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Restaurants Overview

Barcelona's restaurant scene is an ongoing surprise. Between the cutting-edge of avant-garde culinary experimentation and the cosmopolitan and rustic dishes of traditional Catalan fare is a fleet of inventive chefs producing some of Europe's finest Mediterranean cuisine.

The Cuisine: Catalans are legendary lovers of fish, vegetables, rabbit, duck, lamb, game, and natural ingredients from the Pyrenees or the Mediterranean. The mar i muntanya (sea and mountain -- that is, surf and turf), a recipe combining seafood with upland products, is a standard. Rabbit and prawns, cuttlefish and meatballs, chickpeas and clams are just a few examples. Combining salty and sweet tastes -- a Moorish legacy -- is another common theme, as in duck with pears, rabbit with figs, or lamb with olives.

The Mediterranean diet, which is based on olive oil, seafood, fibrous vegetables, onions, garlic, and red wine, is at home in Barcelona, and food tends to be seasoned with Catalonia's four basic sauces -- allioli (pure garlic and olive oil), romescu (almonds, hazelnuts, tomato, garlic, and olive oil), sofregit (fried onion, tomato, and garlic), and samfaina (a ratatouille-like vegetable mixture).

Typical entrées include habas a la catalana (a spicy broad-bean stew), bullabesa (fish soup-stew similar to the French bouillabaisse), and espinacas a la catalana (spinach cooked with oil, garlic, pine nuts, raisins, and bits of bacon). Toasted bread is often doused with olive oil and spread with squeezed tomato to make pa amb tomaquet, delicious on its own or as a side order.

Deals & Discounts: Menús del día (menus of the day), served only at lunchtime, are good values. Beware of the advice of hotel concierges and taxi drivers, who have been known to warn that the place you are going is either closed or no good anymore and to recommend places where they get kickbacks.

And to Drink: Catalan wines from the nearby Penedès region, especially the local méthode champenoise (sparkling white wine known in Catalonia as cava), adequately accompany regional cuisine. Meanwhile, winemakers from the Priorat, Ampurdan, and Costers del Segre regions are producing some of Spain's most exciting new wines.

Dining Hours

Barcelona, like the rest of Spain, dines late. Those who try to fight this reality will not fare well. Lunch is served 2-4 and dinner 9-11. If you arrive a half hour early, you may score a table but miss the life and fun of the place. The restaurants serving continuously 1 PM-1 AM are rarely the best ones. (Botafumeiro is an exception.) Hunger attacks between meals are easily resolved in the city's numerous cafés and tapas bars, where anything from a bocadillo de tortilla (potato omelet sandwich) to gambas al ajillo (shrimp cooked in garlic) will more than stem the tide.

Prices

Since the introduction of the euro, prices have skyrocketed in Barcelona. Whereas fixed lunch menus can be found for as little as EUR 10, most good restaurants cost closer to EUR 20. For serious evening dining, plan on spending EUR 30-EUR 50 per person, with the most expensive places costing upward of EUR 75, and often, depending on your wine choices, over EUR 100. Barcelona restaurants, even pricey gourmet establishments, offer a daily lunchtime menu (menú del día) consisting of two courses plus wine, coffee, or dessert at rock-bottom prices.

Tipping

Tipping, though common, is not required; the gratuity is included in the check. If you do tip, as an extra courtesy, anywhere from 5% to 10% is perfectly acceptable. No one seems to care much about tipping, though all parties seem to end up happier if a small gratuity is left.

Reservations

Nearly all of Barcelona's best restaurants require reservations. As the city has grown in popularity, more and more receptionists are perfectly able to take your reservations in English. Your hotel concierge will also be happy to call and reserve you a table. Beware of taxi drivers and hotel receptionists who try to send you to other restaurants they claim are better.

Dress

In Barcelona there is an unwritten code of elegance, and tourists in short shorts and tank tops will not feel comfortable in the city's top restaurants, and some of them might not even let you in.

Smoking

Though anti-smoking regulations and no-smoking sections in restaurants have vastly improved over the last decade, you can often count on dining next to a table of smokers.