Barcelona for foodies

The new iconic W Hotel. Photo by by xavi talleda

Three Gourmet Restaurants

Sant Pau Restuarant

Sant Pau Restuarant is at just only 48 kms from Barcelona in the charming Mediterranean village of Sant Pol de Mar where Carme Ruscalleda has built a food temple working closely with the food products of the Catalan Maresma Region which she cooks in a natural and traditional way but with a lot of imagination and full of contrasting textures with some touches of Japanese cuisine. Carme Ruscalleda is the first woman chef to achieve 6 Michelin stars. Now she has opened with her son a new venue in Barcelona - Moments Restaurant where their team cook the best seasonal products in the finest way.

The charismatic Carme in Sant Pau Restaurant. By Monmar

Abac Restaurant

Abac Restaurant and Lasarte Restaurant are the two Michelin start restaurants of Barcelona. I recommend you to try to book a table in Abac in one of the quietest and rich areas of Barcelona mainly because the famous restaurant is now in hands of what many critics believe will be the best chef of the world. Jordi Cruz only 33 years old is in charge of the restaurant establishing a new era in Catalan cuisine; even though he respects and admires profoundly the Catalan cuisine in their signature menu you can find real gems like mini spheres of soya beans and orange or cylinders of pork feet with humus.

Bravo Restaurant

I know you will visit Bravo restaurant because it is situated in the last icon of the city the W Barcelona Hotel, even if you are not staying yet you must to visit the W Hotel, the landmark building has the best Spa and bedroom views of the city, the sea and mountains and also contains the last signature restaurant of chef Carles Abellan who create the definition of “glocal cuisine” where every cuisine in the world contribute to the skills of the chef. In the beautiful rooms and breath-taking terrace of the Bravo restaurant you can find a party of Catalonia flavours cooked with innovative and modern global gastronomic techniques where most of the seafood or meats are cooked over oak coals.

Three Gourmet Tapas Bar

Tickets

Albert Adria in the Tickets Kitchen. Photo by Petits et Maman

Tickets is much more than a gourmet Tapas Bar, it is real Avant—garde cuisine; Albert Adrià former Creative Director & Pastry Chef at their brothers brother Ferran Adrià El Bulli is now the head chef of Tickets, where the food is served in a theatrical atmosphere where deconstructed tapas or a simple and traditional pan tumaca are made with refined skills. The good news is that the Adrià brother’s new adventure is a relatively affordable restaurant where you can find all the flavours of Barcelona and el Bulli for about 50 euros and you can book online. The late serving turn (after 10:30pm) is where you meet the locals

Dos palillos

In the famous Raval neighbourhood you can find Dos Palillos (Two sticks) where the traditional Spanish tapas get all the flavours of Asia thanks to the creativity of also former Bulli chef Albert Raurich. Dos Palillos doesn’t have a wow factor decoration- it’s even a bit kitsch and minimalist but in the Asian counter you can watch the kitchen in full action cooking real delicacies like won-ton of meat and vegetables (Chinese ravioli), razor clams Thai style or a kind of very crispy chicken nuggets and also the Japo Burger, a mini ox burger with black sesame seeds on the bread.

La Boqueria fresh market

The Boqueria is a festival of colours and flavours. By Mariano

La Boqueria market is a temple of the Catalonia food, sometimes a tourist spot, but is a must stop for any foodie where you can appreciate all that the Mediterranean sea and the mountains surrounding Barcelona can offer and understand part of the lifestyle of the city. Also the market has some very good places that serve very fresh tapas like the familiar tapas bar El quim with specialties like fideuá and black rice or just opposite Pinotxo bar where they cook just fresh food, so fresh that they don’t even bother to have a menu. If you find them too busy, just go to Llegums Cuits (stall 317) a stall that sale legumes (vegetables) but also have tasty legumes take away dishes

Three Gourmet Shops

Woki Market is around the impressive Cataluña Square. Photo by xn44

Woki Organic Market

Woki Organic Market is just around the corner of Catalunya Square where you can find plenty of organic Spanish products to put in your luggage, because when you go to Barcelona for sure you don’t want to come back empty handed to your kitchen. Also have an organic tapas bar managed by Michelin start chef Xavier Pellicer (now in Can Fabes) or before you go to Barcelona you can book some cooking courses.

Cacao Sampaka

Delicacies of Cacao Sampaka Barcelona. Photo by Yuichi Sakuraba 

Barcelona is one of the chocolate capitals of the world, where their chocolate master always has been in the avant-garde of the industry like the new chocolate architect Oriol Balaguer, Enric Rovira a deluxe chocolate maker or the  Escursell family that opened its first chocolate shop in 1897

Cacao Sampaka is one of the best chocolate shops in the whole of  Europe that produce more than 100 chocolate varieties in an elegant shop including herbal and flowers chocolate collections or chocolates with spices like saffron or Jamaican black pepper.

Food Cultura

Food Cultura is an art space where food and art mix together, you can find pop art kitchenware, food posters, weird kitchen appliance or extensive recipe book bibliotheca, but Food Cultura is not a food museum and not even an art gallery, it is a place to explore the universe of food and art through workshops and different art  activities. If you want to go, please first contact them at contactus@foodcultura.org

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Barcelona for foodies