Tapas and Local Food in Barcelona

By Joan. I have lived here 16 years and I have never once eaten a meal on Las Ramblas. That is not snobbery. It is arithmetic.

The best food in Barcelona is a few streets away from the main tourist drag. Head into El Born, Gracia, Poble Sec or Sant Antoni and you will find bars where people who live here actually eat, at fair prices. Prices change, so check the current one before you plan around them.

Skip Las Ramblas, eat one street over

Restaurants with photo menus and waiters waving you in along Las Ramblas charge a premium for the address. Walk into El Born, up to Gracia or down to Poble Sec on Carrer de Blai and both the quality and the value jump. It really is that short a walk, which is why the mistake annoys me on your behalf.

Dishes to order

Pa amb tomaquet, which is bread rubbed with tomato, 2 to 4 euros. Then patatas bravas, bombas, croquetas, pulpo a la gallega and esqueixada. Catalan classics worth trying include escalivada and botifarra amb mongetes. A spread of 4 to 6 tapas for two with drinks runs 25 to 45 euros off the tourist strip.

Vermut and the aperitivo hour

A local ritual is fer el vermut around noon at weekends. A glass of house vermouth with olives, anchovies or crisps for a few euros. Bars in Gracia and Sant Antoni do it best. It is my favourite hour of the week and it bridges the gap between sightseeing and a late lunch.

Timing your meals

Kitchens serve lunch 13:30 to 16:00 and dinner from 20:30 to 23:00. Bars offering full meals at 18:00 are usually aimed at visitors. Plan an early sight, a long lunch, then tapas later in the evening, and you will be eating at the same time as everyone around you.

My advice by traveller

If the budget is tight, the weekday lunch is where the value is. If you are travelling with children, that late dinner hour is the real problem, so eat the main meal at midday. If it is your first visit, pick a bar with no menu in English and point at what the person next to you is having.

Let a local guide the way

A guided tapas crawl visits several bars in one evening with food and drinks included and a guide who explains each plate. It removes the guesswork and fits a lot of eating into a short trip, which is exactly what a first night needs.

Eating here is not difficult. It is only difficult in the few hundred metres where everyone is looking.