Barcelona has a food scene like none other. Home to some of the world’s most extravagant dining, including three three-star Michelin establishments and the world’s second-best restaurant according to The World’s 50 Best, the Catalan capital is also a surprisingly laid-back destination, brimming with casual tapas bars and natural wine joints.
Barcelona is a dining destination like none other.
This year, as the city prepares to welcome one of the world’s foremost sporting events, the America’s Cup, its restaurants are gearing up for what promises to be one of the busiest summers ever. Which, in turn, means reservations are likely to be harder than ever to come by. To plan ahead and make sure you don’t miss out, here is a cheat list of the hottest spots in Barcelona right now.
Hamachi crudo with sauce vierge is one of the highlights of the tasting menu at Âme.
Âme
Âme means soul in French and this spot will make yours sing. By the team behind the ever-popular Albé, Âme is a new concept that blends Catalan produce with French culinary tradition. Anyone who has been to the original address will be familiar with restaurateur Joey Attieh’s flair for hospitality and Chef Pachi Rodríguez’s considerable culinary talents. At Âme, they have switched things up another notch, with a tasting menu that encapsulates the panache of French gastronomy, without the snootiness. The result: local ingredients like rice from the Ebro Delta, prawns from Palamós, and seasonal mushrooms from Montseny, prepared using the sauces and techniques of Nouvelle Cuisine: buerre blanc, cassoulet, bouillabiasse to name just a few—all served in the deliciously romantic Âme dining room with its wooden tables and warm, friendly vibe.
Natural wine and sharing plates are what Tiberi Bar is all about.
Tiberi Bar
It seems Barcelona can’t get enough of natural wine, and trendy Tiberi Bar in the laid-back Poble Sec district is the latest hotspot to get local natty lovers effervescent with delight. Having a good time is the name of the game at this cool bistro-bar with its green marble bar and industrial-chic decor. There are few better places to be a natural wine enthusiast than right here in Catalonia, one of Europe’s leading natty-producing regions and Tiberi does it right, offering a mix of funky and classic options to please all palettes. As for the food, it’s all about the seasonal sharing plates, like cripsy polenta topped with fried sage or the beautifully textured pumpkin served with creamy labneh and crunchy pumpkin seeds. Meanwhile the classic Gilda (a skewer adorned with olives, Guindilla pepper, and Cantabrian anchovies) gets a clever update with cheese and a quail’s egg added on.
Brasero Atlántico and Florería Atlántico are the latest hotspots to open in Barcelona's trendy El ... [+]
Florería Atlántico/Brasero Atlántico
Listed among the World’s 50 Best Bars, the original Florería Atlántico can be found in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with an innovative drinks menu that pays tribute to the Latin American country’s Indigenous communities. Now, you can visit its second outpost in Barcelona, a sultry basement cocktail bar combined with a breezy upstairs restaurant serving Argentinian fare with a Mediterranean twist. Stepping into the restaurant from the buzzy streets of trendy El Born, you will spot a beautiful flower arrangement—a nod to the "Florería" or flower-shop origins. The menu includes deliciously juicy cuts of grilled Argentine meat cooked with a tasty selection of garnishes, alongside Catalan specialties like local charcuteries or octopus confit in coconut oil, cinnamon and orange. Unsurprisingly, the wine and cocktail lists are rather excellent too.
The sushi and sashimi at Kintsugi as as fresh as it gets.
Kintsugi
If there’s one thing Barcelona does almost as well as Catalan food it’s Japanese. Why? It turns out the two cuisines have quite a lot in common, from the fresh flavors, to the rice and seafood like shrimp, eel and bluefin tuna. In Catalonia, many of these fishy delicacies come from the Ebro Delta south of Barcelona, which is also where Kintsugi gets most of its produce. No surprise, then, that the omakase tasting menu here has quickly established itself among the best in the city. Although the dishes change daily, Mozambique-born sushi master Héctor Ribeiro’s top plates include the oysters served with tuna marrow, the mackerel marinated in ginger and Kombu seaweed and the toro tuna belly sashimi that literally melts in your mouth.
Público's show-stopping smoked brioche topped with steak tartare, quail eggs, mustard and ... [+]
Público
Brand-new from the people behind ever-popular Can Fisher, Público is a new wine bar concept in Barcelona’s busy Carrer d’Enric Granados. Serving more than 200 different wines by the bottle (starting at €22) and 35 by the glass, wine is sold at retail prices with a corkage fee of €8 added on. What that means in practice is that you can sample some of the finest vintages from Catalonia, Spain and further afield at a far more accessible price point than in other restaurants. As for the dining menu, it is all about the slow food. Think oysters marinated in cava and yuzu, or the show-stopping smoked brioche topped with steak tartare, quail eggs, mustard and rosemary-infused olive oil, all made using market-fresh, seasonal produce.
Red prawn with puffed pig's trotters and tree tomato, one of the "snacks" at Mae.
Mae
Few restaurants caused as much of a stir last year as Mae. Not surprising, considering the pedigrees of the two chefs behind it: Spanish chef Germán Espinosa, who previously helmed the superb kitchen at downtown Fonda España, and Colombian chef Diego Mondragón, formerly of three-star Michelin Àbac, Fonda España and two-times-best-restaurant-in-the-world El Celler de Can Roca. Mae serves thoughtful tasting menus using local produce and a mix of Catalan and Latin American flavors, resulting in delicate dishes that you will not find anywhere else. Like the tomatoes from nearby Maresme with Peruvian yellow chili, or ají amarillo, and almonds, or seabass cured in Kombu seaweed, infused with Colombian lulo citrus fruit and radish. Watch this space as Mae looks to be destined for greatness.
Oysters at XeiXa
XeiXa
Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter may be the city’s most beautiful neighborhood but it is not known for its great restaurants. Newly opened XeiXa is the exception to that rule. Set in a historic building that can be accessed either from Carrer de Carabassa or Carrer d’Avinyó (the latter was once the entrance to a brothel, and the subject of Picasso’s painting The Young Ladies of Avignon, originally titled The Brothel of Avignon, referring not to the city in France but the street in Barcelona), the setting is as dreamy as it gets. And yet the real highlight here is the food, lovingly prepared by young Valencian chef Sara Valls, using hyper-local ingredients cooked on the grill or in the wood-fired oven. The smoked eggplant baba ganoush with kalamata olives and pine nuts is a must, as is the hearty stew of chick peas, octopus, black butifarra sausage and creamed potato.
The grilled cheese sandwich with Mallorcan sobrassada is a highlight of the food menu at Varmuteo.
Varmuteo
When the team behind Japanese-Mediterranean fine-dining spot Alapar announced the opening of a new vermut spot, it got the city’s food lovers all hot and bothered. What has made Alapar such a hit with the locals is the friendly, laid-back vibe—that, and some serious culinary magic, of course. Now, they have taken all that warm fuzziness and poured it into their next project, Varmuteo. A play on the words, “bar” and “vermuteo” (going for vermut), Varmuteo invites you to do just that. It’s the kind of place where you will stop by for a quick drink that ends up turning into an all-nighter. Top dishes to accompany all the vermut (the menu features 20 different varieties) are the “matrimonio”, a cracker topped with a “marriage” of salted and fresh anchovy, and the grilled cheese sandwich with piquant Mallorcan sobrassada.
Take an old-man bar but make it sexy, Señora Dolores-style.
Señora Dolores
If you don’t think an old man bar can be sexy, think again. Like diners in the U.S., old man bars—affectionately known here as Bar Manolos—are enjoying a revival. So much so that some of the city’s new hotspots have adopted their esthetic. Nowhere more so than Señora Dolores, an achingly hip natural wine bar in trendy Sant Antoni named after Spanish anti-fascist Dolores Ibárruri, who adorns the “La Pasionaria” statue in Glasgow, a memorial to the Spanish Civil War. The modern-day Señora Dolores is a tribute to old-school Spanish bar culture, with a modern twist. Everything here is either cooked in a churro fryer or served raw (trust me, it tastes a lot better than it sounds!), including the churro-style patatas bravas and one of the hottest spins on steak tartare in town. The beautiful twenty- and thirty-somethings of Barcelona are here for it and so should you be.
Shrimp nigiris at Keanu Izakaya Bar
Keanu Izakaya Bar
Barcelona’s love affair with Japanese food is already well documented. In Japan, an izakaya is a restaurant and tavern where you can go for a drink, a bite to eat and a good time after work. Keanu is the Barcelona version of that. An upbeat, irreverent spot that serves Asian fusion dishes, with a focus on Japanese sushi and sashimi, at lunch and dinnertime, followed by banging DJ beats until the early hours. The nigiris are classic and excellent, regardless of what you go for—from the salmon to the tuna, hamachi, eel or Wagyu—and the same goes for the rolls. As for the hot dishes, the house special is the Tom Yum soup, a favorite with lovers of Asian food worldwide but less known in Spain. As for the name, it’s a homage to the one and only Keanu Reeves. Because, seriously, who doesn’t need a bit of Keanu to brighten their day?
