Food Advice

What city are you referring to?

I can't believe I forgot to put the city....Barcelona!!

Knowing how different people’s tastes can be, I never recommend one restaurant over another—I've learned the hard way that not everyone appreciates food the same way. But if you tell me what you’re looking for, what you like, and what your preferences are, then I can suggest a list of places that might fit the bill—and you can choose from there.

Barcelona has 39 municipal food markets scattered around the city. A “mercat municipal” (Catalan -the local language- for "food market" or, sometimes, "farmers' market") is basically where people have gone for centuries to buy fresh produce: fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry, and fish. They’re not tourist attractions. For the most part, they’re just places to shop—no fancy cafés, no flashy decorations, nothing like that.

https://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/mercats/en/markets/food-markets

That said, some of them were built (or rebuilt) during the Modernista period in the early 20th century, so they’ve got some really interesting architectural details. Others have been renovated more recently and look more like modern supermarkets, but with independent stalls.

La Boqueria stopped being a traditional market years ago. It’s slowly turned into something aimed at tourists: many of the old fish, fruit, or butcher stalls have given way to juice bars, candy stands, and other things that don’t really belong on a “shopping list.”

By contrast, the Santa Caterina Market—just a short walk from La Boqueria—is still very much a local, working market. A few years back, a world-renowned local architect, Enric Miralles, designed its renovation, and now you can admire its spectacular wavy, colourful roof, meant to represent the Mediterranean and the variety of colours in our fields. The building itself has a sleek, Nordic feel with a lot of visible wood. The stalls are also great from a foodie perspective, with really fresh, varied ingredients. Definitely worth a visit—just please don’t block the aisles taking endless photos, because locals get annoyed. For us, it’s not an attraction; it’s just our market, and we’re usually in a hurry.

If anyone fancy purchasing some products.... https://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/mercats/en/som-de-mercat/market-products-glossary

Enjoy!

Thank you for the information on the markets. That's wonderful to know!

I'm not sure how to answer your question about the type of restaurants we are looking for...one that is typical, more for locals, good food, tapas, nice atmosphere...

I can only say that if it´s "tapas" it´s not a restaurant, but a bar.

But you never know, as tourism is changing so many things!

Another vote for Santa Caterina Market! When last in Barcelona, we visited this market a couple times and skipped La Boqueria. When shopping at Santa Caterina, you're with the locals instead of the tourists.

Agree with Laurie. You can skip La Boqueria unless you want to have a morning meal at Quim or Pinoxto..there used to be a restaurant inside the market that served at night but this was twenty years ago!!!