Hi, My wife and I will be in Barcelona for a few days in late May (30-1). I am looking for a recommendation for a good wine shop so that I can buy a few bottles before our Med. Cruise. I’d also be interested in any restaurant recommendations that would be offered. My wife does have Celiac Disease so she needs gluten free. Neither one of us are seafood lovers…
Thanks so much for any input!
Great timing. I will be there in 2 weeks and need some advice for a Thursday night meal, possibly eating alone. Also looking for a good cigar shop.
One of the largest wine shop that I’ve come upon was at Vila Viniteca in the El Born area. They also have a foods and delicacy specialty strore next door to the wine shop for your jamon/cured meats/cheeses goodies, as well as good selection of gourmet canned and bottled stuff. They will serve these charcuteries with the wines you buy from the store which you can comfortably eat/drink at tables in the shop. I suspect that this would be one of the nearest to wherever you ship is docked at.
Monvinic, a restaurant/tapas place oin the L’Eixample area, had already opened (I think) a wine store next to the restaurant as well.
I am not sure whether you already have tried using the search function; I believe you can find lots of comments on eating in Barcelona. Here are mine from 2011 (I know, much seafood, so some may not be up your alley…)
Barcelona – Dinner at Taberna Maitea at Casanova, 157. Our first night in Barcelona and this place was recommended by our concierge. A long and narrow, somewhat modernistic pinxtos bar, with bar stools and glass cases along the bar so that you can open and remove and eat whatever looks good and, to me, virtually everything looked good. A large variety of already made dishes, many on top of bread, sort of like ingenious open-faced sandwiches. Then, every so often, someone behind the bar will offer you something just out of the oven or pan. We spent a very enjoyable evening in this friendly place with delicious food, an intriguing wine and drink list, and a quirky sense of humor. There also is a restaurant in back. While Barcelona probably has hundreds of tapas bars we have not yet encountered, I would not hesitate to return here.
Barcelona - Late breakfast and lunch inside the Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria, in Las Ramblas. Anyone who has been to La Boqueria knows it is a gigantic, genuine riotous feast for the senses, almost an overwhelming display of the finest, freshest foodstuffs anywhere. I had never seen anything quite like it. Scattered throughout the market are more than a few places to sit down on a stool and eat, and we chose two during our visit: Pinotxo and Kiosko Universal. Both were just terrific, with fresh cooked small dishes (including some wonderful lamb skewers, gambas, and clams suggested by the wonderfully friendly owner/host/head waiter Juanito Bayen in a vest and bow tie, at the former; and razor clams, wild mushrooms, and a great grilled sole at the latter) and good cava! We would return!
Later that day, we enjoyed some very good coffee at a little shop called Lilipop not far from the Museu Picasso.
Barcelona – Dinner at Cal Pep, Placa de les Olles. We patiently waited for this extremely popular tiny place to open, making acquaintances with the other tourists waiting on the line behind us. They opened the door and in we all went, with Señor Pep himself welcoming us and counting as we entered to make sure only the exact number of diners for the available stools entered. And then, it began: a friendly, noisy, frenzied yet somewhat organized procession of dish after dish of amazing, yet simple deliciousness – great food made fast: pan con tomate (called “pa amb tomàquet” in Barcelona), clams, fried assorted seafood (calamari, shrimp, etc.), razor clams, mussels, potato tortilla, sausage and beans, gambas, squid, beef and potatoes, artichokes, etc., etc. A great experience where uncountable bottles of cava disappeared and we and everyone around us happily kept eating until we thought we might burst. When we finally were sated, we noticed that more people had been let into the small space and were standing behind us lucky early birds. So, we paid and left, muy contento. Of course we would return.
We then wandered over to Bubó, an absolutely amazing small dessert shop, where the most beautiful small cakes were waiting to be admired and devoured. Do not miss a chance to have dessert there. What a delicious evening!
Barcelona – Lunch at Tapas 24, Diputació, 269. After a few days, the amazing is almost expected in Barcelona, so we were ready for another fantastic tapas experience, one where, in a crowded, noisy, casual, completely unassuming little place, you eat “fast” food prepared by an Ell Bulli alum (Chef Carles Abellan). Very friendly and helpful staff suggest and quickly bring dishes that make you smile: avocado tempura(!), some of the best lentils ever, tripe in a spicy sauce, broken eggs with bacon, and some spicy lamb skewers. We would return.
Barcelona - Dinner at Osmosis, Aribou, 100. A rather highly-regarded and -recommended place for which we had high expectations that proved instead to be our one disappointing meal in Barcelona. After attempting to puzzle out the weakness of the meal, especially given its glowing reviews, we concluded that they set too high a bar for themselves with very reasonably priced, multi-course dinners that sounded wonderful; however, they simply lack the kitchen and service skills to pull it off. Long waits for attention, awkward and irregular pacing, too many different waiters showing up looking surprised to see us, and inexcusably under-cooked and/or overly-sauced food. My notes say “just plain disappointing.” In a city with such fantastic food, we would not consider returning.
Barcelona - Lunch at Casa Delfin, Paseo del Born, 36. We enjoyed very good, no-frills, rustic Catalan cooking in this pleasant, “bistro-ish” restaurant that respects the “classics.” Wonderful paella with langoustine, a terrific lamb stew, beans and sausage, tripe with beans, all well-prepared, delicious, and comforting, and served by quite friendly staff. We would return. After our meal, we spoke with the English owner, Kate (she moved to Spain long ago for love) about the evening’s plans for our final Barcelona meal. She was charming and amusing, coyly avoiding pushing one of the handful of other Barcelona restaurants she and her husband (her Spanish love) own and operate, including the popular tapas restaurant, Taller de Tapas. When I asked, “Where would you and your husband go for a truly special meal?” her answer was definite and quick: Restaurante Botafumeiro. At our request, she called and made a reservation for that evening for us to sit at the bar.
Barcelona – Dinner at Restaurante Botafumeiro, Gran de Grácia, 81. Recommended by a restaurateur in Barcelona, this place clearly is an old school classic, and the parade of beautiful people in and out and the photographs on some of the walls evidenced to us that it is beloved by the affluent and the famous. We sat at the bar at the front, but we could hear the friendly, boisterous sounds of large tables of well-heeled diners enjoying themselves. We were slightly concerned that it might be a tad pretentious, but we were served by some of the nicest, most professional servers I have encountered, including a gentleman behind the bar who has been there for over forty years. From where we sat, sipping our glasses of cava (we drank some very fine cava that night, Gramona Tres Lustros and Imperial Gramona – I can’t recall the vintages), we were able to watch the preparation of giant platters of truly beautiful shellfish, and we were excited to begin. After some friendly discussion with the staff behind the bar, we began to order, and a procession commenced of Catalan seafood dishes that we agreed very well may have been the finest and freshest seafood any of us ever had: canelones de marisco, gambas de palamos, oysters, cigalas, baby squid, lobster, etc., etc. Plus some terrific pasta and, of course, desserts. We enjoyed ourselves immensely and while it was not an inexpensive evening, it was a perfect Barcelona dinner to cap off our journey in Spain. To us, this was the best seafood we ate in a city that many consider the seafood capitol of the western world. We definitely would return.
I hope you found this useful.
Andrew
Maybe your visit to Barca will make you a seafood fan…because it was some of the finest I have had. Andrew has some very good recommendations- we were there in October and really enjoyed both Cal Pep and Tapas 24.
We also had dinner at Commerc 24- a very enjoyable evening, a bit on the expensive side, with a bottle of champagne and a Spanish white. But there was a lot of seafood with the tasting menu here also.
Enjoy!
This.
We’ve purchased Spanish wines from a shop in the Boqueria (named, strangely enough, El Celler de la Boqueria) with good results
See the following threads:
For wine stores, a nice one (with some gems) is Vila Viniteca (Agullers 9. Barcelona) in the old town.
Thanks - I had already read these - I mainly was interested in the wine shops and added on the food/restaurants as an afterthought… Thanks for all of the comments!
Vila vinoteca. Great wine shop and also good for Spanish hams.
Any notable beer shops? Didn’t see any mentioned in other threads. Hoping to score a bottle or two of some Belgian Lambics/Geuze that we can’t get here, if possible.
If you like cheese, you MUST visit this cheese shop:
Altervinos
+34 934 46 23 64
Carrer Cartagena 291 Barcelona
We didn’t eat at any great restaurants in Barcelona, but we did go to a bar called Snooker on Carrer de Roger de Llúria that had one of the most amazing whisky collections I’ve ever seen. Bourbon, Scotch, Irish, everything. They have some pool and billiards tables in the back and it made for a nice evening for us.
A good tapas place is Paco Meralgo (Carrer de Muntaner, 171 08036 Barcelona). The name is a play on the phrase “para comer algo” = “to eat something”.
Pity you don’t like seafood as Barcelona has great stuff.
For confirmed carnivores, try out the old reliable Asador de Aranda (I go to the Tibidabo Branch: Avda. del Tibidabo 31 08022 Barcelona). Get the menu selección and the chuletillas de corderito and have a nice bottle of Rioja.
Have a good trip.
N