• Salt Restaurant and Beach Club

    Salt Restaurant and Beach Club

    Burgers and cocktails beside the beach at Barcelona’s W Hotel.  Bite-Sized Review: Salt Restaurant and Beach Club There’s no shortage of good places to eat in and around the 5* W Hotel. Bravo 24 offers outstanding tapas and traditional Catalan cuisine, while the beachfront Pez Vela serves rice and seafood in a laid-back, beachfront setting. Salt…

  • Mandarin Oriental Barcelona

    Mandarin Oriental Barcelona

    Click on arrows to see photo gallery Review: Mandarin Oriental Barcelona Hotel The Mandarin is a true luxury hotel. From the moment you pass the pillared entrance and ascend the carpeted ramp, flanked by Brioni and Tiffany & Co. boutiques, you feel like you are stepping into somewhere special. The glorious architecture of the former…

  • Hotel Arts Barcelona

    Hotel Arts Barcelona

    Click on the arrows to see photos Review: Hotel Arts (Barcelona) Barcelona’s most iconic hotel. Barcelona’s tallest hotel (and likely to stay that way for a while, now that the proposed conversion of the Torre Agbar has been put on hold). Barcelona’s best-known luxury hotel. But is it Barcelona’s best hotel? It’s certainly a strong…

  • Mercer Restaurant

    Mercer Restaurant

    Beautiful restaurant with cooking to match – but understaffing stops it reaching its potential. Review: Mercer restaurant, Hotel Mercer Update, September 2015: Please note that head chef Xavier Lahuerta has now left Mercer restaurant. Click here for my review of the latest iteration of Mercer restaurant. The Mercer is a gorgeous hotel. It’s built into…

  • Food Lovers Company Tapas Tour

    Food Lovers Company Tapas Tour

    Click on the arrows to view gallery Food Lovers Company Barcelona Tapas Tour I met Nuria and Margherita, readers of this blog and owners of Food Lovers Company, last week. They kindly invited me to join them on one of their Barcelona tapas tours around the Ciutat Vella (old town). Their walking tours take in…

  • Manairó (2015)

    Manairó (2015)

    Bold flavours, good taste, inventive cooking, and a profound love for food: one of the best restaurants in Barcelona. Review: Manairó restaurant The last time I went to Manairó (in 2014) I was hugely impressed. It stood out even among Barcelona’s other one-Michelin-starred restaurants, delivering daring big flavours under tight control. There are many restuarants…

  • Entrepanes Díaz

    Entrepanes Díaz

    Bags of character, sterling service and super sandwiches, but be careful with the bill at this baps-and-tapas bar. Entrepanes Díaz (Bite-Sized Review) Despite its vintage appearance, Entrepanes Díaz hasn’t been around long. It has, however, already earned a regular spot on my mental map of places to pop into if I’m goin on a tapeo …

  • Blau BCN

    Blau BCN

    Big flavours and bargain set menus at this Eixample restaurant won’t leave you feeling blue  Review: Blau BCN restaurant As its name suggests, blue is the dominant colour at Blau BCN. Think, however, of a cool, jazzy, sophisticated blue – not the my-dog-done-died, 12-bar variety – and you’ll be closer to imagining the atmosphere at chef…

  • Le Bouchon

    Le Bouchon

    Gothic Quarter bistro in 5-star Hotel Mercer offers upmarket tapas with deft, creative touches. Review: Le Bouchon, Hotel Mercer The chefs at the Hotel Mercer have big boots to fill. Both the hotel’s main restaurant (review coming soon) and Le Bouchon, its more informal bistro, were conceptualized and then overseen by the great Catalan chef Jean Luc Figueras…

  • CometaCinc

    CometaCinc

    UPDATE MAY 2017: Cometacinc has closed permanently. Barcelona Gothic Quarter bistro with old-fashioned charm and updated food Review: Cometacinc restaurant, el Barri Gótic The monumental wooden shutters and doors at Cometacinc are baffling, in more ways than one. They seem scaled to block out the blazing sunlight of a wide, open square, not that of…

  • Suculent

    Suculent

    Barcelona’s best bistro? Certainly a strong contender. Rustic dishes, refined, in the Raval.  Review: Suculent, Rambla de Raval, Barcelona People who know me were always telling me to go to Suculent. “You’ll love it,” they said. “Just your sort of thing.” Fellow gastronauts with similar tastes have spoken in hushed, awed tones of The Steak…

  • Devour Barcelona (Gràcia Food Tour)

    Devour Barcelona (Gràcia Food Tour)

    Click on the arrows to view gallery In May I was invited to join the Devour Barcelona team on their four-hour food tour. Devour began in Madrid and has since expanded to other cities in Spain and Catalonia. Their Barcelona tour sensibly eschews the tourist-dense city center and instead takes visitors around Gràcia, a former…

  • The Tatami Room

    The Tatami Room

    Superior sushi, sashimi and more at The Tatami Room in Barcelona’s Poble Sec district. Bite-Sized Review: The Tatami Room Japanese restaurant, Barcelona I had dinner last month at The Tatami Room with its owner, Hugo. I know what you’re thinking, and you’re correct: Hugo is not a very Japanese name. Hugo the owner is, however,…

  • El Guindilla del Born

    El Guindilla del Born

    Good, family-friendly tapas, tucked away among the tourist traps in El Born, Barcelona Review: El Guindilla del Born: tapas bar, takeaway and restuarant The Born district incarnation of El Guindilla, like its sister restaurant of the same name in Barceloneta, belongs to the same family that owns and runs the various Asador de Aranda restaurants. I…

  • Bravo 24

    Bravo 24

    A tapas ‘trojan horse’ for traditional Barcelona cuisine on one of the city’s best contemporary terraces. Review: Bravo 24 restaurant and tapas bar (Hotel W)  Bravo 24 wasn’t what I was expecting. Not even close. I’d spent the previous evening staying in the Hotel W (known locally as the ‘Vela’, or sail) and I thought…

  • Dos Palillos

    Dos Palillos

    A rollercoaster ride through Asian cuisine, powered by passion and steered by a world-class chef. Intro (you can skip this bit if you just want the review…) The word ‘passion’ is greatly over-used when it comes to cuisine. I blame the melodrama of the various international iterations of Masterchef and its ilk. If contestants aren’t…

  • Piratas de Barcelona

    Piratas de Barcelona

    A hidden treasure: A characterful and quirky Barcelona bistro that prioritizes quality produce. Note: This restaurant review is based on a visit in February 2015. X no longer marks the spot where treasure is said to lie. Instead, a pointer on Google Maps or Tripadvisor sends adventurers scurrying in search of the mythical prize: an authentic, unspoiled…

  • BistrEau by Ángel León

    BistrEau by Ángel León

    Note (Dec. 17) BistrEau is once again called Blanc and is now run by Carme Ruscalleda. Read the review of Blanc here. Bold start in Barcelona by seafood specialist ‘Chef del Mar’ Ángel León at the Mandarin Oriental hotel. Note: this review is based on a visit in November 2014. The menu is now different but I…

  • Pez Vela

    Pez Vela

    Surprisingly good rice and great views on Barcelona’s Sant Sebastià beach. There are a strip of restaurants styled after chiringuitos, beach bars, on the sand-side base of Barcelona’s towering W Hotel (known locally as the Vela). Barcelona’s chiringuitos are great places to get a snack or a drink but they don’t always have the best reputation when it comes to…

  • Mordisco

    Mordisco

    Beautiful space, delicious food, professional service, no surprises: the basics done right in Barcelona’s Eixample. Places like Mordisco (Passatge de la Concepció 10, 08008, Barcelona, Tel.  (+34) 934 879 656; Metro Diagonal) raise an interesting question: What do you want from a restaurant? When you’re deep down the foodie rabbit hole, either as an industry professional or just as an…

  • Bestial

    Bestial

    Seafood and sea views from a stylish restaurant on Barcelona’s Somorrostro beach. Bestial‘s most obvious strength is its location (Ramon Trias Fargas 2-4, 08005, Barcelona; Tel. (+34) 932 240 407, Metro Ciutadella-Villa Olímpica, closed Monday lunch). Its multi-level garden terrace looks out over Somorrostro beach. There, on the golden sand, Barcelona’s beautiful people play volleyball before frolicking…

  • Moments

    Moments

    Exquisite, world-class fine dining in Barcelona from the Ruscalleda family. Carme Ruscalleda has accumulated a constellation of Michelín stars: three in Sant Pau, half an hour up the coast from Barcelona in Sant Pol de Mar; two in Sant Pau in Tokyo, and two in Moments (Hotel Mandarin Oriental, Passeig de Gràcia 38-40, 08007 Barcelona; Tel. (+34)…

  • Etapes (Revisited, 2015)

    Etapes (Revisited, 2015)

    Friendly and affordable fine dining in Barcelona’s Eixample. Etapes (c/ Enric Granados 10, 08007, Barcelona, Tel. (+34) 933236914)  opened in 2010 and I visited the following year. Despite some rough edges, the restaurant showed great promise and duly went on to win a Michelín Bib Gourmand.  Etapes has undergone a cosmetic facelift since then but remains…

  • Negro-Rojo

    Negro-Rojo

    A stylish haven for the hungry among the shops and offices of Sarria-Sant Gervasi. Negro-Rojo‘s split name reflects a split personality. There are, in fact, two completely separate restaurants on the premesis (Av. Diagonal 640, 08017, Barcelona, Tel. +34 934 059 444, website) in front of La Illa shopping centre: Rojo, downstairs, is a ‘Japanese…

  • La Flauta

    La Flauta

    Reliable but boisterous Barcelona city-centre tapas restaurant Eating options in Barcelona are limited on Monday nights. Fewer restaurants that usual remain open and those that do often have restricted menus. La Flauta (C/ Aribau 23, +34 933 237 038, no website, closed Sundays) falls into the second category. But that’s a good thing: I’d rather be told…

  • Cal Boter

    Cal Boter

    A traditional Catalan restaurant in Gracia that offers great value – if you don’t mind queuing. The first time I tried to eat at Cal Boter (C/ Tordera 62, 08012, Barcelona, (+34) 934 58 84 62, closed Sun. and Mon nights), the queue was out the door. I tried again another day, earlier, only to find…

  • El Tossal

    El Tossal

    UPDATE MAY 2017: EL TOSSAL HAS CLOSED PERMANENTLY This traditional family restaurant in Gracia still deserves its excellent reputation for game dishes and seasonal Catalan cuisine. I last visited El Tossal (c/ Tordera 12,  08012, Barcelona, Tel. 934576382) six or seven years ago after a tip-off from my Catalan mother-in-law. It’s that sort of restaurant; a multi-generational…

  • El Asador de Aranda (Tibidabo)

    El Asador de Aranda (Tibidabo)

    A spectacular modernista setting for simple but succulent roast lamb at this restaurant in Barcelona’s uptown Sant Gervasi district. The road that slopes up from Barcelona to Tibidabo mountain is one of the most pleasant in the city. An old blue tram still clanks slowly along it, giving passengers time to reflect on the dubious value…

  • Can Manel

    Can Manel

    Want to try calçots in Barcelona? This specialist wood-grill restaurant fits the bill … if you can stand the smoke. Calçots are one of the defining dishes of Catalan cuisine. Every winter, vast numbers of the leek-sized spring onions are grilled black over open flames before being served to bib-wearing hordes who strip them of their outer…

  • Au Port de la Lune

    Au Port de la Lune

    Full of character and food-first attitude, this no-nonsense French bistro is still a delight.  When Au Port de la Lune (C/Pau Claris 103, 08009, Barcelona, Tel. +34 934122224, open Mon-Sat lunch and dinner; Sundays lunch only) was located next to la Boqueria market, it offered a welcome haven of genuine character in an area increasingly blighted…

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