"Special" Restaurant in Barcelona
 

My sig other and I will be in Barcelona on his 31st birthday - and we will also be unofficially celebrating our 10 year anniversary and my 41st birthday. Any suggestions on a special restaurant in Barcelona (dont mind spending a little extra - but dont want the one night to cost more than the whole trip!).

I loved Passadis Del Pep which we chose to celebrate our friends' getting tenure and completing their books. The place had a very nice atmosphere without being ultra modern which can often feel contrived and cold. The potentially intimidating issue with Passadis Del Pep is that there's no menu and no prices.

They bring out around 7 courses of seafood and meat (mostly seafood) dishes, based on whatever is freshest in the market that day. After these, they ask that you choose an entree course -- usually steak, lobster, or 2 selections of fish. Many people pass at this point and just go straight to dessert and apres-dinner liquors since the 7 courses fills most people up. We didn't pass on the entrees since we wanted to try everything and the waiter indicated he'd order the fresh fish over steak or lobster (which are also more expensive). You can tell them to stop at any point in the meal if you're getting full but the dishes are so excellent and usually you're really curious as to what's coming next -- giant scallops? seasnails on rocksalt? whole giant prawns?

Our party of four shared 2 huge seabass and monkfish entrees. A total of around 10 courses plus three bottles of cava (the first bottle is complimentary) was only 320 Euro for four people. For a ten course meal of this quality plus non-stop champaign we thought $100 USD/pp was an exceptional value. I read at least 4 reviews by diners and never heard of anyone's bill being higher than 110 Euro/pp and some were as low as 80 Euro (with unlimited champaign) without entrees -- and some of these people even ordered bottles of wine in addition to their champaign (which is excellent and well-priced.)

www.passadisdelpep.com Considered a restaurant that gives you a good feel for regional Catalan cuisine.

Abac and Gaig were also at the top of our list -- these places are more modern and hip in atmosphere and exemplary of the experimental "molecular cuisine" that Spain is well known for. There's a strong emphasis on form and presentation. (Whereas at Passadis Del Pep we were just served large platters of meat and seafood.) www.restaurantabac.com and www.restaurantgaig.com

The tasting menus at Abac and Gaig also run around 80-100 E/pp but that's before any alcohol or drinks.

I'd be happy to dig out my receipt if you have specific questions about Passadis Del Pep in terms of dishes and prices. Have fun, the food in BCN was the best we've ever had! Maribels Guides lists the most popular splurge restuarants in BCN...

ooooh - that sounds fun. My boyfriend is not as adventerous as I so it might be a little risky - but I guess I can always eat a course if he doesnt like it!

My boyfriend is also not a foodie and is the type to complain when his shrimp comes unpeeled at a Chinese restaurant. I was shocked to see him at Passadis tearing off giant prawn heads and sucking out the brains exclaiming all the while how good they were. (I was also a little dismayed because I expected to be able to eat his prawn heads...) His food horizons have really expanded since BCN.

If you can, book a 3-course set lunch for only 20 Euro at Sauc. This was an incredible value and you could choose your starter, entree and dessert from among several options -- an exquisite cold soup, salad with warm brie and pear, roasted duck with fig, grilled seabass, beef tenderloin with a tricked out balsamic reduction, wonderful desserts. A really sleek and elegant dining room that was fun and relatively casual since it was lunch.

ttt

fishee
Boyfriend says he's game - if I fill him up with enough liquid courage - he'll give it a shot! He says how often are we going to be in Barcelona! It sounds very intrguing. Thanx for the suggestions.

Fishee,

DO you have any recommendations for restaurants in Madrid or Seville?

How great -- hope you have a wonderful Anniversary!

You have to also check out laclaire's BCN food rec's -- one of the best little local places we found was around the corner from the MACBA. We enjoyed the best 7 Euro set lunch with starter (gazpacho and artichokes, I think), entree (beef stew and I think one of us had veal), dessert (lemon cake or tiramisu), water and wine. (coffee was extra) There are lunch deals like this all over BCN.

And you're going to love the Boqueria Market! The Iberico jamon is so insanely good that my friend was seriously trying to figure out whether or not she could hide a big hunk of ham from customs. Every morning, we refreshed our stock of fresh crusty bread, jamon, cheese, olives and fruit of incredible quality -- for around 12 Euro -- and we'd get to snack on this stuff for a couple of days.

No, sorry, never been to either. But Maribel probably has good recs for those cities. www.maribelsguides.com

Good luck and have a wonderful trip!

Don't know how you both feel about the opera, but the Liceu Opera House in BCN is amazingly beautiful and acoustics are great -- we went on on the weeknight when there's an "alternate cast" and it was half-price.

My favorite meal in Barcelona was had at Tenorio. The restaurant was beautiful, the food was wonderful, the portions generous...and, while it wasn't cheap, it wasn't ridiculous either. We dined outside on the sidewalk, in the shadow of Gaudi's technicolor masterpiece...Casa Battlo. Here's the only link I could find.

http://www.toptable.co.uk/details.cfm?rid=2435

Passadis Del Pep sounds fun and interesting. We'll be in Barcelona for our honeymoon in Oct, so this is just the kind of fun & special place I've been looking for.

We had a great chef's choice multi-course dinner at Cyrus in Healdsburg last year, but Passadis Del Pep sounds like it will be an even greater adventure.

One thing about Passadis though is that it's not the most romantic setting. I don't know how to describe the atmosphere but it's not elegant but more like pseudo-rustic. We saw a mix between families (kinda rich looking families) and business type groups with a handful of couples on the night we went. (But it was a Wednesday night...)

We had a great time -- next time in BCN we're doing Commerc 24 or Abac. And we tried to go as often as we could to the famous Pinotxo bar in the Boqueria for breakfast and lunch -- he also chooses what's freshest in the market that day so his food is wonderful -- spicy, tripe stew, large prawns, stuffed pepper, tapas with anchovies and an avocado spread. With drinks, this would only cost us several Euro...

If you wanted a really romantic, intimate place (with a nice view) I'd go with a different place?

In Barcelona, restaurant Jean Luc Figueras. Catalan father, French mother, as I recall, means the chef blends the best of French and Catalan cooking.

Fishee,

I think almost the whole country's romantic (especially Andalucia) so we don't need the restaurant to have an especially romantic setting.

To us, it's romantic just to share a novel experience with unique food. We actually prefer 'rustic' over 'romantic' almost every time.

Although I've been to Madrid & Sevilla before, I've never been to Barcelona so I appreciate your input. The Pinotxo bar also sounds like a place that could become a favorite of ours. I know we'll be visiting the market to get lots of picnic supplies.

Littlemountain, Jean Luc Figueras also sounds excellent (and it's close to the Hotel Astoria where we're staying). We may blow most of our dining budget that first week in Barcelona!

Spain Traveller, if I recall correctly you'll be in Spain this December? If so, then I'll have time to post about the places we end up eating at this October.

Alan_64

Yup - we will be there over the holidays in December. Any recommendations would be apprecitated! Althought I am a bit of a freak and have already booked all my hotels....

Heck, we booked some of our hotels in December for our October trip! I'll be sure to note favorite restaurants, tapas bars and such.

My BF and I just returned from Barcelona, and we'd highly recommend Cinq Sentits (Five Senses). All I can say is...FABULOUS. We only had 2 days in BCN, but managed to hit Cinq Sentits, Arola, Bar Pinotxo, Cal Pep, El Xampanyet and Origins 99.9%. We took extensive pictures everywhere we dined at (we're foodies :)), which you can check out at:

http://traveldiva.marsik.org/spain2006/spain.htm



Happy eating!

My soon to be wife and I will be spending the first 3 days and nights of our honeymoon in Barcelona. I want to surprise her with a romantic dinner. I would really like to take her to a place with a great view of the city, great atmosphere, but most importantly great food. Are there any restaurants that combine the romantic atmosphere with the great views? I can't really say that money is not an issue, but I will pay for the perfect place. Thanks for any input. Also, we are getting married Feb. 27, 2010 and we'll be in Barcelona the first of March. Thanks again.