Barcelona- Food and Drinks

Barcelona is a great destination for any foodie; some would even say it’s a paradise, especially for seafood lovers. Being a coastal city, seafood makes up a big portion of local dishes and daily eats. However, being such a tourist hotspot, it is easy to fall into those tourist trap restaurants. You know the ones, we’ve all been there before, you end up paying way more for something that isn’t as good quality due to being right on the main tourist street. If there’s one thing I’d wished we had done before leaving it was researching restaurants and where to eat. Most nights we’d end up wandering the streets of Barcelona looking for places to eat that would offer us good traditional Catalan cuisine. I knew what I wanted to try but I didn’t know where to go. Due to this, I don’t think we had the greatest food experience in Barcelona. I was so sick of Iberico ham by the end.

Although I don’t have many restaurant or bar suggestions for Barcelona, I do have a few recommendations on some can’t miss dishes.

Bomba

Very popular at bars and bodegas across Spain. This is probably one of the most typical tapas found in Barcelona. This dish consists of deep-fried mashed potato balls with meat mixed in. They are served with aioli and brava sauce and are delicious. These little snacks got their start in the Barceloneta neighbourhood where La Cova Fumada, inventors of the Bomba, still serve them today.

Patatas Bravas

Another deep-fried potato dish. Although, this time, it’s potato wedges topped with spicy bravas sauce and garlic aioli. It’s easy to see why they are such a popular tapa, they’re amazing and I could eat them all day. You’ll have no issue finding places that serve some version of the dish. Many places even put their own creative twist on this classic.

Paella

Paella is probably the most well known dish in Spanish cuisine. Although traditionally from Valencia, this dish is often seen internationally as Spain’s national dish. Paella is a rice dish cooked in a frying pan, paella, over an open flame with meat or seafood. This is the biggest one where I wish we’d done our research before hand. We found a pretty decent place, the paella was fresh cooked (you’ll know it is if they tell you it’ll take approximately 25 minutes to prepare), but it still didn’t seem like the best the city had to offer.

Sangria

Everyone knows sangria, the popular fruity wine based drink we all drink in the summer. Sangria is the most popular drink from Spanish cuisine and there is no shortage of it in Barcelona. The sangria in Barcelona was the best I’d ever had and each place makes it a little differently. Traditionally sangria is made from red wine but white wine and even Cava sangria has become quite popular. Some places sell it by the glass and most sell it by the pitcher and serve it in traditional clay pitchers. Cava sangria was my favourite variation, it’s light, sweet and refreshing.

Try Something Different

While wandering around we stumbled on a great little bakery called Demasié. Located in the gothic quarter we passed this place on our way to brunch one morning. Demasié specializes in a variety of delicious cookies, cupcakes and “the best rolls in Barcelona.” As someone who doesn’t like cinnamon I was really happy with their huge selection of flavours. They even offer a vegan cinnamon roll. We picked up a few different rolls for breakfast the next morning. The red velvet roll was to die for. A must try for a quick breakfast or snack.

Must Try Brunch

One of our favourite spots we ate at was Milk Bar and Bistro. This cozy little spot in the gothic quarter is famed for their brunch. Their menus are seasonal and features local sourced produce so everything is always fresh. Make sure you add this place to your itinerary for some amazing brunch and coffee. They are open 7 days a week and don’t take bookings for brunch. It’s a small space so I’d anticipate a wait no matter what day you go. We waited about 25 minutes for our table but once we got in the service was friendly and quick.

That’s it for this time, if you want to read more about my trip to Barcelona you can find my other posts here. If you want to follow along on my adventures you can find me on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Until next time!