To say goodbye to 2014, we’ve decided to follow the popular trend of making a list. Here’s what we consider to be the 10 best establishments in Barcelona we’ve featured on our website. Of course, we think all the places you’ll find on Plateselector are worth your time and effort, but these 10 are what we consider to be true examples worth following. Bon Appetit!
This restaurant, found among the chaos of La Rambla de Raval, specializes in “succulent” dishes, and their house specialties will have you wiping your plate clean with your bread to soak up every last drop of flavour.
Photo: Cecília Díaz Betz
Helena Garriga and her husband Olivier Guilland are the owners of this grocery store/bistro that is so nice you’ll want to stay from breakfast until dinner. In their menu you can find amazing dishes like their lentils with foie gras, carrots, celery and ginger, the house Martinelli macaroni with comté cheese and Iberian bacon, the roast beef sirloin served cold with mustard or the wild salmon with lemon and ginger.
Photo: Cecília Díaz Betz
Surinder Oberoi and his wife Poonam Chitra were the first to open an Indian food restaurant in Barcelona. After 18 successful years, they are passing the torch to their son Ivan Surinder Chitra with a modern and renovated restaurant that still conserves the essence and roots of Indian cuisine. In the menu you can find classic like Palack Paneer (cheese with creamed spinach), Sheek Kebab (lamb meat with avocado and mango chutney) and Baingan Bartha (eggplant with goat cheese on naan). They also have a delicious and varied selection of curries, including Chicken Tikka Masala (Tandoori style with ginger, garam masala, coriander and peppers), Chicken Korma (with coconut milk, turmeric, cream and cashews), Kemma Mutter (lamb with peas, black cardamom, coriander and laurel) and Goan Jheenga (prawns in a mild curry sauce).
Photo: Cecília Díaz Betz
Gaby Morales and Jordi Jimenez, a couple and owners of Ben Plantat, have managed to make their restaurant a place so cozy you feel like you’re sitting in their home, not only because of the beautiful space – thanks to interior designer Natzaret Querol – but also because of the familiar and kind treatment you’ll receive from Gaby and Jordi in the kitchen.
Marinated mushrooms stuffed with a rice and apple salad with a peach mustard vinaigrette; artisan Corato burrata with salad; Cantabrian tuna belly with peppers and seasonal tomatoes; a homemade burger with capers, sweet onions and julienne potatoes … these are just a few of their delicious meals to be enjoyed for lunch or dinner. Their menu of the day option for lunch is a guarantee you’ll eat well, both for flavour and health, for just 8.50€.
Photo: Beatriz Janer
In a city where every tapas bar has its loyal followers, Bar Brutal has achieved distinction in a few months thanks to its … frankly, brutal approach that’s a more old school style than history of gastronomy. Natural wines (made with minimal intervention by the human hand) accompanied by food that’s scarcely exposed to heat. Here the marinated, pickled, smoked and cured reign. The kitchen is little more than a square metre and the only heat that reaches more than 60º comes from a salamander to toast bread and revive the irresistible porchetta previously grilled with honey and mustard at a low temperature.
Photo: Sonia Zaghbani
The pink neon sign outside their entrance let’s you know what their star dish is: RAMEN. This restaurant in the Gothic Quarter has a space, bar and food that is very similar to a typical Japanese izakaya, even though the three owners are from Ireland and Sweden: Mark, Robert and Ross.
Soy ramen: tonkotsu broth (made with pork bones, water, garlic and onion), soy, chashu (smoked pork known as Chinese barbeque), nitimago (boiled eggs), nori seaweed, pickled daikon and vegetables; miso ramen: tonkotsu broth, miso, chashu, nitimago, nori seaweed, wakame and vegetables; spicy ramen: spicy miso, chashu, nitamago, kim-chi, nori and vegetables; (spicy) vegetarian ramen: shitake mushroom and kombu broth, spicy miso (optional), tofu, wakame, nitamago, shitake mushrooms and nori seaweed. These are the five options to choose from, all exquisite.
Photo: Mahala Marcet
Sopa is a vegetarian and vegan restaurant even though they like to avoid these labels, and prefer to be thought of as a place where you can eat healthy. Their strong point – no surprise here – is their soups, simmered for three hours, made with a base of onion or leek and with infinite varieties. Some of these steaming delicacies are the dahl soup (peeled lentils), cinnamon pumpkin or carrot and ginger. They’re served in giant bowls and accompanied by bread or rice.
Photo: Paula Belil
From an Asturian mother and a Neapolitan father comes Flor, queen of this small restaurant that she reigns with care, filling it with personality and her pure Argentinean character. She’s dedicated herself to this for 24 years and you can see she enjoys taking care of her customers. The best option? Come in, sit down and leave the decisions up to this Argentinean full of passion and vitality. For the impatient, here are a couple hints. The Italian buffalo stracciatella cheese is a house signature. The definition of “less is more”. The beef tartar or the elephant ear is the best choice for meat lovers. For those more inclined toward the sea, the mussels are truly addicting.
Photo: Marta Parera
Laura Veraguas has done it again. This talented chef makes sure everything that leaves the kitchen is a marvel.
The best thing about Iradier, apart from its enormous and amazing space, is that everything you can eat here is healthy: “The first thing I did was get rid of the deep fryer. We experiment with each product to make it as healthy as possible: boiled, steamed, al dente, sautéed, grilled, etc…by adjusting the time, temperature, and type of preparation you can enjoy the food you love in its healthiest form,” explains Laura.
With these techniques, the nutrition of each ingredient is preserved – “heat destroys vitamins in vegetables, and so you have to adjust it for each ingredient. My recipes were overseen by a nutritionist in order to maintain consistency with the healthy philosophy of Iradier.”
Photo: Beatriz Janer
There’s no place more emblematic or iconic in Barcelona than Flash Flash. After 44 years they are as good as their first day.
The story behind this restaurant specializing in omelets is that Pomés was an omelet fanatic and during an operation he was forbidden from eating eggs. When he got out of the hospital, he knew that omelets would be the star of the show. The variety they have is almost infinite, with more than 50 omelets in the menu. Some stars stand out: the panadera omelet, the girls’ omelet, stew, Vilafranca, Margarita, the Mallorcan, Capuchina, the Roman, the cake omelet, artichoke or eggplant omelet, potato omelet, onion omelet, tomato, mayonnaise, red pepper, olives … They even have sweet omelets for dessert like the Kirsch omelet with oranges, the prune omelet, the candied fruits with coffee sauce, the Tommy with apples and the Suzie.
Photo: Beatriz Janer
Text: Alba Yáñez
Translation: Annie MacDonald