(This page is under construction, more of a scratch pad of place I’ve been, or would like to check out…good luck wading through!)

This site lists lots of restaurants (by barrio) and has scans of business cards and/or menus. No reviews, but still quite handy! This is another index of nice restos.

Also note that you can get discounts of up to 20% at certain restaurants and other “leisure activities” at Atrapalo.

Been to:

Café de la Princesa — fantastic “nouveau” Catalan cuisine. Address: Sabateret, 1 (metro L4, Jaume I).

Pla — trendy two-level place with mixed Mediterranean-inspired dishes. Address : Bellafila, 5 (metro L4, Jaume I).

Chihuahua — great Mexican food where the entire restaurant is literally…upside down! If you like spicy, order my favourite: the Enchilada Chihuahua (¡picante!). To drink, of course una cerveza Negra Modelo, from the company that brings you Corona — or “Coronita” in Spain (trademark issues?). Address: Passeig Maragall, 107 (metro L5, Camp de l’Arpa).

Mamacafé — another funky place with an art-school feel and “healthy and creative” fusion cuisine. Very friendly and lively. Reminds me of the Plateau Mont-Royal. Address: Dr. Dou, 10 (metro L3, Catalunya).

Rita Blue. Also there is the associated cocktail bar Margarita Blue (not at the same location). Address of Rita Blue: Plaça Sant Agustí, 3 (metro L3, Catalunya), off Las Ramblas at Calle Hospital.

Bar Jaica — fantastic tapas (last time, had pescadito, chipirones, buñuelos, chocos, a beer and a small bottle of agua con gas for 18€). Address: Ginebra, 12 (metro L4, Barceloneta).

Bliss.

Moti Mahal — Indian restaurant priding themselves on Harrison Ford and Calista Flockheart’s visit while in town for a shoot. Low-key but good food at a pretty reasonable price.

La Llantia — really good food for really great fixed price (around 13€). Address: Brossolí, 5 (metro L4, Jaume I).

Blue Mandalay (was Mandalay Café?) — asian fusion cuisine, with trapeze artists (on certain nights) that perform directly overhead. I didn’t find the Thai-inspired food particularly spicy (spicy food is not as popular in Spain). You can eat your dinner on a bed (sitting, c’mon!). Address: Provença, 330 (metro L4, Verdaguer).

La Dentelliere — interesting French/Mediterranean fusion food. Went when it was quite new, the menu fixe prices were very reasonable for the quality, but wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve jacked up the prices as they get more known. Not sure about the black/chrome interior design, though. Address: Balmes, 165. (near Avda. Diagonal).

Orígens 99,9% — I think this place has potential. The prices were quite good and the food was alright, but the service was really slow. You can sit inside or outside on the pedestrian mall — good for the terrace experience, with unleashed dogs coming over and sniffing your food, etc. Need to go back to revalidate. Address: Vidriería, 6-8.

Piper’s Tavern — popular bar (with tapas) near Plaça Francesc Macià. From the name and tartan-like logo, is it Scottish-owned? No idea. They do have a good selection of single malts, though.

(Tibetan resto off Maragall, on c/Freser, if I recall — name?)
(trendy but relatively inexpensive resto in Eixample with great food and very generous copa de vino servings! — name?)

Bar Celta Pulperia can give you a good old-fashioned snapshot of delicious Galician tapas (and “never-ending” Ribeira in shallow ceramic cups). You have to have the pimientos de Padrón and also the house specialty pulpo (octopus), which is tender and rich and…delicious!

Bar Restaurant Cap de Creus - okay, this is not in Barcelona, but it’s owned by the same folks who run Cardamon in Barcelona, and also Can Shelabi in Cadaqués. All great, though busy busy busy (of course, that’s a good sign for a restaurant)!

Not yet:

Cal Pep — supposedly best seafood in town (and great tapas). Address: Plaça de les Olles, 8 (metro L4, Barceloneta).

A couple of Basque places also rumoured to be great for tapas: Sagardí (Argentería, 62, metro L4 Jaume I) and El Xampanyet (Montcada, 22, metro L4 Jaume I).

Other tapas places I haven’t tried yet: Espasería (l’Espasería, 12, Barri Gotic, metro L4 Jaume I) and Mosquito (Carders, 46, Ribera, metro L4 Jaume I).

Sikkim.

El Pebre Blau. Address: Banys Vells, 21 (metro L4, Jaume I).

Yamadori. Supposedly good Japanese and sushi.

List of sushi restaurants in Barcelona. Another one here.

Cinc Sentits, a very tempting “haute cuisine” Catalan restaurant. The menu looks great, the design elegant and modern, but I’m afraid it’s a bit out of my league for “everyday” eating out (average price sin vino is around 50 Euros per person). Will have to save this one for a special occasion, even though I’m tempted to go just because of the Canadian connection (the owners are from mixed Catalan-Canadian parents, and born in Toronto).

freud b’art - “restaurant + art gallery”. Received a handout on the street, a coupon for free “samples” (they make food art too, it seems), but never managed to go there (yet). Baixada de Sant Miquel, 4 (c/ Avinyo)

chic&basic Born. Oops, I think this a hotel, not a restaurant. Looks pretty cool, we went inside to take a look. They do have a trendy-looking bar/lounge next door, though. Too cool for us… At the time we asked (April 2007) the prices ranged from 90€ for a single to 210€ for an “XXL” room — the room sizes are graded like clothing sizes (S/M/L/XL/XXL).

Valentina Centro Cultural - cool art space, bar, library, café with Mexican tapas and a cool, relaxed feel to it. Hard to explain. Plaça del Regomir, 2 (Barri Gòtic).

Flamenco locations:

I posted about some of the flamenco options in Barcelona here (slightly more up to date than what follows).

Tarantos — 5€ gets you up to three half-hour shows, at 20h30, 21h30 and 22h30. Showcases young and little-known groups and dancers. Can be okay…or truly great! Address: Plaça Real, 17 (metro L3, Catalunya).

Tirititrán. Address: Buenos Aires, 28 (near Diagonal and Plaça F. Maciá).

Pisamorena. Address: Consolat de Mar, 37-41 (El Born).

Tablao de Carmen. Address: Poble Espanyol, Av. Marquès de Comillas, 13 (Montjuïc).

Some non-Bcn restos:

Alacena Azul — had 19€ fixed menu per person. Attached to the interesting-loooking Hotel Naturaleza. Rodalquilar (Almería).

Restaurant Alejandro (La Chumbera) — expensive (~40€ per person including all courses) but excellent food and service. One review I read called this the “best restaurant in Almería”. It certainly was good — order seafood, ¡claro! Aguamarga (Almería).

La Goleta — a beach-front resto in a touristy area, but I kept saying “this is the best swordfish I’ve ever had in my life!” (with garlic and chili peppers, 11.5€ at lunch) Paseo Maritimo, Cabo de Gata (Almería).

Naturalmeria — neat little resort with very nice restaurant just outside Rodalquilar (Almería).

Café Blablabla — great little place where you feel very welcome, very “local” feeling. Had some delicious calamar en su tinto. Not expensive, great food. San José (Almería).

La Posidonia — owned by “Mônica y Verônica”, who we thought were Portuguese. This is a new restaurant, very hip, clean and excellent food. On a weird dirt track in the centre of Rodalquilar (Almería).

Beer Note

For my tastes, it’s hard to find a good beer at most restaurants in Barcelona. I like ales — beers that are amber, red or brown in colour more often than amarillo! I managed to find a few darker beers that I liked. In particular, I remember Baigorri from the Pagoa microbrewery in Oiartzun, Euskal (had this at Mosquito, I believe). Another one I liked was mentioned above, Negra Modelo from the “Corona folks” — though not at all like Corona! You can find Kilkenny, Guinness and other British/Irish beers in many (surprise!) British/Irish pubs. But it would be fun to discover more local creations along these lines.

Have generally avoided Irish pubs, but have been to Fastnet (Pg. de Joan Borbó, 22 — Irish pub in Barceloneta which had a pretty authentic feel to it), and The Black Horse (English, not Irish, pub). Have also been to one of the only brewpubs in Barcelona, La Cervesera Artesana. Unfortunately, in spite of the large number of beers they “potentially” offer, they didn’t have much selection on tap the night we tried it. But at least was on the right track, and deserves another try. Have also heard good things about The Quiet Man (Marques de Barberá in the Raval) and Kitty O’Shea’s (just off Numancia a block or two above Diagonal); need to check those out. Another I’ve been told I could try: Dubliner (Ros de Olano, 10, in Gracia).

A few more Bcn beer offerings are listed here. And a list of Irish pubs here.

The George & Dragon English pub, near Pg. de Gràcia and Diputació.