Beautiful restaurant with cooking to match – but understaffing stops it reaching its potential. Review: Mercer restaurant, Hotel Mercer Update, September 2015: Please note that head chef Xavier Lahuerta has now left Mercer restaurant. Click here for my review of the latest iteration of Mercer restaurant. The Mercer is a gorgeous hotel. It’s built into…

Bold flavours, good taste, inventive cooking, and a profound love for food: one of the best restaurants in Barcelona. Review: Manairó restaurant The last time I went to Manairó (in 2014) I was hugely impressed. It stood out even among Barcelona’s other one-Michelin-starred restaurants, delivering daring big flavours under tight control. There are many restuarants…

Big flavours and bargain set menus at this Eixample restaurant won’t leave you feeling blue  Review: Blau BCN restaurant As its name suggests, blue is the dominant colour at Blau BCN. Think, however, of a cool, jazzy, sophisticated blue – not the my-dog-done-died, 12-bar variety – and you’ll be closer to imagining the atmosphere at chef…

Gothic Quarter bistro in 5-star Hotel Mercer offers upmarket tapas with deft, creative touches. Review: Le Bouchon, Hotel Mercer The chefs at the Hotel Mercer have big boots to fill. Both the hotel’s main restaurant (review coming soon) and Le Bouchon, its more informal bistro, were conceptualized and then overseen by the great Catalan chef Jean Luc Figueras…

UPDATE MAY 2017: Cometacinc has closed permanently. Barcelona Gothic Quarter bistro with old-fashioned charm and updated food Review: Cometacinc restaurant, el Barri Gótic The monumental wooden shutters and doors at Cometacinc are baffling, in more ways than one. They seem scaled to block out the blazing sunlight of a wide, open square, not that of…

Barcelona’s best bistro? Certainly a strong contender. Rustic dishes, refined, in the Raval.  Review: Suculent, Rambla de Raval, Barcelona People who know me were always telling me to go to Suculent. “You’ll love it,” they said. “Just your sort of thing.” Fellow gastronauts with similar tastes have spoken in hushed, awed tones of The Steak…

Good, family-friendly tapas, tucked away among the tourist traps in El Born, Barcelona Review: El Guindilla del Born: tapas bar, takeaway and restuarant The Born district incarnation of El Guindilla, like its sister restaurant of the same name in Barceloneta, belongs to the same family that owns and runs the various Asador de Aranda restaurants. I…

A tapas ‘trojan horse’ for traditional Barcelona cuisine on one of the city’s best contemporary terraces. Review: Bravo 24 restaurant and tapas bar (Hotel W)  Bravo 24 wasn’t what I was expecting. Not even close. I’d spent the previous evening staying in the Hotel W (known locally as the ‘Vela’, or sail) and I thought…

A rollercoaster ride through Asian cuisine, powered by passion and steered by a world-class chef. Intro (you can skip this bit if you just want the review…) The word ‘passion’ is greatly over-used when it comes to cuisine. I blame the melodrama of the various international iterations of Masterchef and its ilk. If contestants aren’t…

A hidden treasure: A characterful and quirky Barcelona bistro that prioritizes quality produce. Note: This restaurant review is based on a visit in February 2015. X no longer marks the spot where treasure is said to lie. Instead, a pointer on Google Maps or Tripadvisor sends adventurers scurrying in search of the mythical prize: an authentic, unspoiled…

Note (Dec. 17) BistrEau is once again called Blanc and is now run by Carme Ruscalleda. Read the review of Blanc here. Bold start in Barcelona by seafood specialist ‘Chef del Mar’ Ángel León at the Mandarin Oriental hotel. Note: this review is based on a visit in November 2014. The menu is now different but I…

Surprisingly good rice and great views on Barcelona’s Sant Sebastià beach. There are a strip of restaurants styled after chiringuitos, beach bars, on the sand-side base of Barcelona’s towering W Hotel (known locally as the Vela). Barcelona’s chiringuitos are great places to get a snack or a drink but they don’t always have the best reputation when it comes to…

Beautiful space, delicious food, professional service, no surprises: the basics done right in Barcelona’s Eixample. Places like Mordisco (Passatge de la Concepció 10, 08008, Barcelona, Tel.  (+34) 934 879 656; Metro Diagonal) raise an interesting question: What do you want from a restaurant? When you’re deep down the foodie rabbit hole, either as an industry professional or just as an…

Seafood and sea views from a stylish restaurant on Barcelona’s Somorrostro beach. Bestial‘s most obvious strength is its location (Ramon Trias Fargas 2-4, 08005, Barcelona; Tel. (+34) 932 240 407, Metro Ciutadella-Villa Olímpica, closed Monday lunch). Its multi-level garden terrace looks out over Somorrostro beach. There, on the golden sand, Barcelona’s beautiful people play volleyball before frolicking…

Exquisite, world-class fine dining in Barcelona from the Ruscalleda family. Carme Ruscalleda has accumulated a constellation of Michelín stars: three in Sant Pau, half an hour up the coast from Barcelona in Sant Pol de Mar; two in Sant Pau in Tokyo, and two in Moments (Hotel Mandarin Oriental, Passeig de Gràcia 38-40, 08007 Barcelona; Tel. (+34)…

Friendly and affordable fine dining in Barcelona’s Eixample. Etapes (c/ Enric Granados 10, 08007, Barcelona, Tel. (+34) 933236914)  opened in 2010 and I visited the following year. Despite some rough edges, the restaurant showed great promise and duly went on to win a Michelín Bib Gourmand.  Etapes has undergone a cosmetic facelift since then but remains…

A stylish haven for the hungry among the shops and offices of Sarria-Sant Gervasi. Negro-Rojo‘s split name reflects a split personality. There are, in fact, two completely separate restaurants on the premesis (Av. Diagonal 640, 08017, Barcelona, Tel. +34 934 059 444, website) in front of La Illa shopping centre: Rojo, downstairs, is a ‘Japanese…

Reliable but boisterous Barcelona city-centre tapas restaurant Eating options in Barcelona are limited on Monday nights. Fewer restaurants that usual remain open and those that do often have restricted menus. La Flauta (C/ Aribau 23, +34 933 237 038, no website, closed Sundays) falls into the second category. But that’s a good thing: I’d rather be told…

UPDATE MAY 2017: EL TOSSAL HAS CLOSED PERMANENTLY This traditional family restaurant in Gracia still deserves its excellent reputation for game dishes and seasonal Catalan cuisine. I last visited El Tossal (c/ Tordera 12,  08012, Barcelona, Tel. 934576382) six or seven years ago after a tip-off from my Catalan mother-in-law. It’s that sort of restaurant; a multi-generational…

A spectacular modernista setting for simple but succulent roast lamb at this restaurant in Barcelona’s uptown Sant Gervasi district. The road that slopes up from Barcelona to Tibidabo mountain is one of the most pleasant in the city. An old blue tram still clanks slowly along it, giving passengers time to reflect on the dubious value…

Want to try calçots in Barcelona? This specialist wood-grill restaurant fits the bill … if you can stand the smoke. Calçots are one of the defining dishes of Catalan cuisine. Every winter, vast numbers of the leek-sized spring onions are grilled black over open flames before being served to bib-wearing hordes who strip them of their outer…

Full of character and food-first attitude, this no-nonsense French bistro is still a delight.  When Au Port de la Lune (C/Pau Claris 103, 08009, Barcelona, Tel. +34 934122224, open Mon-Sat lunch and dinner; Sundays lunch only) was located next to la Boqueria market, it offered a welcome haven of genuine character in an area increasingly blighted…