Barcelona food: a personal guide

Barcelona is one of my favorite places on earth. I've been there several times and it seems I'll keep coming back forever. Food-wise to me it is first of all tapas and hot chocolate shops (with churros!), but  there is of course so much more than that. Barcelona's gastronomic restaurants once opened my eyes on what's going on in the world gastronomy. It's markets are insanely tempting and cooking classes are wonderful. I also have to say that even for me there is something above food in Barcelona. It is Magic fountain light show and what's inside Sagrada Familia. Now back to food.


Tapas

One of my ideas for the trip to Barcelona was to get a better idea about tapas. I always felt intrigued reading about the best tapas bars in Barcelona, where you start from queueing outside and then need to fight your way to the bar stand. Read more...

I'd also like to mention Origens as a place to have a wonderful casual lunch with traditional or a bit internationalized food.

Traditional restaurants

I'm sure there are many, but my favorite one so far is La Fonda. It is my place to start a trip with. A delicious traditional dinner with sangria and seafood paella. La Fonda is open for dinner only and takes no reservations. It makes sense to come early (8.30 pm or so). Sometimes you will have to wait in line for a bit, but it is well worth it.

Next time I'm in the city the first place I'm going to is Barceloneta (fishermen's village on the coast next to Barcelona) to try some of it's seafood restaurants.

Gastronomic restaurants

My recent trip to Barcelona was so full of gastronomic impressions that it will take me many posts to express in full. This fist one is going to be about Gelonch restaurant, an haute cuisine experience that really impressed me. Read more...

I can't help wondering how all the important things seem to happen to me just by chance. While I was preparing for my last Barcelona trip I digested many restaurant guides, blogs about the city etc., but never saw EspaiSucre restaurant mentioned. That was Ferran: The inside story of elBulli book, where it was hidden somewhere in between the lines, where I could easily miss it. And yes, it turned out to be the most intriguing night of the whole trip. Read more...

Hot chocolate and pastry shops

Spanish hot chocolate is one of a kind. It traditionally goes with deep fried pastries, most often churros or xuixo. The best places to have them are tiny chocolaterias for some reason these are concentrated in Gothic quarter. Read more...

Sweets in Barcelona often go unnoticed. If you don't get to spend much time there it easily overloads you with its amazing seafood, paella, wine and tapas. But this would never happen to such a sweets junky like me. Barcelona has its own beautiful culture of sweets and there is so much to try there! Escribà is one of the oldest and most famous pastry shops in the city, which I was lucky to visit during my last trip. Read more...

BraCafe is known for the best coffee if you are into coffee.

Markets

Before our Catalan cooking class at the cook&taste Barcelona cooking studio we went to a Spanish chef guided tour around La Boqueria, the most famous Barcelona food market. La Boqueria is a place where one can find almost anything. Everybody seems to like it - city restaurants, home cooks, tourists - all shop there for ingredients, enjoy great tapas bars and the energetic buzz of its crowd. Read more...

Other markets I'm going to visit when back to Barcelona are: Mercat de Concepcio and Mercat de St Antoni

Cooking classes

One more brilliant thing I discovered during my last trip to Barcelona was the cook&taste cooking studio. I was looking to insert some cooking class in our trip and found them. Read more...

Once back to Barcelona, I'd also love to visit Papa Serra

Related:

More Gourmet travel guides

Spanish hot chocolate
Spanish churros