The following are some of the places where we ate during our week in Barcelona. Unlike most of the places we visit in the US, there are no websites to accompany these, so I’ll give street locations when possible.
Pizzas L’Avia—Just down the street from us on the corner of C/Cera and C/Botella was this busy pizza and empanadas place. We weren’t terribly hungry by dinnertime on our first night, so we grabbed a chirizo pocket and a ham & cheese pocket to go. Both were a little dry, but tasty. I imagine the pizza is very good as that’s what most people were noshing on. There are bottles of their signature cava for sale above the bar for about 2€… so tempting.
3 Hermanos—This cozy tapas place is located at C/Carme 59. We split a 1/2 liter of sangria and enjoyed three small plates that filled us up completely, fresh manchego cheese, sliced jamon drizzled with olive oil, and patatas bravas. One notable thing was the selection of American music playing, perhaps due to the early hour of our dining?
La Fragua—Located at Rambla del Raval 15, we liked this place so much that we ate here twice! The first time we split a bottle of Torres Rose de Casta. I enjoyed the valencia paella (semi-blurry photo below) and Eric had a jamon and cheese flauta and a patatas bomba. The waiters were just flying around this place and ours was no exception. He even insisted on treating us to dessert, a chocolate cake, how nice! The second time we got a half bottle of rioja and split a spicy shrimp skewer, patatas bravas, and a jamon flauta. Everything was beyond delicious.
Rita Rouge—This restaurant is located just behind La Boqueria off of C/de les Floristes de la Rambla bordering a parking lot. Even though rain was in the forecast (like every night we were in Barcelona) we opted to sit outside. Two other tables were enjoying pitchers of sangria, but it wasn’t on the menu. When we asked, our waiter looked confused and came back with a price of 17€, which we declined. Instead, we split a bottle of a local Spanish white and amusingly watched folks cram themselves into tiny parking spaces while waiting for our food. My Fajitas de Gambas al Ajillo (shrimp fajitas) were well seasoned and plentiful and Eric enjoyed his Chicken Tandoori Masala. We also witnessed our first ever bill-dodgers who ran around the corner when the waiter wasn’t looking!
C/Vermell courtyard restaurant—While wandering around Barri Gotic on our first full day we stumbled upon this place in a quiet courtyard area on C/Vermell just a few blocks up from the Picasso Museum. We grabbed a table outside and Eric had a huge glass of sangria and me, my first glass of rioja in Spain. We split an order of pan amb tomàquet (bread rubbed with a cut tomato, garlic and olive oil), chirizo, and a traditional potato pancake.
C/Princesa ice cream shop—On our way back from the beach, we stopped just before Jaume square for a cold snack to stave off the hunger as we still had another two hours until dinner. I enjoyed a coffee ice cream while Eric opted for the chocolate chip (even though he asked for mint chocolate chip). It was a tasty and a generous portion, but I liked the flavor of the French ice cream better.
Mercat de Sant Antoni, Mercat Santa Caterina & La Boqueria—While I enjoyed the bustle of each of these markets, I thought that the Sant Antoni market had the best prices and was a more authentic experience. I overheard lots of tourists speaking English in La Boqueria and even helped an British couple order some cheese. :) The selections of fruit, meats, and cheeses were very overwhelming (in a good way), and be prepared to see skinned sheep heads (and entire animals) for sale alongside the ordinary cuts of meat. Go to La Boqueria for your tourist photos, but head to another one of the local markets to do your actual shopping.
A nice added touch, each stall has their own branded cheese paper. The two below are from La Boqueria.
One of the nicest food-related things about Barcelona is that there are bakeries on practically every corner. We had lovely baguettes, croissants, and chocolate pastries from a number of places. Another thing to note is that we didn’t try any place I had written down before we left, in fact, we found all these places by simply walking around and checking out menus.