Barcelona Restaurants

Barcelona has a huge variety of restaurants that represent the best of Catalan, Spanish and international cuisine. Typical Mediterranean restaurants in Barcelona are plentiful, and take full advantage of the fresh ingredients to be found in local markets such as the Boqueria. Fish, meat, and vegetables of the season all find their way into traditional dishes such as paella and fideua. You’ll find plenty of seafood restaurants in the Port Olympic and along the seafront. Some of the best tapas restaurants in Barcelona are also located in the maritime districts of Barceloneta and Port Olympic, and you can find great tapas bars in the many squares of Gracia. It’s fairly easy to find a cheap restaurant in Barcelona, as eating out is popular here. Lunch is served from 2pm until 3.30pm, although most restaurants will already be open by 1.30pm or earlier in high season. For lunch most restaurants offer a fixed price menu with a starter, main course, desert or coffee, and sometimes a drink, as well as an a la carte menu. The average price for a fixed menu (lunch) is anything between 8-15€

If you are looking for Asian food, go up to Gracia where you can find lots of Indian, Chinese, Lebonese and different ethnic restaurants on Calle Verdi and in Placa del Sol. The Born area is very good for eating out although the prices are slightly higher. Of course, how could your Barcelona experience be complete without sampling traditional Catalan cuisine? There are some excellent although expensive restaurants along Diagonal and on Ramblas de Catalunya. A cheaper selection can be found in the side streets off the Rambla, in the Gothic area.

A service charge is included with the bill, so tipping is not required but is always gratefully accepted!

Tapas restaurants in Barcelona offer a large variety of dishes served in small portions. The more of you there are the better, as it means you get to pick more dishes to share and try out! The tapas tradition originated in Andalucia, when innkeepers would place a piece of bread with some cured meats or other savory toppings over a client’s drinks to keep out the flies.  Typical meaty tapas in Barcelona include chorizo sausage, meatballs, and a variety of cured hams and cold cuts. Codballs, deep fried calamari, garlic prawns and deep fried small fish are popular with those who like fish. Two classic tapas staples are the patatas bravas, which are deep fried potato chunks covered in spicy sauce, and pan con tomate, or tomato bread.  Watch out for the delicious pimientos del padron, small green peppers... although a couple could be very hot indeed! And make sure you ask your waiter to recommend the house specialities.

Barcelona has a huge variety of restaurants that represent the best of Catalan, Spanish and international cuisine. Typical Mediterranean restaurants in Barcelona are plentiful, and take full advantage of the fresh ingredients to be found in local markets such as the Boqueria. Fish, meat, and vegetables of the season all find their way into traditional dishes such as paella and fideua. You’ll find plenty of seafood restaurants in the Port Olympic and along the seafront. Some of the best tapas restaurants in Barcelona are also located in the maritime districts of Barceloneta and Port Olympic, and you can find great tapas bars in the many squares of Gracia. It’s fairly easy to find a cheap restaurant in Barcelona, as eating out is popular here. Lunch is served from 2pm until 3.30pm, although most restaurants will already be open by 1.30pm or earlier in high season. For lunch most restaurants offer a fixed price menu with a starter, main course, desert or coffee, and sometimes a drink, as well as an a la carte menu. The average price for a fixed menu (lunch) is anything between 8-15€

If you are looking for Asian food, go up to Gracia where you can find lots of Indian, Chinese, Lebonese and different ethnic restaurants on Calle Verdi and in Placa del Sol. The Born area is very good for eating out although the prices are slightly higher. Of course, how could your Barcelona experience be complete without sampling traditional Catalan cuisine? There are some excellent although expensive restaurants along Diagonal and on Ramblas de Catalunya. A cheaper selection can be found in the side streets off the Rambla, in the Gothic area.

A service charge is included with the bill, so tipping is not required but is always gratefully accepted!

Any good Catalan restaurant in Barcelona will use the ingredients of the season to make its traditional dishes. Grilled meats such as the typical buttifarra sausage and lamb chops are popular, as is poultry and lamb. Pork is especially common, and you’ll find some unusual parts on the menu, including pigs cheeks and pigs trotters. In the winter some hearty soups are on the menu, and are replaced with cold gazpacho style soups in the summer.  Fish is prepared in many different ways; grilled, baked, and covered in different sauces. Mediterranean ingredients including aubergine, peppers, tomatoes and mushrooms are often used.  Catalan and Spanish restaurants in Barcelona serve a variety of rice dishes, such as seafood paella, mixed paella and rice with cuttlefish.

Barcelona is the most international city in Spain, so it comes as no surprise that this is reflected in the extensive variety of European restaurants. Italian restaurants are the most abundant, and you’ll also find Greek, French and German restaurants, and much more.  There is an abundance of Mediterranean fusion restaurants, using fresh ingredients of the season to prepare favourite dishes from across the board of European culinary tradition.

International restaurants have really taken off in Barcelona, and all corners of the globe are represented here. Japanese restaurants have really taken off, every street corner now seems to have a sushi lounge! Indian and Chinese restaurants are plentiful and offer a takeaway option, and there are also several Thai restaurants.  Latin American cuisine is plentiful. Argentinean, Brazilian and Peruvian restaurants are popular.

Vegetarian restaurants in Barcelona are becoming easier to find, and even non-vegetarian restaurants are starting to come round to the idea that including at least a few vegetarian main dishes on the menu will increase their clientele. Many offer a large self-service salad buffet as part of the midday menu, as well as a selection of hot dishes and desserts. Barcelona also has a handful of vegan restaurants, and all the vegetarian restaurants offer some vegan options.

There are many cafes in the centre of Barcelona: touristy places, dodgy places, and simply gorgeous places. Yet outdoor terraces without tourists are hard to come by, so we did some research and found some great little spots around the centre of town where you can sit outside without having to suffer the buskers on La Rambla or the demonstrations in front of the Cathedral

If you are ever near Pl. Catalunya or Pl. Universidad, drop by Plaça Vicenç Martorell. A great little square with playground, trees, grass and a lot of sunshine. If you intend to have a drink or a bite to eat, take a seat at Kasparo, a well known café with cheap prices. It also tends to catch the sunlight a bit longer.

While touring the gothic quarter you can always pop into the Museum Frederic Mares (MFM) on Placa de Sant Iu, 5 y 6. Tucked away on one of the streets circling the Cathedral you'll find the entrance to the museum in a quiet courtyard accompanied by an outdoor café, orange trees, a fountain and regular buskers adding to the romantic atmosphere playing their saxophones or cellos.

When down in the Borne area, which is simply crowded with restaurants, cafes and bars, take one of the small side streets that goes past the Picasso museum and look out for the Textil Museum on Calle Montcada. The entrance to the museum is in a small courtyard with a café serving five to six tables on their terrace. Here you can enjoy a coffee at reasonable prices without the hustle of the tourists browsing the Borne streets..

Many of us are lucky enough to have food in the fridge to raid when we return in the early hours of the night. Some even have a partner who left some food ready for us.... But for people like me and you, where can we get food, late at night?.

Normal restaurants close the kitchen between 11pm and 12am weekdays and normally at 12am on the weekend. The tapas bars/restaurants on Passeo de Gracia close at 1am, but then again, we can´t afford the tourist places anyway.

There are a number of cafes and falafel and kebab places around that are open in some cases, until 5am.

In Barcelona there are 3 types of restaurants. A budget restaurant is usually a family run business where you can find a set price menu for 5-8 euros that includes bread, one drink, starters and main course, and sometimes dessert too, or just cheaply priced meals.

Although not always of the best quality, some of them are really good, and offer the best place to eat for budget travellers and budget foreigners living here, as eating out can get expensive by the end of the month.