Barcelona restaurants handpicked guide

This Barcelona restaurants selection aims at providing you with useful and interesting details and stories about the best restaurants serving lunch and dinner in the Catalan capital.

Pitarra - Restaurant
Catalan & market cuisine	Barri g�tic district	Moderate to expensive
Founded in 1890, the Pitarra restaurant was once the home of the Catalan clockmaker and playwright Frederic Soler, known by his pen name Pitarra. The Barcelona restaurant is full of memorabilia of Pitarra and his artist friends. They used to meet at the back of the clockmaker's for theatre rehearsals and lively discussions. Pitarra is like a small museum of the city's history. No wonder they received the Award "Committed to Barcelona". And if you like old clocks, you'll be able to admire thirty-eight while dining. The dishes served at the Pitarra restaurant show the cook's love for seasonal produce of the first quality. They also specialize in wild game dishes. You can expect a proud traditional Catalan cuisine cooked with professionalism and love. The seafood paella is delicious and great value for money. The sarsuela, a generous seafood platter, is also exquisite. They have a traditional partridge dish you don't find everywhere. As for dessert, there's a choice of about twenty different ones, including mouthwatering crema catalana (creme brulee). Finally, the wine and Catalan cava list is wide and well chosen. It is recommended that you make a reservation as this Barcelona restaurant is very popular among the locals.
Address - Carrer Aviny� 56, Barcelona 08002 - Phone: 93 301 16 47 Hours - Lunch: 1 p.m. - 4 p.m. Dinner: 8:30 p.m. - 11 p.m. Closed: All day Sundays; bank holidays in the evening; August

Can Culleretes - Restaurant
Traditional Catalan cuisine	Barri g�tic district	Moderate price
Can Culleretes is the oldest restaurant in Barcelona. It's a historic Barcelona restaurant specialized in traditional Catalan cuisine. It opened its doors in 1786 as a confectioner's, and it became a restaurant in 1890. Located at the heart of the Barri G�tic, near the Rambla that everybody enjoys, prices are very reasonable. Its walls show art from the beginning of the 20th century, giving the restaurant a modernista atmosphere, that is, Catalan art deco. Culleretes is Catalan for dessert spoons. So Can Culleretes could be translated as The House of the dessert spoons. The name goes back to the time when metal spoons were first introduced. Apparently they didn't have enough spoons, and every time the waiters needed some, they'd shout "Culleretes!" so that they be clean and ready. While it is loyal to its old roots, this Barcelona restaurant has known to blend the demands of modern Catalan gastronomy. Whenever I dined there the food was good, the atmosphere relaxed and the service friendly. However, it appears in the Lonely Planet and Michelin Guides and it's increasingly visited by Barcelona tourists. I have read the occasional complaint regarding the service. Once I invited some Canadian friends and we ended our dinner with two portions of crema catalana for each one of us. I admit, this is not to be recommended as sound Mediterranean diet, but... it was a special day. Some recommended dishes you can try at this Barcelona restaurant are: wild boar civet, goose with pears, oven-baked bream, fish and seafood pica-pica meal, Swiss chard caneloni with salt cod, and many more to choose from.
Address - Carrer Quintana 5, Barcelona 08002 - Phone: 93 317 30 22 and 93 317 64 85 Hours - Lunch: 1:30 p.m. - 4 p.m. Dinner: 9 p.m. - 11 p.m. Closed: Sunday evening; non-bank holiday Mondays; July; 25th and 26th December

Els Pescadors - Restaurant
Catalan & market cuisine	Poblenou district	Expensive
Els Pescadors, which name means The Fishermen, specializes in rice and seafood dishes. They buy their fish fresh every day, straight from the fishermen's boats, at the coastal town of Arenys de Mar. This Barcelona restaurant is located in a hundred-year old fishermen inn, and has a beautiful terrace. The founders -who used to be actors- renovated the building completely, but kept the old decoration in one of the dining rooms. This is a place for fish lovers, that is, those who understand that sometimes the best way to cook fish is to apply the law of maximum simplicity. This is in fact the best and healthiest Mediterranean diet cuisine.
Address - Pla�a Prim, 1, Barcelona 08005 - Phone: 93 225 20 18 Hours - Lunch: 1 p.m. - 3:45 p.m. Dinner: 8 p.m. - 11:30 p.m. Closed: Easter week; 24th evening, 25th, 26th, 31st December; 1st January