Hello
We are heading to Barcelona for a week and was wondering if we should just wing it with regards to restaurants or do folks on this forum have some recommendations. We recognize Barcelona is a foodie town and we can easily find great choices. Not into fancy in particular-just good and local. Also love the idea of grabbing supplies at the market for picnics and such.
thanks in advance
Helen
It will be helpful to the folks knowledgeable about the local food scene to provide the location of your hotel and advise of any particular areas of town where you expect to be at mealtime.
We enjoyed Meson Barceloneta. in the Barceloneta.for paella. I believe for 20-25Euro we got appetizer, paella and dessert. It was good and they have outdoor seating. Wait staff was very kind to accommodate one daughter that was vegetarian and the other who really doesn't like onions. When he found out the squash soup did contain onions, he brought out a sample to make sure my daughter would enjoy it (she did).
We ate at Casa Alfonso twice for tapas. Again, the staff made the difference. We sat at the bar and the bartender even though very busy, patiently explained what was in each tapas as we had never had tapas or been to Spain before. It is close to the Placa de Catalunya.
We were crazy about the Boqueria for fruit and smoothies and snacks and the wonderful sights and sounds of a busy market.
We had churros and chocolate several places. A favorite was Granja M. Viader, just off the Ramblas. The hot chocolate in Spain seems to be more pudding like. One daughter loved it and my other daughter and I preferred the hot chocolate in Paris. Regardless, it was delcious and the staff again, was charming.
For lunches we found it cost effective and time saving to by a baguette and pastries and some cheese for lunches.
We also were sure to pick accommodations that included breakfast which saves time and money.
Here is my itinerary..
For Saturday lots of walking around in various neighborhoods..maybe pick up something at El Cortes Ingles for lunch and a seaside dinner for our first evening in Barcelona
For Sunday-someplace in El Born near the Basilica for dinner
For Monday- a pre Sagrada Familia tour suggestion for lunch
For Wednesday-how do you plan meals around a day on Montserrat
For Thursday-ditto for Montjuic and Magic Fountain in evening
Fro-Suggestions for Bari Gotico for lunch and dinner after 5:30 concert at Palau Musica
SAT PM (walking)
•Tetuan
•Arc de Triomf
•Parc de la Ciutadella
•Barceloneta seafront
•Port
•Colon
•Las Ramblas - Placa Real, La Boqueria
•Plaza Catalunya
•Passeig de Gracia (exteriors)
SUN
•Parc Guell (BOOK AM TIME)
•Poble Sec Tapas tour with Context Tours (12-3pm)
•El Born - Picasso Museum (til 7pm on Sunday) & Basilica Santa Maria Del Mar (til 8pm on Sunday)
MON
•Hospital Saint Pau
•Sagrada Familia Tour with Context Tours (2:30-5:30pm)
•La Pedrera evening tour with dinner (7:30pm)
TUES
•Figueres and Girona
WED
•Montserrat
THURS
•Montjuic - Miro Museum > Castello > Olympic Ring > MNAC > Placa Espanya
•Magic Fountains in Evening
FRI
•Eixample (Modernisme) - Block of Discord
•Bari Gotico - Cathedral & historic sights
•Concert at Palau de la Música Catalan (5:30pm)
Meals are served very late in Barcelona (lunch as late as 2 - 4 PM), so be careful about planning your pre-La Sagrada Familia lunch. You may need to plan something quick for lunch that day.
I think the only food sources actually on Montjuic may be in the MNAC. It's an area with a variety of sights, but no streets with commercial establishments. There might be something in the Poble Eapanyol, but I've never been there.
In Spain you will find your daily eating requirements follow either of 2 forms ...
1. ‘Menu del dia’ at lunchtime, then tapas ‘bites’ (or market purchases) in the evening.
2. Lunch ‘on the run’ while sightseeing, then a traditional restaurant dinner in the evening.
Lunch is normally from 2pm, dinner from 9pm.
Set ‘menu del dia’ of 2 or 3 courses (limited choice) with bread, coffee, service included usually offers exceptional value.
If you don't mind a vegetarian option, we can recommend this place, http://sopa.vg/provenza/es/ We ate lunch there twice. It's very reasonably priced. There is also second location.
In Barcelona, 1:30pm to 3:30pm is the time-band in which people stop for lunch (not for two hours alas!, but within that time period, LOL!), 2pm being the peak in most eateries. Visitors, especially those with tight itineraries, are advised to eat before that. But then, while you'll find plenty of eateries serving you food at any time during the day, many restaurants won't serve you lunch until 1ish (or 8:30ish for dinner) as it's the time they open their kitchens for more elaborate food. With the kitchen closed you can still order sandwiches and/or basic tapas, of course.
... food for thought: http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20180424-a-uniquely-spanish-part-of-the-meal
Although don't get carried away, "sobremesa" (or "sobretaula" like we say in Catalan here in Catalonia) is something you do when you don't have any pressing obligation after the meal. This pretty much pushes it towards the weekend only as during the week most, if not all, people have to return to work thus meals are far shorter. For lunch, we don't like to just gobble up food in a flash like in some other cultures but most of us take 30-45' (even an hour sometimes) for lunch. Enough time to sit down, wait for the proper food to be served, eat at a normal pace while chatting with one's company (if any), be a work colleague, a friend or someone you meet every day at the same restaurant, have a coffee and back to the office/shop/whatever.
Down the street from the Picasso Museo: Euskal Etxea for terrific Basque tapas, ate there twice, mostly locals, busy happy place. Followed by tangy yogurt & crema catalana helado at a little place on Place de les Olles.
"gelat" :)
Thanks, Bill. I actually walked past that place when I was in Barcelona, but it was a very off-hour, and there was no one around. It totally slipped my mind. I only remember it because (I assume) "Gat" means "cat". and I am obsessed by felines.
thank you everyone!!
At Monserrat (up on the mountain) there is a hotel with a restaurant and there is a cafeteria. It's designed to handle big crowds but the food is decent and you can eat faster then in the restaurant. Otherwise I'd bring food for a picnic.
I got an overpriced crummy sandwich (would have been overpriced even if good) from a kiosk on the steps of MNAC, then found out there's a reasonably priced cafeteria inside with food that looked quite appetizing. I just had a glass of wine, mostly to rest my feet after a couple hours in the galleries. For suppers, I usually just ate tapas or picked up something at El Cortes and ate in my room. I had an excellent lunch at Elsa y Fred, about a 5-6 minute walk from the Palau de la Musica (in the opposite direction of Las Ramblas.
