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It’s FoodBarcelona’s 10th birthday this year. Yaay.
The FoodBarcelona blog is 10 years old in 2020. This isn’t the party I’d planned. FoodBarcelona Turns 10: A Decade of Photographing my Lunch FoodBarcelona started in 2010! It’s our bloggy birthday! A decade of dining! A lot has changed in the last 10 years but one thing remains the same: I’m still terrible at…
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SOFIA Be So
High-concept cooking in the Hotel SOFIA Barcelona that’s designed to be sniffed at. Review: SOFIA Be So restaurant | Hotel SOFIA Barcelona The erstwhile Hotel Princesa Sofía, like its real-life namesake, has seen its circumstances change over the decades. Once an InterContinental Princesa, then merely a Gran Princesa, it has recently dropped its accent and…
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L’Atelier Barcelona
L’Atelier Barcelona pastry shop and patisserie school is delight for lovers of all things sweet.
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Mr Porter
Smartly dressed and eager to please, the new Mr Porter restaurant carries its own bags into the Sir Victor Hotel, Barcelona. Review: Mr Porter restaurant, Sir Victor Hotel, Eixample, Barcelona Mr Porter has big boots to fill. The ground-floor dining room here was until recently home to Roca Moo, the excellent Barcelona satellite of the…
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Cinc Sentits (2019)
Cinc Sentits, one of Barcelona’s best fine-dining restaurants, relocates and reaches new heights. Review: Cinc Sentits restaurant, Eixample, Barcelona This isn’t a restaurant review. Not really. If you want to read me waxing lyrical in long-form detail about how and why I love Cinc Sentits, you should click here. This is just a reminder. I won’t…
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Fismuler Barcelona
Fismuler Barcelona in the Hotel Rec is deservedly one of city’s hottest new restaurants. Review: Fismuler Barcelona | Hotel Rec | Sant Pere – El Born Fismuler’s Madrid mothership has held a steady orbit in the rarified air of high praise since launching in 2016, transporting diners in the Spanish capital to happiness with fresh,…
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Can Pizza Sagrada Familia
The new Can Pizza Sagrada Familia adds a quality dining option to one of Barcelona’s most-visited areas. Can Pizza Sagrada Familia, Barcelona When I moved to Barcelona over 20 years ago, my first apartment looked out onto the blessed construction site of la Sagrada Família. My shoebox-sized attic had no elevator, no heating, a thin…
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Blue Spot Barcelona
Looking for a Barcelona rooftop restaurant with unbeatable views? Blue Spot Barcelona could be what you need. Blue Spot Barcelona | Restaurant and Cocktail Bar | Barceloneta | Barcelona “Where can we eat in Barcelona that has great views?” If I had a euro for every time I’m asked this question I’d have, well, some euros.…
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Maná 75º
Rice dishes and smart interior design combine at Maná 75º restaurant near the W Barcelona hotel in Barceloneta. Review: Maná 75º restaurant, Barceloneta, Barcelona Manà 75º isn’t somewhere you’re likely to find by chance. Here at the far end of Passeig de Joan de Borbó, away from the beach, there are usually few pedestrians. The…
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The Blog Awakens…
This blogging year has not gone to plan. Life, work and family have taken more time and energy than anticipated. Something had to go – and unfortunately it was updates to FoodBarcelona. But things will soon change. The blog is waking up again. Like a flower in spring (or perhaps a hibernating bear with a…
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L’Antica Pizzeria Da Michele Barcelona
Napoli’s finest pizzeria lands in Barcelona’s Eixample district. The Southern-Italian charm is impossible to import fully but the pizzas have survived the journey. Bite-sized Review: L’Antica Pizzeria Da Michele Barcelona, Eixample, Barcelona Recently, I posted about the time 20 years ago when I visited L’Antica Pizzeria Da Michele in Naples. In short, it played a part in…
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Apologies for the absence
Happy New Year, loyal readers! What? A bit late? Well… yes. It is. And I’m sorry for the delay. FoodBarcelona’s Christmas break went on longer than anticipated due to some unavoidable and unwelcome real life circumstances. This means that the first few posts of this year will be shorter than usual and based on review…
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Blanc (Mandarin Oriental)
Chef Carme Ruscalleda takes charge of the informal Blanc restaurant in the Mandarin Oriental Barcelona hotel with fabulous, unfussy dishes. Review: Blanc, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Eixample, Barcelona Blanc restaurant is like an unlucky-in-love Hollywood star: glamorous and beautiful but seemingly unable to settle down with the right partner. The story of its dalliances with chefs even…
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Anima by Fina Puigdevall
Fina Puigdevall presents the food and philosophy of her two-Michelin-star Les Cols restaurant in Catalonia in a beautiful new book, Anima. Book review: Anima by Fina Puigdevall Published by Montagud Editores. RRP €50.90 paperback. Spanish and English. Note: by popular demand, I’m going to write occasionally about new and classic books related to Catalan and Spanish…
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Il Birrino
Scruffy but scrumptious: Il Birrino restaurant in Barcelona serves craft beer plus great value Italian comfort food that’s cooked with care. Review: Il Birrino restaurant and craft beer bar, Eixample, Barcelona Appearances can be deceptive. At first glance, Il Birrino hasn’t got much going for it. It’s well off the beaten track and in the…
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Catalan Gastronomy Tour — Food Tours Barcelona
FoodTours Barcelona’s Catalan Gastronomy tour is an informative and well balanced intro to Barcelona’s local flavours. I’m reluctant to review Barcelona food tours on here. I’m simply not the target audience, which usually comprises tourists in search of an easily digestible, bite-sized intro to local flavours and food facts, not pseudo-know-it-all food writers. Nevertheless, food…
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New Guardian Article: Casa Vicens
My new article in The Guardian. Barcelona tourism is fighting back. The fistic flurry begins with a haymaker from heavy-hitter Gaudí in the form of Casa Vicens, the architect’s first major project. Casa Vicens will open permanently to the public for the first time in November 2018. Read all about it in my Guardian article here.…
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Da Michele: A Love Story With No Added Cheese
Not a review, not a rant. A love story from Naples. Pizza included. There’s been a superabundance of stories in Barcelona this week. The bad news dam has cracked; depressing updates of all kinds have spurted forth with increasing vigour, lightly dousing then drowning us in disingenuous statements and dubious opinions. In the deluge, a…
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NaparBCN
NaparBCN brewpub serves some of the best craft beer in Barcelona, plus globetrotting food that nudges it toward gastropub territory. Review: NaparBCN, Eixample, Barcelona We’re here for the beer. Let us not delude ourselves: the customers of NaparBCN brewpub have not arrived in search of gastronomic nirvana, and nor have I. The draw of the…
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La Barra de Carles Abellan
The stylish La Barra de Carles Abellan in Barceloneta offers seafood-based dishes of impeccable quality – but at a price. Review: La Barra de Carles Abellan It seems like I rant about bar seating in restaurants every other week on this blog. If you’re new, I’ll summarise: I don’t like sitting at a bar when I…
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Restaurant Tomás (Palà de Torroella)
David Garcia, winner of Spain’s Top Chef 2 TV show, relaunches Restaurant Tomás, his family’s restaurant located one hour from Barcelona. Review: Restaurant Tomás, Palà de Toroella, Barcelona I’d never heard of David Garcia. When I told friends that I was going to his restaurant they got very excited but his name meant nothing to…
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Ca l’Isidre (2017)
Ca l’Isidre restaurant in Barcelona updates its decor but keeps what makes it great: high-class cooking. Bite-sized review: Ca l’Isidre restaurant, El Raval, Barcelona I wrote a full review of Ca l’Isidre restaurant in 2015. To read it, click here. Consider this post (based on a visit in early May) a minor update. It is…
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Manairó (Spring 2017)
Manairó restaurant’s relentless creativity continues to turn out high-octane dishes that delight Review: Manairó restaurant, Eixample, Barcelona If you’re experiencing deja vu, it’s because I’ve reviewed Manairó restaurant twice previously on this blog (my first visit and again in 2015). Better get used to it, because I’ll probably review it again. Why? Because there’s something about…
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Dos Palillos 10th Anniversary Events
Dos Palillos restaurant in Barcelona will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a star-studded year of events, beginning in June 2017. Dos Palillos – the Asian fusion restaurant of former elBulli head chef Albert Raurich and sommelier Tamae Imachi– has been open for 10 years. In that time, it’s won a Michelin star and a place…
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Via Veneto (5oth Anniversary Menu)
Via Veneto restaurant in Barcelona presents a ‘greatest hits’ menu and wine pairing to mark its 50th anniversary. Review: Via Veneto restaurant, Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, Barcelona – 50th Anniversary Menu Via Veneto is my most successful restaurant recommendation in terms of receiving positive feedback. People who go there on my advice tend to send glowing praise…
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Tunateca Balfegó Espai Gastronòmic
Tunateca Balfegó in Barcelona’s upper Example is a ‘gastronomic space’ created to showcase the Balfegó group’s excellent bluefin tuna. Review: Tunateca Balfegó Espai Gastronòmic, l’esquerra de l’Eixample, Barcelona If there were an ‘indistinct muttering’ font on this blog I’d deploy it here to mumble the truth: I don’t love tuna. Oh, I like it well…
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Cecconi’s Barcelona
Cecconi’s Barcelona, the restaurant attached to Soho House Barcelona members-only club, offers its quality northern-Italian cuisine to the general public.. Bite-Sized Review: Cecconi’s Barcelona Italian restaurant, Soho House, Gothic Quarter, Barcelona Soho House Barcelona is a members-only club in the Barri Gòtic. It’s a delightful place to spend time, either to work or play. It’s…
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Gresca Bar
Gresca Bar in Barcelona’s Eixample district is a new wine-and-food annex of one of the city’s best restaurants – and a total delight. Review: Gresca Bar, l’Esquerra de l’Eixample, Barcelona I really like Gresca restaurant. I always have. You can read my reviews of it here and here, but if you’re in a hurry, here’s…
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Fonda España
Fonda España offers some of Barcelona’s most beautiful dining rooms and food directed by star chef Martín Berasategui. Review: Fonda España restaurant, Hotel España, El Raval, Barcelona Let’s get something clear from the start: I really like Fonda España. I wholeheartedly recommend that you go and eat there. That said, this isn’t going to be an uncritical…
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Caelis
Caelis restaurant’s relocation to the Hotel Ohla Barcelona sees chef Romain Forell stretching his creative wings to fill the new space. Review: Caelis restaurant, Hotel Ohla Barcelona, Gothic Quarter, Barcelona Caelis restaurant has held a Michelin star since 2005. For most of that time, French chef Romain Forell tempered his contemporary instincts to match Caelis’s sumptuous…
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