We will be staying in Barcelona for three days and would like suggestions for restaurants. We dont need anything too formal, but are really looking forwarding to sampling the cuisine. And, we've got some kids, so a few suggestions for places we could eat before the 9 pm dinner hour may be helpful if they don't make it. We're staying at the Regencia Colon.<BR><BR>Gracias.

Here's one:<BR>Kids love Los Caracoles spit roasted chicken. You'll see the open rotisserie right outside the entrance. It's extremely popular among tourists, not formal, a Barcelona institution since 1835. It's on Escudellers 14 in the Barri Gotic and open from 1 p.m. to midnight.

I highly recommend La Dolca Herminia at Magdalenes 27 (2 blocks towards Ramblas from Palais de la Musica). The food was wonderful and very reasonable, was nice, but not too dressy (very young crowd), and they even had a non-smoking section! Have a great trip.

Tapa Tapa on the Passeig de Gracias has menus with pictures of the tapas plates you can order. We had a wonderful meal there with a bottle of cava for about $40 for 4 of us. I know this sounds like a KFC for Spanierds but it was really a swell place for an informal meal with lots of variety. I think i'ts open pretty much all day so you could get a meal there before the kids fall asleep too. Enjoy

top

You HAVE to go to Cal Pep for Tapas. They hav ethese quick fried hot peppers (among other things) that I dream about.

Citrus, on Passeig de Gracia (above Tapa Tapa) has very good food in a nice setting, good for dinner. Metro: Passeig de Gracia.<BR><BR>Cerveseria Catlana, on the corner of Mallorca and Rambla Catalunya. Excellent montaditos and tapas (among the best in Barcelona). Metro: Diagonal.<BR><BR>Botafumeiro, on Gran de Gracia. The best seafood in Barcelona. Very expensive, but worth it. Reservations essential. Metro: Fontana<BR><BR>Casa Tejada, on Tenor Vi&ntilde;as, close to Plaza Francesc Macia. Excellent tapas. Trust their recommendations. Very expensive (for tapas). FGC: Muntaner<BR><BR>La Fonda, on Escudellers, one (short) block from Los Caracoles (a tourist trap, IMHO). Very good food, nice setting, very good value. No reservations, so arrive early. Metro: Drassanes.<BR><BR>El Mussol, on Diagonal. 4-5 blocks from Passeig de Gracia. Great Catalan food, emphasis on grilled steaks and vegetables. Metro: Diagonal.<BR><BR>Try going to Port Olimpic. There are many little restaurants and bars to choose from (including several chains)<BR><BR>Tapa Tapa on Passeig de Gracia is very good (and easy for the uninitiated in tapas).<BR><BR>For excellent icecream, try going to Colomina. They have two shops, one on Porta de l'Angel (they only sell turron there, but it is really to die for). The other one is on Portaferrisa (30-40 meters from La Rambla), they sell ice cream during the summer months, and it is amazing!<BR><BR>I would avoid Los Caracoles. The food is good, but expensive. If you do go, make sure that you know the price of everything you order. They managed to increase our bill by almost $200 by serving us 4 little plates of serrano ham.

Ouch! Thanks Jean, for the warning about los Caracoles. I agree it's extremely touristy. Have friends with pre-teens who just got back from BCN and said it was easy for families and a hit with their boys, but they didn't mention the bill. Good to know.

Does anybody have Cal Pep address or direction? Thanks.

Does anybody have Cal Pep address or direction? Thanks.

Maribel:<BR><BR>Maybe I am biased against Los Caracoles, but that bill situation really made me mad. We were a group of maybe 10-12 people, many of them foreigners living in BCN. I guess that the waiter figured that it was a good night to make a quick buck, and offered us "a little jabugo". When we started arguing about the bill, one of the guys in the group (a Spaniard, very good with words) got into quite a discussion. In the end, the waiter said something among the lines of "think of it like you have been with a hooker. You have already f***d, and you need to pay the bill".<BR><BR>Goes without saying that I am not too happy about the place.<BR><BR>Ken:<BR><BR>This is from TimeOut.<BR><BR>Cal Pep <BR>Pla&ccedil;a de les Olles 8 (93 310 79 61). Metro Barceloneta/14, 17, 40, 45, 51 bus. <BR>Open 8pm-midnight Mon; 1.15-4.15pm, 8pm-midnight Tue-Sat. Closed Aug. <BR>Main courses ?6.10-?12.60. <BR>Credit AmEx, DC, MC, V. <BR><BR>Pep once left this great bar-restaurant to run the wonderful Passad&iacute;s del Pep, but came back, missing the banter. Most people choose to eat at the bar, but there's a brick-lined restaurant at the back decorated with a boar's head and antique cash registers. The fish and seafood dishes can be exceptional, and it pays to get here early. <BR><BR>

Jean,<BR>Thanks for the feedback. I suspected the culprit there was the waiter pushing the jabugo. That's happened to us on more than one occasion in a touristy place. Yes, watch out for the price tag of the jamon jabugo!<BR><BR>I'm headed to BCN next week and will definitely try Citrus-never been. Also will return to Casa Tejada which we really liked along with another on Tenor Vinas called Bar Turo (do you know it/like it?) plus the Cerveceria Catalana, then to Colomina for helado. And we enjoy the bar scene at Cal Pep as well. Agree with you completely about Botafumeiro. Moncho serves impeccable seafood.<BR>Thanks.

Maribel:<BR><BR>Is Bar Turo the one in the corner, with tables outside, looking at Turo Parc? We went there for drinks a couple of times (we used to live on Madrazo, half a block from Casa Tejada. I could tell if it was open/closed/full/empty just by looking out my balcony window <BR><BR>If my memory serves, the food was OK, but it doesn't compare to Casa Tejada.<BR><BR>If you are in that area, have you been to Marcel's or No Me Quite Pa? Marcel's has the best patatas bravas in Barcelona. It used to be very popular on weekends. You can find it on Santalo, a couple of blocks down from the market.<BR><BR>No Me Quite Pa is on Maria Cub&iacute;, 1-2 doors from Calvet. It is a very nice place, with excellent food and very nice prices (we used to pay no more than 3000 pts per person, including drinks).<BR><BR>Another couple of places in that area are Los Inmortales, on Sagret. Very good Italian food, a bit expensive. The other one I discovered too late (the day I left Barcelona). It is called Bar Zodiac. It looks like any other bar, but they had the best bocadillo de tortilla that I've ever had.

Hi Jean,<BR>Yes, Bar Turo is the one on the corner.<BR>And thanks so much for the other recs-have copied them, and we shall certainly try them. We're on our way (literally)!

Maribel:<BR><BR>When you return, get this thread back on top and let me know how it went!<BR><BR>

We were in Barcelona last June with our four sons and enjoyed "4 Cats" very much. The food was excellent, the prices were reasonable and our children were welcome and appriciated.

Hi Jean,<BR>Am in BCN right now checking email at Easy Everything and waiting to see what chaos the nationwide general strike brings on Thursday, 20-J. Scheduled to pick up friends then flying in from Paris to tour Catalunya for 2 wks. How life will be affected is still the gran inc&oacute;gnita. No one knows what transportation, if any, will be available. Have loved your recs so far. Had the best timbal of escalivada with goat cheese at C.C. yesterday. Just perfect. Great new place on P de G. (left side going up) called Tenorio Braseria. Huge, postmodern, industrial loft like space designer done in greys and purple (it works!) and delicious creative cuisine with popular prices. Can order as much or as little as you like. Went at 11:30 last night and place was a buzz. Open til 1:30. Also La Principal, owned by the Tragaluz group, designer chic but very affordable on Provenca. Will be back here on July 5 to finish up your list and in Aug. will give you a final round up! <BR><BR>Vicki,<BR>Mea culpa! Please totally disregard that really dumb rec for Los Caracoles. NO! I remembered it as touristy but a "must do once" type of place. Jean is right on-it´s a t. trap with menus in a dozen languages, and Carrer Escudellers has gotten even seedier, particularly the further you walk down into the Ciutat Vella . Take the kids to one of the tapas bars on the P. de Gracia. Txapela was still packed at midnight. Qu Qu is still popular, Tapa Tapa is good to get your first lesson on the art of tapas. Cafe Ba Ba Reeba another option but doesn´t seem so popular. Crowds always determine the quality. The more packed the better, and don´t forget Cerveseria Catalana. Terrific. And I really liked Dolce Herminia, same family, I believe, as La Fonda on Escudellers but better location, pretty designer space and very well priced.

Maribel:<BR><BR>Nice to know that you decided to go to the Cerveseria. It was one of our favorite places in Barcelona. If you are going there again, try their montaditos. The ones with solomillo, crab salad, and dates are particularly good. They also have an excellent tarta de Santiago and an apple-chocolate pie to die for.

top

Hi Jean,<BR>Checking email again and changing reservations like mad. Because of national strike, not going up to Montseny tomorrow. No way to pick up the rental car, don´t know how even to get to airport to pick up friends coming in (maybe) from Paris. So....more gastronomic adventures (plus a plethora of museums, theater, etc.)<BR><BR>Went to Cerveseria again for lunch. (Yesterday Cal Pep was a hoot-raspy voiced Pep himself took total charge of my lunch and made me try his crema catalana foam a la El Bulli..) At the C.C the montaditos over the flautas anytime. Great desserts, you´re right. <BR>For all: <BR>Another nice discovery for upscale but very reasonable creative cuisine: dinner at Maria Cristina on Provenza, around the corner from Pau Claris in the Dret de LEixample and very handy for those staying at the Claris or AC Diplomatic. Designer pretty, very popular with locals and great dishes. Found it after attempting a return dinner at La Principal on Provenza on the left side of P de Gracia, but La P. taken over by Goldman Sachs for private function. <BR>I´ve been amazed at the prices, as one doesn´t need to spend a fortune or do the Michelin star places (Abac, Drolma, etc at 60-70 p.p) to have a fantastic meal. Just checked out the menu at Citrus. Seafood risotto for 6,95 euros! Have yet to top 30 p.p.<BR><BR>About the gelats: The turro at Colomina is indeed delicious. I also like their orxata (the beverage not the gelat), also the orxata at Planelles-Donat on Port de L´Angel-authentic from Xixona.<BR><BR>El Born is absolutely packed with new eateries on every corner, particularly around the Mercat. Places that looked interesting: Santa Maria and Comerc 24 on Comerc. And the Basque pinxto phenomenon has taken BCN by storm. Any name beginning with Tx... There are a dozen new ones.<BR>Jean,<BR>I´ll get to Tenor Vi&ntilde;as and the rest in that area when we return in July. By then I´ll need a trip to El Corte Ingles on the Diagonal for new clothes! Thanks again for the tips!<BR>