Student Guide: The vermouth route

You don’t have to go down to Barceloneta for good fish tapas. On the corner of Sants market, the tiny bar Bodegueta de Cal Pep offers a range of marine snacks that you just can’t refuse: sea snails, crab, razor clams, goose barnacles, dried tuna and other delicacies such as peperini (peppers stuffed with anchovies or cheese) and Torta del Casar soft cheese. Àngel has kept the spirit of this place, which opened 20 years ago, alive while adapting it to modern times. For gourmets of the aperitif.

You won’t find anyone called Pepita behind the counter or at the bar. But you will find Sofia and Andreu, the owners of this place with unusually long operating hours. Eat when you want: breakfast, lunch (special menus available at €8-€12), snacks and dinner, where the star turns are the 'pepitas', inspired by the famous pepito pork cuts, from the classic loin to some surprising creations. La Pepita is also a bar with a predilection for gin and tonics (they’ll make you a half-measure for €4) and their house vermouth, made up of gin, orange and soda.

For some time now, the Morro Fi blog has been considered an essential website for those who aspire to keeping their stomachs happy. These one-time explorers of anchovy and 'secallona' (Catalan cold sausage) havens have set up their own oasis. Working in a tiny space, Marcel serves the aperitifs that he has always wished he could have found in bars. Marcel’s draught beers hide a secret that only you can see if you pay close attention to the hands of this man who is known as the Rimbaud of the beer tap. Two fingers of poetic justice, that’s what you'll find in each glass.

Chickpeas with prawns, tasty potato omelette, mushrooms with garlic and parsley, amazing olives – the problem is knowing where to start. La Tieta is just a place with a marble bar that offers good wine, bottles of vermouth and an endless flow of draught beer. You won’t find any classics on the wine list – this week they’re in love with Mallorcan wine, and next week they’re crazy about Galician wine. There’s nothing unusual here, no secret, just good traditional food made from fresh ingredients and with skill and enthusiasm.

The main feature of the Bodega L’Avi Manel is a large mural of grape harvests, in the same brown tones as the wine from Gandesa. The property was built in 1960, and the proprietors have managed to highlight the new while still showing their love for the old. As you walk in, you can't help but notice the giant barrels on your right; they're full of wines from the Penedès, Rioja and Priorat regions. (They also offer various brands of Catalan cavas.) To your left are barrels of sweet wines, and dusty bottles (among them Pujol rum for making 'café cremat'), and the latest names in beer. The snack menu runs the gamut from traditional vermouth accompaniments to a bit more modern tasts such as hummus with anchovies and vegetable fajitas. The clientele is equally varied.

This bar belongs to the Slow Food movement – they use local, sustainable produce to make the dishes for a menu that is quite short but more than sufficient to satisfy hungry bellies. Their bio-patatas bravas are rightly renowned. As is the outdoor terrace, just in front of the Montjuïc air-raid shelter.

Tarannà is a special place. The light is magnificent in the afternoon, no joke. When night falls, there’s nothing like ordering one of the many beers on the menu to go with an organic chicken and avocado sandwich, a favourite. Breakfast, vermouth, lunch, gorgeously sweet snacks, dinner and quality drinks. The combination of versatility, modernity, quality and simplicity, and surprisingly attentive and fast service make it impossible not to be seduced by this oasis. The ideal is served up once again in Sant Antoni. This must be love.

At the Casa Mariol Wine Bar, which is part of the bodega of the same name, you'll have the chance to get to know Suau, which is an version of a drink (a blend of soda and coffee) that was popular in the Ribera de l'Ebre region decades ago. You can also taste cask wines from the Ebre, accompanied by a nice 'clotxa' (bread stuffed with herring, onions, tomatoes and garlic) and then top it all off with delicious cakes from Batea (a town also in the Ebre).

Packed to the rafters with dusty bottles of wine, this classic but minuscule bar makes up for in tapas what it lacks in space. The specialities are 'conservas' (shellfish preserved in tins), which aren't always to non-Spanish tastes, but the 'montaditos' (sculpted tapas served on bread) are spectacular. Try salmon sashimi with cream cheese, honey and soy, or cod, passata and black olive pâté. Get there early for any chance of a surface to put your drink on.

For all Pere Calders fans – God has heard your prayers. The cul-de-sac named after the writer has recently become home to one of the loveliest spots in Sant Antoni. They have books by the Catalan author, the draught beer flows freely and there’s a selection of tapas that sends shivers of pleasure through the district. Obviously, the best thing to try is the vermouth. They stock four brands, but if you want to try a Priorat, then you should go for the one from Falset. Incidentally, the outdoor terrace is one of the district’s best kept secrets: You’ll just keep coming back.