Best Places to Eat in Barcelona
Disfrutar
This is simply, hands down, one of the best restaurants in the world. You’ll pay for that experience, but it truly is an experience. Their ever changing menu will regale you with over 20 unique courses and a dozen wine pairings, each one better than the next. There’s a reason they have earned two Michelin stars early in their history and have maintained them ever since. If you have the funds to go, do it and make sure you have reservations long in advance.
One of the best and most reasonable tasting menus in town. The food is all interesting and well prepared, the wine pairings are fantastic. Just a top restaurant all around.
Maitea Taberna
Maitea Taberna specializes in the Basque-style pintxos that we discussed above. This local tradition of packing around crowded bars to enjoy affordable small plates is famous along the Carrer de Blai, and one of the best bars on this street to enjoy pintxos is Maitea Taberna
Restaurante Mano Rota
Chef Bernat Bermudo uses influences from his Peruvian wife’s local cuisine, blending it perfectly with classic Catalan cuisine and fresh local ingredients.
Els Sortidors del Parlament
Els Sortidors del Parlament is a classic Catalan Bodega, a wine shop that also sells food and drink to enjoy on-site, mixed with a little modern flair. Enjoy glasses of wine directly from the shops barrels as well as liters of vermouth for the table and various craft beers while you snack on gourmet tapas dishes.
Direkte Boqueria
This super small, 8-person counter is the brain child of local chef Arnau Muñío is located on the edge of La Boqueria Market. Here he serves local Asian-Catalan fusion tasting menus that are almost entirely sourced from the local stalls of the market that it lies adjacent to.
Oria
Executive chef Martín Berasategui (the most Michelin-starred Spanish chef of all time) hails from northern Spain’s Basque region, a region known for their cuisine worldwide, and he brings his unique take on Catalan food to this high-end, Michelin starred location and the Monument hotel. The most exciting part of this menu is that you can order either a 6- or 7-course tasting menu that is designed specifically to your tastes depending on what locally sourced and seasonal ingredients are available. These curated tasting menus are surprisingly reasonable as well.
Restaurante Martínez
There are dozens, if not hundreds, of restaurants serving paella, a very classic dish for Barcelona. But, if you want a good classic paella mixed with stunning panoramic views of the city and port from the top of Montjuïc then look no further than Restaurante Martínez, where their paella is the star, but their tapas and oyster bar are also quite nice as well.
La Paradeta is a small chain of seafood restaurants where you walk in and select the seafood you’d like to eat right from the counter as its all delivered fresh every morning and sitting on ice. All you do is tell them how much of everything you want and they choose how to cook it all. It’s an amazingly reasonable way to eat a ton of incredible seafood.
Bar Cańete
A famous locally adored tapas joint where you can enjoy a classic Catalan tapas meal.
El Chigre
Housed in a building from 1769, El Chigre combines the cuisines of Catalunya with Asturia in a way that provides unique takes on otherwise classic dishes. The restaurant also doubles as both a vermouth bar and a cider bar.
Besta
This is one of the most inventive restaurants in the city offering up some completely bonkers, non-traditional combinations for some of the most exciting dishes in the city which they pair with wine sourced entirely from small local producers.
Monvínic
Monvínic is the spot for a wino with a sophisticated palate. This wine bar/restaurant experience is curated by award-winning sommelier Isabelle Brunet. You can enjoy her wine pairing with a full meal in the restaurant or enjoy the tapas menu in the bar that is also expertly paired with wines.
Fismuler
This rustic, yet decidedly modern restaurant might lack some of the charm of an old local haunt, as it would look at home in many US cities. But don’t let that deter you, the food and service are simply stellar, and the decor and ambiance are fantastic as well. They’re just curated in a way that many of the more authentic, local spots aren’t. The three chefs at the head of this endeavor all learned to cook at the legendary El Bulli and their stay in such a behemoth of fine dining shows up throughout their menu.
Cocina Hermanos Torres
This restaurant quickly gained two Michelin stars just two years after opening. They feature incredibly inventive takes on classic Catalan dishes and one of the best wine pairings in town.
Rocambolesc
You might have heard of the owners of this ice cream shop, Joan, Josep and Jordi Roca from their world famous family restaurant El Celler de Can Roca, which won best restaurant in the entire world at one point and is a mainstay of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants. Jordi Roca is the teams dessert expert and his work is on full display here in what might be the only Michelin star worthy ice cream shop in the world.