Barcelona Restaurant Recommendations

[anyavon]

. . . .

elBulli is both out of budget (thing 250 eur a head), plus it's nearly impossible to get a reservation, the booking season opens in October and closes within a few days.

. . . .

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I believe the actual meal cost is 155 €. Wine is additional, as is mineral water and coffee. A couple can get out for perhaps 200 € a head if you don't drink much. There are plenty of wines for under 30 €. Silly Disciple negleted to mention that plenty of people sent in a reservation request the same day the reservations were opened, yet didn't get a reservation. If you have to ask when to book at elBulli, you're not going to get a reservation.

By milk fed lamb, I believe you're more accurately speaking about suckling lamb, which I believe is cordero lechal (Expect Pedro to arrive with the correct spelling any minute. I will continue to let him embarrass me by exposing my illiteracy in Spanish. Hell, I'll let him correct my English as well as long as he continues to introduce me to Madrid's less known, but exceptional worthy restaurants.) Milk fed lamb might suggest older lamb that's been fed a milk diet. These are exceptionally young lambs that are still suckling. Think of veal or suckling piglets. Barcelona is not particularly a place known for such a dish, though I suspect it may be available at one of the asadors, restaurants that specialize in roast meats.

Silly Disciple give lie to his name with his good suggestions. Much of the information you want is already in the forum. Members are more likely to post information that is fresh in their mind than to rehash what they've already posted. You can eat espensively or inexpensively in Barcelona and you can eat poorly or well all along the range. Tapas are inexpensive, but dining on tapas can be deceptively expensive if your appetite is large. I think guides such as those of Michelin and Campsa are often more useful at the low end than at the high end. It often seems as if everyone knows the great restaurants. It's the local neighborhood restaurant recommendations that are often most useful from Michelin and Campsa. A good guide for the tourist is to avoid most places that are in the areas you're likely to be in. They are often tourist traps, and the best restaurants in these parts of town are those that cater to the well heeled gastronome. Restaurants generally (always by law?) post a menu outside of the restaurant. If you speak Catalan, look for a restaurant that doesn't post menus for tourists. Barring that, if you speak Spanish, look for a restaurant that offers a Spanish menu for tourist use. A restaurant with an English menu is more likely to be catering to tourists at the low end. At the high end, it's a different story as the very best multistarred restaurants all cater to international gastrotourism and will have menus in English and waiters who speak English. English is the lingua franca of both business and gastronomy in Europe. The Germans and Japanese order in English along with the Americans and British.

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I think the tasting menu at Alkimia is only 40 euros pp. Commerc 24 can get way expensive and not really worth it in the end. It's really gone downhill. Sauc has a v. reasonable lunch menu, like under 20 euros. There is a bistro near the Boqueria called La Murgula which has a really yummy cheap lunch menu. It's where all the vendors go. Also at Boqueria, try Quim de la Boqueria breakfast/lunch counter. It's amazing.

Suckling lamb is called lechazo, it's a specialty of Castille. I'm sure there are places in Barcelona doing it. Roast lamb places are called "asador"...there might be one called Asador de Aranda but I might be mistaken.

Most places are closed Sun. and many Mond. A good place that's open on Sunday is Paco Meralgo, try to sit at the bar.

[Bux]

I'm quite sure we passed an Asador de Aranda, but I can only vaguely remember it was to the north of the pl. de Catalunya. I'm not even sure if North is the right direction. The Guia Campsa divides Barcelona into two maps, labeled east and west section, but the north arrow on each map would indicate these are north and south sections. Standing with your back to the harbor, the restaurant would be a few blocks right of the plaça.

[Silly Disciple]

I think the tasting menu at Alkimia is only 40 euros pp. Commerc 24 can get way expensive and not really worth it in the end. It's really gone downhill. Sauc has a v. reasonable lunch menu, like under 20 euros. There is a bistro near the Boqueria called La Murgula which has a really yummy cheap lunch menu. It's where all the vendors go. Also at Boqueria, try Quim de la Boqueria breakfast/lunch counter. It's amazing.

Alkimia does indeed have two tasting menus, one for 40 and one for 52, but including water, wine, coffee, etc it will be rather hard to stay below 60.

La Murgula has more off-days than good days, I've eaten there a few times, and the reason many vendors go there is because Rafa, the cook, is a well known character in the restaurant business. When Rafa is out or talking to friends, chances are the food won't be very good.

Quim de la Boqueria is indeed a very good option, but get there early.

SD

[Corinna Dunne]

We are actually thinking of driving to Figueres and/or Cadaques so any recommendations there would be appreciated too.

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Rafa's in Roses is nearby and a wonderful experience if you love seafood. Also, it is definitely within your budget. There is a lot of information on it on the thread:elBulli the blinker effect.

I found eating in mid priced restaurants quite precarious in Barcelona (as it is in many cities) and was disappointed in both Can Ramonet and Los Caracolles. The advice upthread is good. Also, it is well worth your while doing a thorough search on this Forum. You will learn so much more than you can ever garner from a simple 'go here' list. Before my recent trip, I printed off a load of the threads, and took them with me.

Have a wonderful holiday.

[Bux]

I've not been to Can Ramonet, but I seem to recall it being well recommended for it's type and sort of restaurant. Then again, I've loved Can Majo and gotten mixed reports from others.

Los Caracoles is a place I visited over forty years ago when I was still in college. It was where I first tasted paella and things like squid that were exotic to me then and so far removed from my childhood diet. I credit it, as much as any other restaurant for opening my tastebuds to the world of food. It was decorated with international reviews, write ups and awards from magazines such as Holiday. Just entering the place made me feel more worldy and sophisticated. To be dining where an international audience of travelers more glamorous than my parents congregated was thrilling. Holiday magazine has folded, the world has changed as has my outlook on life. Once or twice, I've gone a few blocks out of my way to see if Los Caracoles was still there, and I see it's listed in Campsa, which is some sign of respectability, but I've not dared to enter. I am sure that whatever seemed a destination for worldly travelers to me at twenty is going to appear as a tourist trap today. That's probably unfair and I've probably eaten in far greater tourist traps in recent times. In fact, I had some nice tapas not far from Los Caracoles last week where it appeared that no one in the cafe spoke Catalan including the waiters chosen for the ability to speak English more than anything else. Barcelona is a major tourist destination and some of the best restaurants in town cater to an international clientele.

By the way, there is probably decent, and maybe good paella in Barcelona, but paella is a dish from further south in eastern Spain -- Valencia and Alicante. Arroz caldoso is the Catalan dish and invariably paella is not the best rice to have in Barcelona in my limited experience. In a restaurant picked simply because it was the only restaurant near the beach that was still willing to serve so late in the afternoon -- not at all a good sign of quality -- we had a very good black rice (squid or cuttlefish ink and broth). Nothing else was particularly interesting or satisfying, but the rice was good enough to save the meal.

[Alida Gualtieri]

Hi. I joined egullet this week after several months of just reading the reviews of various restaurants of my home city Montreal. I will be travelling to Barcelona (and Paris) in early October and was wondering what the not miss places are-budget is pretty good as I love to eat well on my trips. But I hate paying for 'ambiance' only and only so so food. Recommendations on places to stay would also be greatly appreciated!

Thx in advace to all of you

Alida

[Silly Disciple]

Hi. I joined egullet this week after several months of just reading the reviews of various restaurants of my home city Montreal. I will be travelling to Barcelona (and Paris) in early October and was wondering what the not miss places are-budget is pretty good as I love to eat well on my trips. But I hate paying for 'ambiance' only and only so so food.  Recommendations on places to stay would also be greatly appreciated!

Thx in advace to all of you

Alida

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Hi Alida, welcome to eG!

You'll find a lot of information about Barcelona's restaurants in many different threads on this forum, much more than any of the members can re-hash in a single new thread. Please go ahead and read some of the threads, and if you have any questions we will be more than happy to help you.

Here are some threads you can start with:

Good Value Eating

Alkimia

Barcelona and surrounds

Quimet i Quimet

El Raco de Can Fabes

El Celler de Can Roca

Comerç 24

the blinker effect

Barcelona hotel restaurants

Cinc Sentits

SD

[pedro]

Alida, first of all, welcome to the eGullet Society and its forums. I hope you enjoy it.

Second, let me ask you a couple of questions: how long do you plan to stay in Barcelona? will you have a car while in the city? If you don't, would you mind taking a bus or a train for a short ride (let's say an hour or so)?

While you answer, I'll add a general comment. Catalonia is one of the regions in the country which has one of the most varied traditional cuisines, with techniques and dishes that date back centuries. The current explosion of creativity, in my opinion, has very much to do with that strong tradition. I would suggest to anyone visiting Catalonia (in fact, anyone visiting Spain) to balance the number of creativity-driven restaurants they go to with more traditional proposals. Doing that, can give you several keys to know where people is coming from, and you'll have more fun when you find references to tradition in creative dishes. For instance, last summer I had a wonderful dish of bacallà (the Catalonian name for bacalao or cod fish) at Can Roca. If you know nothing about Catalonian cooking, what you have is a very good dish of cod fish presented in odd textures. But what Joan Roca was doing was reinterpreting one of the most traditional and extended dishes of Catalonian cooking, escudella i carn d'olla, substituting its traditional ingredients by cod fish in different preparations to resemble them.

As I said in the beginning, welcome to the Society! I look forward to your participation in the eG Forums!

Pedro

PS: escudella i carn d'olla, the Catalonian cocido (I'd say every region of Spain has its own cocido), is tipically a dish of Christmas day. You can find a recipe in here.

[anyavon]

Hi. I joined egullet this week after several months of just reading the reviews of various restaurants of my home city Montreal. I will be travelling to Barcelona (and Paris) in early October and was wondering what the not miss places are-budget is pretty good as I love to eat well on my trips. But I hate paying for 'ambiance' only and only so so food.  Recommendations on places to stay would also be greatly appreciated!

Thx in advace to all of you

Alida

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Sant Pau in Sant Pol de Mar is not to be missed. I"m surprised how little people talk about Carme Ruscalleda, the chef. I've eaten at some 30 places on my last trip to Spain, including all the obvious ones where i check in several times a year. This was the single best meal I had. Luminous food. And you don't need a car to get there, the train ride is about 1 hour and lovely, along the coast. Go for a long lunch with a sea view.

[docsconz]

Hi. I joined egullet this week after several months of just reading the reviews of various restaurants of my home city Montreal. I will be travelling to Barcelona (and Paris) in early October and was wondering what the not miss places are-budget is pretty good as I love to eat well on my trips. But I hate paying for 'ambiance' only and only so so food.  Recommendations on places to stay would also be greatly appreciated!

Thx in advace to all of you

Alida

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Sant Pau in Sant Pol de Mar is not to be missed. I"m surprised how little people talk about Carme Ruscalleda, the chef. I've eaten at some 30 places on my last trip to Spain, including all the obvious ones where i check in several times a year. This was the single best meal I had. Luminous food. And you don't need a car to get there, the train ride is about 1 hour and lovely, along the coast. Go for a long lunch with a sea view.

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I wholeheartedly agree. Photos and discussion here.

[Alida Gualtieri]

Alida, first of all, welcome to the eGullet Society and its forums. I hope you enjoy it.

Second, let me ask you a couple of questions: how long do you plan to stay in Barcelona? will you have a car while in the city? If you don't, would you mind taking a bus or a train for a short ride (let's say an hour or so)?

While you answer, I'll add a general comment. Catalonia is one of the regions in the country which has one of the most varied traditional cuisines, with techniques and dishes that date back centuries. The current explosion of creativity, in my opinion, has very much to do with that strong tradition. I would suggest to anyone visiting Catalonia (in fact, anyone visiting Spain) to balance the number of creativity-driven restaurants they go to with more traditional proposals. Doing that, can give you several keys to know where people is coming from, and you'll have more fun when you find references to tradition in creative dishes. For instance, last summer I had a wonderful dish of bacallà (the Catalonian name for bacalao or cod fish) at Can Roca. If you know nothing about Catalonian cooking, what you have is a very good dish of cod fish presented in odd textures. But what Joan Roca was doing was reinterpreting one of the most traditional and extended dishes of Catalonian cooking, escudella i carn d'olla, substituting its traditional ingredients by cod fish in different preparations to resemble them.

As I said in the beginning, welcome to the Society! I look forward to your participation in the eG Forums!

Pedro

PS: escudella i carn d'olla, the Catalonian cocido (I'd say every region of Spain has its own cocido), is tipically a dish of Christmas day. You can find a recipe in here.

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Thanks for the reply Pedro. I will be staying about 6 days in Barcelona and will not have a car. I do not mind taking a metro or train ride as I have been known to travel great lenghts just to sample an ice cream or pastry. I will most probaly stay in the area around Paseo de Gracia. I completely agree with you that I would like to try a combination of both the traditional dishes as well as the 'modern'ones.

Alida

Alida

[Alida Gualtieri]

Hi. I joined egullet this week after several months of just reading the reviews of various restaurants of my home city Montreal. I will be travelling to Barcelona (and Paris) in early October and was wondering what the not miss places are-budget is pretty good as I love to eat well on my trips. But I hate paying for 'ambiance' only and only so so food.  Recommendations on places to stay would also be greatly appreciated!

Thx in advace to all of you

Alida

←

Hi Alida, welcome to eG!

You'll find a lot of information about Barcelona's restaurants in many different threads on this forum, much more than any of the members can re-hash in a single new thread. Please go ahead and read some of the threads, and if you have any questions we will be more than happy to help you.

Here are some threads you can start with:

Good Value Eating

Alkimia

Barcelona and surrounds

Quimet i Quimet

El Raco de Can Fabes

El Celler de Can Roca

Comerç 24

the blinker effect

Barcelona hotel restaurants

Cinc Sentits

SD

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Thanks for the info-have visited the threads and have taken some notes. has anyone tried the following restaurants:

Moo

Arola

Restaurant Gaig

Caelis

Drolma

They are all mentioned in this month's edition of Travel and Leisure-which I don't usually buy but which I purchased this month because of the cover story mentioning Barcelona restaurants..

Alida

[Corinna Dunne]

Bux, Los Caracolles still retains its sense of drama and theatre. We were hugely impressed with the powerhouse kitchen we walked through, with chefs energetically working away on the planchas. We followed with anticipation, through numerous crowded dining rooms to be shown to our table. And the reassuring thing was, that most of the people seemed to be local. (It was lunchtime on St Jordi's Day and there was a wonderful sense of family occasion).

To start, we had snails (served straight up, unhoused and very good, although not my thing) and prawns in olive oil and garlic (the prawns were a tad tough/overdone but nice with the Catalan loading of slivered garlic). This was followed by a leg of kid and their famous spit roasted chicken. The kid was good, served with rustic potatoes.... but the chicken.... well, it finally landed on the table with a concessionary nod of apology a good 20 minutes after the kid. Not only was it late, it was cold. Not only was it cold, it was a bad bird to start with, overcooked to the point of 'wooliness', and graced a fatty, uncrisped skin that was over salted even by my standards. The waiter had of course scarpered. I had a few mouthfuls of this paltry excuse for poulltry and then just gave up. We didn't complain, it was St Jordi's day and I didn't want to be a spoilsport, but they never enquired about the barely touched, tardy bird. So that's the reason we won't be going back, and yes, it is based on just one experience which is perhaps unfair.

And so, to Can Ramonet. Like Los Caracoles, when you walk through the door, you get an excited sense of anticipation. The route this time was not through the kitchen, but through a number of lovely, rustic dining rooms. We were seated at a nice table, in a nice room, but the overhead lights were so bright, they completely killed the ambiance.

We started with a platter of fried fish, which were very good, except for the calamari which were just about warm and had obviously been cooked a bit earlier. For mains we had a type of Catalan fish soup (I can't remember the name of it) and turbot. Some of the fish in the soup was overcooked and it was served on a plate where a bowl would have been more suitable (but maybe this is traditional, I don't know). The turbot was good and cooked simply, but the potatoes were not cooked through, which I found unbelievable. We had 'wild' strawberries in Muscatel for desert, but they weren't the tiny little perfumed ones I was expecting, which was probably my own fault, because they wouldn't be around yet, so this was obviously a lost in translation glitch.

To me, Can Ramonet felt uncomfortably mediocre and smacked of 'could try harder'. And, on the night we were there, there wasn't a local in sight. Perhaps we could have been luckier on another night with dimmed lights and their famous paella type dish, whch unfortunately, we didn't order. My overall feeling was that in Barcelona, we could easily have eaten better for a lot less money; and an awful lot better for only slightly more, hence my sense of discomfort in this mid price zone.

[Bux]

I've never believed locals always know best place to eat. I've had more faith in Spain than in France, but I shouldn't be totally swayed just because McDonald's is growing more slowly in Spain.

[vserna]

I still think Can Majó is the best restaurant in the Barceloneta. If you want to go someplace only locals (well, mostly locals) go to, why not Can Costa? It has some really nice fish and rice dishes. My Barcelona-born friends always rely on it.

[Becca]

I'll be in Barcelona for a week next month and am trying to plot my dining strategy. As I'll be traveling alone, I'll probably eat at least some of my meals solo. If I'm willing to sit at the bar, will I need reservations for places along the lines of Alkimia/Quimet i Quimet/Cinc Sentits?

thanks!

[Silly Disciple]

I'll be in Barcelona for a week next month and am trying to plot my dining strategy. As I'll be traveling alone, I'll probably eat at least some of my meals solo. If I'm willing to sit at the bar, will I need reservations for places along the lines of Alkimia/Quimet i Quimet/Cinc Sentits?

thanks!

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I would make a reservation at places like Alkimia or Cinc Sentits, just to be safe. Quimet i Quimet or Taktika Berri, on the other hand, are indeed bars, so you don't really need a reservation.

Also you mention "next month". Is this July? remember that pretty much everything closes down in Barcelona in August.

[Bux]

I don't recall that Cinc Sentits had a bar. I am sure however that Jordi and Amèlia will be most hospitable to solo diners in search of an interesting and rewarding meal. I can't think of anything more hospitable to solo diners than Amèlia's wonder pairing of wines to food. It was clear she'd accommodate diners who wanted a glass of wine with the meal and those who wanted a wine matched to each course of a tasting menu. Although it was slow on the afternoon we were there, I'd try and reserve in advance. In general I think it's a good policy to reserve in advance, even if it's a call that same afternoon in any good restaurant.

[Becca]

Thanks for the advice -- I have made a reservation for Cinc Sentits and am quite excited about it, as well as my other culinary adventures!

I do mean July, but thanks for the reminder. I wish I could take all of August off....

[Bux]

By the way, I sometimes feel that too much of a fuss is being made over the creative places in Barcelona and that the more traditional restaurants don't get enough credit. I would balance my meals and go out of my way to eat at Ca L'Isidre. I haven't been back in some time because I always want to try new places, but it remains as one of the most satisfying meals we've had in Barcelona. This is not to say you should ignore the more creative places.

[Becca]

I totally agree and plan to eat the majority of my meals at more traditional (and cheaper) places. I have found a lot of great recommendations here (including yours). thanks!

[anyavon]

I'll be in Barcelona for a week next month and am trying to plot my dining strategy. As I'll be traveling alone, I'll probably eat at least some of my meals solo. If I'm willing to sit at the bar, will I need reservations for places along the lines of Alkimia/Quimet i Quimet/Cinc Sentits?

thanks!

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If dining alone, places where you can sit (or stand) at the counter are great, you always end up meeting people and having fun. Quimet i Quimet definitely, Cal Pep, Paco Meralgo (which is open on Sundays), Commerc 24, Cata 1.81, Pinocho and Quim de la Boqueria at the Boqueria market.

[Saborosa]

Also try Mam i Teca. It's pretty small - about 4 tables - but they also have bar seating. (I haven't worked out how to link to previous posts so I've just pasted the text here!):

From tjdnewyork: "I had the same problem last night. A number of high end places were open but I felt like something simpler but good. I ended up at a tapas place around the corner from where I'm staying that was excelent and is open until one every night but Tuesday. (but I think last order is 12:30)

It's called Mam i Teca. Address is c/lluna 4, in El Raval. 93 44 13335

Excellent langostinos a la plancha--delicious salty broth in the heads. Very well-prepared and simply flavored dish. They have very good and somewhat unusual wines by the glass, especially a nice white from a region I didn't know of as a region for wine that I can't now remember. I also had the fresh pasta with blue cheese which would have been great except the pasta was overdone for my taste. Next time I'll ask for it al dente. The Dutch waiter/ maybe part-owner speaks perfect Engish and is really into the food and wine they serve. I'll go back again soon."

[Becca]

Thanks for all these recommendations. I did eat at several of them, and had a great trip with many fabulous meals. Since I'll be moving to Barcelona in the fall, hopefully I'll be able to add suggestions for others in the future. tThanks again!

[Bux]

Thanks for all these recommendations. I did eat at several of them, and had a great trip with many fabulous meals. Since I'll be moving to Barcelona in the fall, hopefully I'll be able to add suggestions for others in the future. tThanks again!

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We'll look foward to having another discriminating resident voice.