The 11 best restaurants in Barcelona for Catalan food

Casa Amàlia is a classic restaurant: a place that opened in 1950 right across from the Concepció Market, offering a straightforward and traditional menu that prioritizes quality ingredients and timeless cuisine. The menu is divided into appetizers and two main sections: one for tradition and one for innovation. In the first, you'll find classic delights like grilled monkfish with fish velouté and Montilla-Moriles amontillado with fennel, or three-meat cannelloni with béchamel sauce. In the second, you'll discover playful creations like the 'panalena mallorquina,' a grilled eggplant with crispy bacon, filled with sobrasada sausage, topped with eggplant tempura, and drizzled with honey from the hive.

The longevity of a restaurant is only a cause for joy if the food is excellent. Ca l'Estevet, which has been around since 1890, exceeds expectations. Here's how it went: after 80 years of operation, the Ros Cabot family had to close Casa Agustí in 2020, just a month before the pandemic hit. In fact, as early as 2010, they saw vultures circling in the form of investment funds and purchased Ca l'Estevet, a restaurant that opened in 1890 in the Raval neighborhood as a backup plan. After a global pandemic and an economic crisis, the food here is superb. Everyone raves about slow-cooked cuisine, but making a dish like their capipota with samfaina – not heavy but packed with flavor and intensity – is no easy feat.

Did someone say 'capipota' doesn't look good on Instagram? Not the one at Fonda Pepa. They're located in the heart of Gracia, where Fonda Cal Robert stood for 27 years, and they opened there in 2021. Here you'll find pig's trotters with mole and remarkable lamb cheeks, deboned and cut like skewer pieces, marinated in 'ras-al-hanout' spices (a Moroccan blend), and served with a celeriac puree, cooked in the Josper oven. Generous dishes for around €14, and on Saturdays, they offer traditional breakfast for cheap. Plus excellent wines by the glass for a little over two euros. Long live Pepa!

The eponymous seven doors open on to as many dining salons, all kitted out in elegant 19th-century decor. Long-aproned waiters bring regional dishes, served in vast portions, including a stewy fish zarzuela with half a lobster, a different paella daily (shellfish, for example, or rabbit and snails), a wide array of fresh seafood, and heavier dishes such as herbed black-bean stew with pork sausage, and orujo sorbet to finish. Reservations are available only for certain tables; otherwise, get there early.

Said to be the mentor of überchef Ferran Adrià, Fermí Puig has enjoyed years of quiet success with the moneyed classes at Drolma in the Hotel Majestic. This bistro is Puig's attempt to open up to a less élite public, serving more affordable versions of the Catalan classics; suquet (fish and potato stew), pig's trotters with spinach and pine nuts, and so on. Be warned: it's not obvious from the menu that dishes are small and meant to be ordered in a tapas style, so for all the good intentions behind the concept, this is still not an especially cheap option.

Barcelona’s oldest restaurant, ​​and one of the oldest in Spain, is still going strong. The Agut-Manubens family, with mother and daughter to the fore, serve good Catalan cooking at very reasonable prices, notably their cannelloni with cod, roast sea bream and escudella i carn d'olla. And I promise you, afterwards you’ll never be hungry again. An ideal place for an enjoyable low-key Sunday meal.

Xató represents a synthesis of all the different Catalan salads, based on a mixture of different items and a taste for salt and preserves. Served on a bed of escarole with raw desalted cod, anchovies, tuna, olives and a few white beans. And if that were not enough, topped off with romesco sauce. The first time I went to Can Cargol, I wasn’t looking for xató, as you may have guessed. But that was the dish that stood out that day: light, with generous portions, and in a lovely tasty sauce. An unmissable experience.

There are few pork, beef or lamb dishes that can achieve such a perfect balance as between the robustness of sirloin and the smoothness of capipota. If you’re looking for an erotic experience, just try the roast dishes they serve here. A few herbs, a splash of wine, a vegetable garnish, roast potatoes... and the meat just melts in the mouth. More than enough reason to escape from the midday sun, a newspaper under your arm, and order it in the Portolès, accompanied by a nice wine, friendly service, and the roar of the oven in the background.

Casa Delfín was given a general facelift recently, when it changed owners. But some types of plastic surgery enhance the features and yet it’s hardly noticeable. This has become a place which, while it still has the appearance of an eatery, is more dynamic, has a traditional yet more diverse menu, and the outdoor terrace is absolutely lovely. And, like any good neighbourhood bar-restaurant, it is open uninterruptedly from 9 am until midnight, while on Friday and Saturday the closing time is extended until 1am. A perfect place to take visiting friends who want to have paella in the morning, after leaving Santa Maria del Mar church.

After his stints as maître at Via Veneto and manager of Skylight (among other positions), Francesc Pérez has now opened his own restaurant. La Taula serves Mediterranean dishes that feature distinct touches of Central European cuisine: his recipe for pumpkin soup can only be found in Austria.

This classic restaurant serves quality dishes from the early morning until the small hours. With Jordi Vilà (one of the most in-form chefs in the city) as their executive chef, they produce an endless succession of dishes and tapas that will help you to experience, with every delicious bite, Catalonia’s gastronomic heritage. Whether you come here early in the morning or late at night, you can order anything from a croissant to a portion of Iberian ham or a good capipota