My wife and I will be in Barcelona three nights in August; Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. We'd like to do a "Tapas Crawl" outing at least one evening. Any suggestions of several tapas bars in the same general area? We are long-in-the-tooth so we're looking for places with, what shall I say, a more mature clientele. Our hotel is near L'illa and we'll likely be near the Estació de Sants at least two of the three evenings, but we’re fee to head in any direction so long as the tapas cluster is near a Metro station.
ufff... I wouldn't know where to start... there are far too many worthwhile bars in Barcelona so I prefer to point you to one of the local "bibles" for going out so you can create your own crawl. Besides, there are no clusters... they're literally all over the city, at almost every street you can find something worth exploring.
https://www.timeout.com/barcelona/restaurants
Also, note that for marketing purposes there are so-called "tapas routes" going on all the time. A bunch of bars agree to present a specific tapa (normally one of their specialities) plus a drink for a ridiculously low price during the days in which the route is on (sometimes hours are restricted to a specific time-band though). There routes are multiple and varied so it's best to keep abreast by browsing one of the popular what's-on sort of sites, such as the mentioned above, or http://www.gastronosfera.com/ca/rutes-i-jornades or http://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/comerc/ca/destacats/rutes-de-tapes or http://www.vadebarcelona.com/2015/02/rutas-de-tapas-en-barcelona-i-ruta-de.html among other.
Enjoy!
Enric: Thanks for providing the information and the correction on "routes". I felt there was a specific term for such a procession , but didn't know what it was; now I know.
... crawl (which translates into "arrastrar-se" or also "gatejar" in Catalan, the local language) would be interpreted here as this. Ahem, we don't want that, do we?, LOL!
Enric, have you hacked my personal photos again?
On a culinary note, you'll be pleased to note I made a wonderful Romesco last night.
In el Born around the Picasso Museum you'll find some great places...
http://eldiset.com/
http://ziryab.es/
https://m.facebook.com/El-Xampanyet-1427201254238228/
http://www.tapeoborn.cat/
http://www.llamber.com/
http://www.bardelpla.cat/
Sorry David, I did it again.... I must respect your privacy indeed, hahaha!
Ahh, romesco... a delicious sauce made of a mixture of roasted or raw almonds, pine nuts, and/or hazelnuts, roasted garlic, olive oil and nyora peppers. We use it for different dishes, like xató -a typical salad from Sitges and Vilanova i la Geltrú, just south of Barcelona- and obviously for calçots ("kal-sots"). In fact, now is calçots season... see and enjoy! If anyone wishes to try making romesco.... a step-by-step video here. Throughout the year, especially in summer months, "xatonadas" (popular lunches based around xató) are celebrated in several towns along the coast... and they're open to anyone to participate... it's a great way to mingle with local culture... jump in!