurants, whole-in-the-walls, which have good food. Do you have any specific restaurants in mind that you can recommend in these cities? I wish can fabes is open sunday night, but they're not. I'm afraid i might be a bit tired to fully enjoy, but then i wouldn't know when I'll come to Barcelona again... Is there another el bulli style restaurant in barcelona? Thanks.

[pedro]

i thought can fabes will be the second choice, since the chef is from el bulli.

I don't believe Santi Santamaria is from El Bulli. I'm not sure which restaurant had three stars first, but if I had to place a bet, I'd probably bet on Can Fabes.

Certainly not. Santi Santamaria is not coming from El Bulli. In fact, he questions very much the type of cooking done by Adrià. He was the first restaurant in Catalonia to achieve the three stars.

Since you're going to La Broche, where you'll experience an Adrianesque cuisinie, I'll recommend you to stick to your visit to Can Fabes. It's one of the best restaurants I know in the country.

I haven't been (yet) to any of them, but Alkimia, Hisop and Comerç 24 are getting quite a lot of attention from spanish foodies. Keep them in mind if you change your plans and discard Can Fabes.